The University of Connecticut has been a key player in the field of homeland security education since 2001. UConn developed an innovative leadership development program for DHS’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) which was selected for a multi-year contract award. In 2003, UConn signed a three-year agreement with Connecticut’s Department of Public Safety to develop and manage a new Homeland Security Education Center for the state. The following year, UConn was chosen to oversee the planning and evaluation of Connecticut’s participation in TOPOFF (T3) exercise program, the largest counter-terrorism exercise in the world. In 2005, CCS collaborated with the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) to coordinate mobile education training sessions on crisis planning and information/intelligence sharing for senior federal, state and local government leaders.

Those efforts led to UConn’s selection as the lead academic partner for the NPS graduate program in Homeland Security. Working under an articulation agreement with NPS, CCS successfully launched a cohort based, blended learning, Master of Professional Studies in Homeland Security Leadership (MPS HSL) program in 2005, with students representing federal agencies such as FBI, DHS, TSA, as well as local and state law enforcement agencies from across the continental U.S. and Alaska.

In September 2007, DHS awarded UConn a $1,334,200 Competitive Training Grant to develop and deliver a Collaborative Leadership in Homeland Security program to a nationwide audience of state and local homeland security senior and emerging leaders during a three-year period.