Syllabus

 

Course: Fire and Emergency Services Administration

Course & Section: FES 4003

Credit Hours: 3

Session: FALL 2024

 On-line

 

Faculty:

Dr. Reginald D. Freeman, CFO, FIFireE

Adjunct Professor

 

Email: reginalddfreeman@ufl.edu 

 

Office Phone:  352-273-1149

Personal Cell Phone:  817-584-3424

 

Bio for Dr. Freeman

Hello everyone. My name is Dr. Reginald Freeman, and I am your professor for this class. Currently, I serve as the Chief Risk Officer for HAI Group in CT. Before retiring from the fire service in June of 2023, I was the 31st Fire Chief for the City of Oakland, CA. Prior to the City of Oakland, I served as Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director for the City of Hartford. I also served as the international fire chief for Lockheed Martin as well as a civilian fire chief in Iraq for the U.S. Department of Defense from 2004-2008. I have had the honor and privilege to work in a number of fire service capacities in my career, including firefighter/emergency medical technician (EMT), fire captain, fire service instructor, assistant fire chief, and fire chief.

My educational accomplishments include a Bachelor of Arts in Leadership from Bellevue University in Bellevue, NE, a Master’s Degree in Executive Fire Service Leadership from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ, and a Ph.D. in Emergency and Protective Services. I am also a graduate and Fellow of Harvard University’s Senior Executives for State & Local Government program at the Kennedy School of Government. Furthermore, I have previously served as the Chair of the Industrial Fire and Life Safety Section for the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and a previous Board member of the Executive Fire Officer Section of the IAFC and Technical Committee member of NFPA 1021 (Fire Officer Professional Qualifications), respectively. Additionally, I serve on the Board of Directors for the Center for Public Safety Excellence, Inc. (CPSE) and formerly served as a Commissioner (former Chairman) for the Commission on Professional Credentialing via the CPSE. I currently serve as the Director of Training for the Caribbean Association of Fire Chiefs. I am a credentialed Chief Fire Officer (CFO) through CPSE and a credentialed “Fellow” with the Institution of Fire Engineers, USA Branch. Lastly, I’m humbled to serve on the Board of Directors for NFPA. I am looking forward to us having a great learning experience together through this next semester.

 

Office Hours:   My office hours are typically from 0800 am to 1200 pm Monday through Friday.

 

Course Communications:   The best way to communicate with me is via email through Canvas.  I will attempt to answer all emails in 24-48 hours.  If the need is urgent, I can be reached by text or phone call at 817-584-3424 between the hours of 8:00 am and 11:00 pm. 

 

Required Text:

Principles of Fire and Emergency Services Administration (Second Edition). 2021.  Author: Randy R. Bruegman.  Publisher: Jones and Bartlett.  ISBN: 9781284220087 

 

Additional Resources (Not Required but Recommended):  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), 7th Edition (2020): Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. ISBN 978-1-4338-3217-8

 

Course Description:  This course is designed to be a progressive primer for students who want more knowledge about fire and emergency services administration. The course demonstrates the importance of the following skills, necessary to manage and lead a fire and emergency services department through the challenges and changes of the 21st century: Persuasion and influence, accountable budgeting, anticipation of challenges and the need for change, and using specific management tools for analyzing and solving problems. A central part of the course focuses on how the leadership of a fire and emergency services department develops internal and external cooperation to create a coordinated approach to achieving the department's mission.

 

Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills: None

 

Purpose of Course:  This course provides the foundation of administration for managing and leading a fire department and emergency service agency.

 

Course Goals and/or Objectives:  By the end of this course, students will:

1. Define and discuss the elements of effective departmental organization.
2. Classify what training and skills are needed to establish departmental organization.
3. Analyze the value of a community-related approach to risk reduction.
4. Outline the priorities of a budget planning document while anticipating the diverse needs of a community.
5. Assess the importance of positively influencing community leaders by demonstrating effective leadership.
6. Analyze the concept of change and the need to be aware of future trends in fire management.
7. Report on the importance of communications technology, fire service networks, and the Internet, when conducting problem-solving analysis and managing trends.

