Mercyhurst University Institute for Intelligence Studies

Last updated

The Ridge College of Intelligence Studies and Applied Sciences at Mercyhurst University (RIAP), located on the campus of Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania, offers undergraduate and graduate studies programs in intelligence analysis. The program also offers graduate certificates in Applied Intelligence, Counterintelligence, and Law Enforcement Intelligence. The Intelligence Studies program "promotes the study of Intelligence in higher academic settings, while seeking to identify, promote, and employ best practices in the study and application of intelligence studies throughout its various disciplines (national security, law enforcement, business intelligence and academia)." [1]

Contents

History

The Institute for Intelligence Studies (IIS) was founded in February 2004 via help from a grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE). It was named after Tom Ridge, an Erie native and the first Secretary of Homeland Security. [2] For a dozen years before the opening of the institute, then Mercyhurst College offered an undergraduate degree in intelligence studies as part of its ground-breaking Research/Intelligence Analyst Program (RIAP, or R/iap). Nestled within Mercyhurst College's Department of History, RIAP was the first non-governmental initiative of its kind in the United States. The program began in 1992 with only 14 students, but the competence of graduates eventually attracted the attention of the U.S. Intelligence Community. [3] [4]

The intense public debate in the United States immediately following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, focused on intelligence analysts need for better training, which directed attention to Mercyhurst's already-growing program. RIAP's success at the undergraduate level led to the offering of a graduate program by 2004. [3] The Federal Bureau of Investigation instituted a sabbatical program in 2005, through which senior analysts began to attend IIS-MU for advanced training. [5] [6]

For many years, no other school in the United States offered a degree designed specifically for intelligence analysts. [3]

Administration

Robert J. Heibel, a retired Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent, founded the undergraduate program in 1992 and is now Executive Director of IIS-MU. [3] [4]

John Olszowka, Ph.D., professor of history who earned his degree from Binghamton University, is the current dean of the Ridge College. [7]

Undergraduate Program in Intelligence Studies

The Bachelor of Arts in Intelligence Studies is a four-year interdisciplinary baccalaureate program which prepares a graduate to become an entry-level analyst for employment in the government or the private sector. The undergraduate program, which continues to be referred to as RIAP, consists of nine core intelligence-related courses, plus 13 interdisciplinary courses. [7]

As of 2014, there are approximately 300 students enrolled in the undergraduate program. This includes students from across the United States as well as international students. The students primarily come from the Ohio-Pennsylvania-NY area. [8]

Certificate in Intelligence Studies

IIS-MU has developed a distance-learning, graduate-level certificate program for use by contracting organizations in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. As of 2009, there are approximately 77 certificate students in the program. [8]

Graduate Program in Applied Intelligence

The Masters of Science in Applied Intelligence is a thirty-four or thirty-six-credit two-year program designed to prepare graduates to pursue analyst careers in law enforcement, national security and competitive intelligence. As of 2009, there are approximately 53 graduate students in the Applied Intelligence program. [8]

The graduate program's Strategic Intelligence class participated in a joint research project with the National Intelligence Council in 2006-2007 entitled The Global Disease Threat and Its Implications for the United States. The project involved the development of a Mercyhurst wiki consisting of over 1,000 pages of analysis on the threat of global disease to the United States. [9] [10]

Professors

Current professors include retired or former members of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Raleigh Police Department, the US Navy, the US Department of Energy, the National Drug Intelligence Center, the US State Department, the United States Army, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Canada's Department of National Defense, the Turkish Police Academy, Fortune 50 companies, and the Erie Times-News. [11]

Center for Information Research Analysis and Training

The Center for Information Research Analysis And Training|Center for Information Research And Training (CIRAT) is a nonprofit arm of Mercyhurst University whose mission is to develop contracts, grants and partnerships that test and enhance the capabilities of RIAP students, staff, facilities, and systems.

Examples of research CIRAT has conducted:

Selected achievements

The department enjoys success from both its students, former students and faculty members. Noteworthy achievements include:

Amanda Post, an IIS-MU graduate, joined the ranks of the Federal 100, which recognizes individuals from government, industry and academia who have made significant contributions to the federal informational technology community. The awards, decided by a distinguished panel of judges, are bestowed annually by the 1105 Government Information Group and Federal Computer Week. [13]

In February 2009, Assistant Professor Stephen Marrin presented two papers at international conferences. The first paper, entitled "Reconceptualizing the Relationship Between CIA's Analysis and Decisionmaking: The Case of Pre-9/11 Terrorism Intelligence" was presented at a conference in Dublin, Ireland on The CIA & US Foreign Policy: Reform, Representations and New Approaches to Intelligence. The second, entitled "The Intelligence-Policy Interface and Iraq in Britain and the United States" was given at a workshop on Intelligence, Policy and Comparative Politics in London. [14]

Students in a class led by Assistant Professor Kristan Wheaton earned certificates of appreciation from coalition forces and the Iraqis for a 1,000-page WIKI-based analysis product they completed for intelligence authorities in Baghdad. The project, which examined Middle Eastern governments in the region and their reaction to events unfolding in Iraq, was provided to authorities in Iraq by another intelligence studies faculty member, U.S. Army Maj. Daniel Mulligan, who returned to Mercyhurst in early February after a year's tour of duty in Iraq. Mulligan presented the certificates on Monday, February 16, 2009 at the intelligence studies building on campus. [15]

Six IIS-MU students won the first-ever ODNI-sponsored 2008 Open Source Challenge which gave the students one week to thoroughly research, document and convincingly answer the question: "Is Al Qaeda a cohesive organization with strong and centralized control, intent and direction?" The team's answer surpassed those of more than 20 other competitors, some veterans of the U.S. intelligence community. Another team shared the first prize with Mercyhurst after it answered the second question option in the contest. That team, from iJET Intelligent Risk Systems, had two members who graduated from IIS-MU's graduate program. [16]

Mercyhurst University Institute for Intelligence Studies Press

IIS-MU Press opened as a publishing house in 2005. IIS-MU cited the need for additional textbooks in the field as its reason for getting into publishing. Four books have been published as of February 2009 and others are in the works. [17] [18] [19]

Great Lakes Intelligence Initiative

IIS-MU founded the Great Lakes Intelligence Initiative (GLII) in 2006 to promote the development and utilization of knowledge worker skills in the schools and businesses of northwestern Pennsylvania. [20] [21] [22]

Global Intelligence Forum

IIS-MU founded and sponsors the Global Intelligence Forum each year in Dungarvan, Ireland. The conference seeks to find the best practices in intelligence analysis and see how they can be applied to other industries and companies.

Affiliations

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</span> Private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in response to the increasing industrialization of the United States, MIT adopted a European polytechnic university model and stressed laboratory instruction in applied science and engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnegie Mellon University</span> Private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology and began granting four-year degrees. In 1967, it became Carnegie Mellon University through its merger with the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, founded in 1913 by Andrew Mellon and Richard B. Mellon and formerly a part of the University of Pittsburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Dominion University</span> Public university in Norfolk, Virginia, US

Old Dominion University (ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. Established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary, an extension school of the College of William & Mary for people with fewer financial assets, members of the military, and non-traditional students in Norfolk-Virginia Beach area of the Hampton Roads region. The university has since expanded into a residential college for traditional students and is one of the largest universities in Virginia with an enrollment of 23,494 students for the 2023 academic year. The university also enrolls over 600 international students from 99 countries. Its main campus covers 250 acres (1.0 km2) straddling the city neighborhoods of Larchmont, Highland Park, and Lambert's Point, approximately five miles (8.0 km) north of Downtown Norfolk along the Elizabeth River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercyhurst University</span> Catholic college in Erie, Pennsylvania, US

Mercyhurst University is a private Roman Catholic university in Erie, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences</span> Division of New York University, US (founded 1935)

The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences is the mathematics research school of New York University (NYU). Founded in 1935, it is named after Richard Courant, one of the founders of the Courant Institute and also a mathematics professor at New York University from 1936 to 1972, and serves as a center for research and advanced training in computer science and mathematics. It is located on Gould Plaza next to the Stern School of Business and the economics department of the College of Arts and Science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public policy school</span>