 

How This Course Relates to the Student Learning Outcomes in the Fire and Emergency Services program:  

1. Identify and evaluate organizational problems associated with fire and emergency services.
2. Illustrate knowledge and legal application of safety, health and environmental regulations at state and federal levels.
3. Demonstrate effective leadership behavior and skills in fire and emergency services.
4. Properly address issues of management, code regulations and the labor market in fire and emergency services.
5. Demonstrate strong verbal and written communication skills for leadership in fire and emergency services.

 

Teaching Philosophy: I am looking for students to demonstrate a working knowledge of the subject. You need to be creative when you complete your assignments but maintain a professional appearance of your work. Your work needs to be complete and in such a manner that someone can pick up your document and understand what you are trying to convey. And most of all your work needs to be supported with research and cited in properly in APA format.

 

Instructional Methods: The course is designed for individual and group interactivity. It is important to post and respond to discussion questions in the course within the time frame allotted. This provides a learning environment by networking with other students in the course. The assignments are individual base to give you the opportunity to do a variety of activities, in many cases, similar to what you will be doing in role as a leader in the emergency services profession.

 

Course Policies

Attendance Policy:  The course is designed in module format. You should check the site at least once a week. You are required to complete the assignments including discussion questions within the time period designated on the module. There will be meetings set up throughout the course. Requirements for class attendance and make-up exams, assignments, and other work in this course are consistent with university policies that can be found in the online catalog at: https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/regulations/info/attendance.aspx (Links to an external site.).

Quiz/Exam Policy:  There is a final project for this course. There are no exams or quizzes.

Assignment Policy:  All assignments have a due date.  Please be sure to check the date and time it is due in each module or discussion.

Make-up Policy:  Make-up assignments will only be accepted due to technical issues, illness, and other extenuating circumstances. You must contact your instructor before the assignment's due date for special accommodations.

Any requests for make-ups due to technical issues MUST be accompanied by the ticket number received from the UF Computing Help Desk when the problem was reported to them. The ticket number will document the time and date of the problem. You MUST message your instructor within 24 hours of the technical difficulty if you wish to request a make-up.

Late Assignments and Discussions Policy:

• Assignments 48 hours late from the due date will receive a 10% deduction in their grade.
• Assignments more than 48 hours but less than 30 days late from the due date will receive a 20% deduction in their grade.
• Assignments more than 30 days late from the due date but submitted during the semester will receive a 50% deduction in their grade.
• All outstanding work must be submitted two weeks prior to the end of the semester.  No outstanding work will be accepted after this time.

Please note that any student that has less than 75% of their work complete for the semester cannot earn an “I” contract. If you have 75% of the work complete, you can propose an “I” contract to the instructor.

It is your responsibility to keep your instructor informed at all times. The instructor does have the right under extenuating circumstances with proper notification to assist the student by extending the above time requirements.

Course Technology:  The course resides in the web-based Canvas learning management system, requiring access to the internet. Class meetings will require a web camera and mic/audio. If you are not able to use a web camera you will need to at least provide audio/mic, you can call in on a phone also.

UF's Honesty Policy: UF students are bound by The Honor Pledge which states, “We, the members of the University of Florida community, pledge to hold ourselves and our peers to the highest standards of honor and integrity by abiding by the Honor Code.  On all work submitted for credit by students at the University of Florida, the following pledge is either required or implied: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment.” The Honor Code (http://www.dso.ufl.edu/sccr/process/student-conduct-honor-code/ (Links to an external site.)) specifies a number of behaviors that are in violation of this code and the possible sanctions.  Furthermore, you are obliged to report any condition that facilitates academic misconduct to appropriate personnel. If you have any questions or concerns, please consult with the instructor of in this class.

Technical support: If you experience difficulties with accessing components of the site, including lectures, quizzes or tests, contact the UF help desk immediately. (352) 392-HELP (4357) | helpdesk@ufl.edu

If they are not able to resolve your problem, contact your instructor with your help desk ticket number and a description of the problem and steps taken to resolve it. Extensions for due dates will be granted for documented technical problems, as needed.