A public policy school or school of public affairs is typically a university program, institution, or professional school of public policy, public administration, political science, international relations, security studies, management, urban planning, urban studies, intelligence studies, global studies, emergency management, public affairs, nonprofit management, criminology, and the sociology of law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Analysis of competing hypotheses</span> Process to evaluate alternative hypotheses

The analysis of competing hypotheses (ACH) is a methodology for evaluating multiple competing hypotheses for observed data. It was developed by Richards (Dick) J. Heuer, Jr., a 45-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, in the 1970s for use by the Agency. ACH is used by analysts in various fields who make judgments that entail a high risk of error in reasoning. ACH aims to help an analyst overcome, or at least minimize, some of the cognitive limitations that make prescient intelligence analysis so difficult to achieve.

The Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin unites the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences with two research units, the Institute for Geophysics and the Bureau of Economic Geology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences</span>

The College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin offers 10 Bachelor of Arts majors, 42 Bachelor of Science majors, and 20 graduate programs to more than 11,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students. The college employs over 370 faculty. Many of the programs are consistently ranked in the top ten nationally, according to U.S. News & World Report (2019), including: Analytical Chemistry (4th), Applied Math (9th), Artificial Intelligence (8th), Computer Science (10th), Computing Systems (8th), Computing Theory (7th), Cosmology/Relativity/Gravity (10th), Ecology, Evolution and Behavior (6th), Mathematics Analysis (7th), Plasma Physics (3rd), Programming Language (8th), and Topology (8th). It was established in 1883.

A master's degree in quantitative finance is a postgraduate degree focused on the application of mathematical methods to the solution of problems in financial economics. There are several like-titled degrees which may further focus on financial engineering, computational finance, mathematical finance, and/or financial risk management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Taiwan University of Science and Technology</span> University in Taipei. Taiwan

The National Taiwan University of Science and Technology is a public university located in Taipei, Taiwan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of Mathematics, University of Manchester</span> Academic faculty in north-west England

The Department of Mathematics at the University of Manchester is one of the largest unified mathematics departments in the United Kingdom, with over 90 academic staff and an undergraduate intake of roughly 400 students per year and approximately 200 postgraduate students in total. The School of Mathematics was formed in 2004 by the merger of the mathematics departments of University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) and the Victoria University of Manchester (VUM). In July 2007 the department moved into a purpose-designed building─the first three floors of the Alan Turing Building─on Upper Brook Street. In a Faculty restructure in 2019 the School of Mathematics reverted to the Department of Mathematics. It is one of five Departments that make up the School of Natural Sciences, which together with the School of Engineering now constitutes the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Texas at San Antonio College of Sciences</span> Science and research education college

The College of Sciences at the University of Texas at San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas is a science and research education college. The college hosts more than 6000 students enrolled in fifteen undergraduate programs and nineteen graduate programs. The eight departments employ over 300 tenure and non-tenure track faculty members. Students collaborate through programs with local external research institutions including UT Health Science Center, Southwest Research Institute and the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research.

Words of estimative probability are terms used by intelligence analysts in the production of analytic reports to convey the likelihood of a future event occurring. A well-chosen WEP gives a decision maker a clear and unambiguous estimate upon which to base a decision. Ineffective WEPs are vague or misleading about the likelihood of an event. An ineffective WEP places the decision maker in the role of the analyst, increasing the likelihood of poor or snap decision making. Some intelligence and policy failures appear to be related to the imprecise use of estimative words.

The School of Engineering at Rutgers University was founded in 1914 as the College of Engineering. It was originally a part of the Rutgers Scientific School, which was founded in 1864. The school has seven academic departments, with a combined undergraduate student enrollment of over 2,400 students. It offers over 25 academic and professional degree programs. These include several interdisciplinary programs, such as Environmental Engineering with the Department of Environmental Science, and the graduate program in mechanics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bachelor of Science</span> Type of bachelors degree

A Bachelor of Science is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.