 

UF’s Honesty Policy  

UF students are bound by The Honor Pledge which states, “We, the members of the University of Florida community, pledge to hold ourselves and our peers to the highest standards of honor and integrity by abiding by the Honor Code.  On all work submitted for credit by students at the University of Florida, the following pledge is either required or implied: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment.” The Honor Code (http://www.dso.ufl.edu/sccr/process/student-conduct-honor-code/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.) specifies a number of behaviors that are in violation of this code and the possible sanctions.  Furthermore, you are obliged to report any condition that facilitates academic misconduct to appropriate personnel. If you have any questions or concerns, please consult with the instructor of in this class.

Plagiarism:  All work submitted during this course has to be your own, original (for this class) work.  Understand that there are various types of plagiarism such as submitting a paper written by another person, resubmitting original work created for another class, or copying information from another source and claiming it as your own original work.  The ramifications will be severe for anyone caught plagiarizing.

USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI):  Any and all use of machines that emulate human capabilities (ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, DALLE, etc.) to perform assignments or other works in the course should be disclosed as it can border on plagiarism. AI-generated information, as long as this use is properly documented in the references and will need to include the prompt and the significant parts of the response. The use of generative AI tools is not permitted in this course for the following activities: 

1. Completing group work that your group has assigned to you. 
2. Writing a draft of a writing assignment. 
3. Writing entire sentences, paragraphs or papers to complete class assignments. 

 

UF Policies

University Policy on Accommodating Students with Disabilities: Students requesting accommodation for disabilities must first register with the Dean of Students Office at https://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the instructor when requesting accommodation. You must submit this documentation prior to submitting assignments or taking the quizzes or exams. Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the office as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations.

University Policy on Academic Misconduct: Academic honesty and integrity are fundamental values of the University community. Students should be sure that they understand the UF Student Honor Code at https://sccr.dso.ufl.edu/process/student-honor-code/. 

**Netiquette: Communication Courtesy: All members of the class are expected to follow rules of common courtesy in all email messages, threaded discussions and chats. [Describe what is expected and what will occur as a result of improper behavior] http://teach.ufl.edu/docs/NetiquetteGuideforOnlineCourses.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

 

Getting Help

For issues with technical difficulties for E-learning in Sakai, please contact the UF Help Desk at:

• Learning-support@ufl.edu
• (352) 392-HELP - select option 2
• https://elearning.ufl.edu/student-help-faqs/

** Any requests for make-ups due to technical issues MUST be accompanied by the ticket number received from LSS when the problem was reported to them. The ticket number will document the time and date of the problem. You MUST e-mail your instructor within 24 hours of the technical difficulty if you wish to request a make-up.

Other resources are available at https://distance.ufl.edu/getting-help/ 

• Counseling and Wellness resources
• Disability resources
• Resources for handling student concerns and complaints
• Library Help Desk support

Should you have any complaints with your experience in this course please visit http://www.distance.ufl.edu/student-complaints (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. to submit a complaint.

 

Grading Policies:

The grade is based on a point system.   Refer to the rubric assigned to each discussion post/assignment/final project for complete details on how the discussion post/assignment/final project will be graded.  

 

Course Grade Scale:

The final grade will be based on the following:

Discussion Participation                                       35%

Homework Assignments                                       35%

Final Exam-applied research paper                      30%

Total Grade                                                           100%

 

Grading Scale

A   = 94.0 to 100%     C   = 74.0 to 76.9
A-  = 90.0 to 93.9       C-  = 70.0 to 73.9
B+ = 87.0 to 89.9       D+ = 67.0 to 69.9
B   = 84.0 to 86.9       D   = 64.0 to 66.9
B-  = 80.0 to 83.9       D-  = 60.0 to 63.9
C+ = 77.0 to 79.9       F   = below 60

 

 

Evaluation process

Students are expected to provide professional and respectful feedback on the quality of instruction in this course by completing course evaluations online via GatorEvals. Guidance on how to give feedback in a professional and respectful manner is available at https://gatorevals.aa.ufl.edu/students/.

Students will be notified when the evaluation period opens, and can complete evaluations through the email they receive from GatorEvals, in their Canvas course menu under GatorEvals, or via https://ufl.bluera.com/ufl/.

Summaries of course evaluation results are available to students at https://gatorevals.aa.ufl.edu/public-results/.

 

Additionally, the link below is Honor Code for UF....... (PLEASE FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF)

https://sccr.dso.ufl.edu/resources-by-audience/faculty-and-staff/honor-code-process/