The Global Intelligence Forum is an annual conference dedicated to exploring best practices in intelligence analysis. The conference takes place in Dungarvan, Ireland, the sister city of Erie, Pennsylvania, home of Mercyhurst College, the Mercyhurst College Institute for Intelligence Studies, and the Center for Intelligence Research Analysis and Training (CIRAT).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bush School of Government & Public Service</span> Public policy school of Texas A&M University

The Bush School of Government & Public Service is an academic college of Texas A&M University founded in 1997 under former President George H. W. Bush's philosophy that "public service is a noble calling." Since then, the Bush School has continued to reflect that notion in curriculum, research, and student experience and has become a leading international affairs, political science, and public affairs institution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Dausey</span>

David J. Dausey is an American epidemiologist, professor and academic administrator. He is the Provost of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was formerly the Provost of Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania. Prior to Mercyhurst, Dausey was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he maintains an honorary faculty appointment as a Distinguished Service Professor. Dausey was also Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation.

John Olszowka is a professor of history and academic administrator. He currently serves as Dean of the Ridge College of Intelligence Studies and Applied Sciences at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania.

References

  1. ↑ "Mercyhurst College Institute for Intelligence Studies". Archived from the original on 15 March 2007. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  2. ↑ "Department of Intelligence Studies".
  3. 1 2 3 4 Breckenridge, James, radio interview about IIS-MU on "We Question and Learn", a public interest show on FM 91.3 WQLN in Erie, Pennsylvania on 2 July 2006
  4. 1 2 Heibel, Robert J. "Catalyst and Enabler" (PDF). Liberal Studies At Georgetown. pp. 13–15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-09-02. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  5. ↑ "Federal Bureau of Investigation - Congressional Testimony". Archived from the original on 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
  6. ↑ "Federal Bureau of Investigation - Congressional Testimony". Archived from the original on 2010-04-10. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
  7. 1 2 "Ridge College of Intelligence Studies and Applied Sciences". Mercyhurst.edu. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 "History". Archived from the original on 2010-06-10. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
  9. ↑ "Mercyhurst College Wiki on Global Disease". National Intelligence Council. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  10. ↑ "NIC Sponsors Wiki on Global Disease". Government Computer News. 31 May 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-06-04. Retrieved 2007-06-07.
  11. ↑ [ dead link ]
  12. ↑ Smith, Brent L.; et al. (March 2006). "Pre-Incident Indicators of Terrorist Incidents: The Identification of Behavioral, Geographic, and Temporal Patterns of Preparatory Conduct" (PDF). NIJ. pp. 26, 92.
  13. ↑ "Intel Grad Named to Federal 100" Archived 2010-06-10 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ "Professor Marrin presents two papers" Archived 2010-06-10 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ "Intel project earns kudos". Archived from the original on 2010-06-10. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
  16. ↑ "Mercyhurst Intelligence team presents findings during ODNI Conference in Washington D.C." Archived from the original on 2010-06-10. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
  17. ↑ "Mercyhurst College - News & Events: College News". Archived from the original on 2007-03-24. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  18. ↑ Wheaton, Kristan J.; et al. (November–December 2006). "Structured Analysis of Competing Hypotheses: Improving a Tested Intelligence Methodology" (PDF). Competitive Intelligence Magazine. Vol. 9, no. 6. pp. 12–15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
  19. ↑ "Publications | Mercyhurst College Institute for Intelligence Studies". Archived from the original on 2009-03-06. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
  20. ↑ "Institute for Intelligence Studies Graduate Studies". Archived from the original on 2007-07-17. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
  21. ↑ Partnership, Erie Regional Chamber and Growth. "Young Erie Professionals (YEP) - Erie Regional Chamber & Growth Partnership". Eriepa.com. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  22. ↑ "Upcoming Event Schedule « Manufacturers' Association of Northwest Pennsylvania". 28 September 2007. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 6 March 2019.

42°06′25″N80°02′55″W / 42.1069°N 80.0487°W / 42.1069; -80.0487

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.