Fire Service Administration (Accelerated) / Bachelor of Arts
Total Credit Hours: 128
Major Credit Hours: 39
The accelerated Bachelor of Arts degree completion program in Fire Service Administration consists of 33 credit hours of upper division core courses and 6 credit hours of electives to complete the requirements for the major in Fire Service Administration. This degree completion program is designed to provide administrative courses for professionals in the fire service field. This program is also available online.
Students admitted to the program must be at least 24 years of age, have at least three years of full-time work experience, and have a fire service-related associate’s degree or equivalent hours in the fire service field from an accredited college. A maximum of 72 community college credit hours will be accepted. Consistent with Lewis University policy, an unlimited number of credit hours will be accepted from four-year/senior institutions as long as the final 32 hours, including at least 12 hours of upper-division courses in the major and 6 hours of Mission-based courses, are completed at Lewis.
Core courses for the major will be offered in a continuous eight-week accelerated format. There will be two eight-week sessions during the fall, spring, and summer semesters. This format will allow students the opportunity to earn up to 6 credit hours of courses in the major during each sixteen-week semester. Courses may be taken without regard for sequence.
Firefighters in the Chicago area typically work one 24-hour shift with the following 48 hours off duty. Because of this type of work schedule, each class will be offered on two consecutive days, when enrollment permits. Each class will mirror the class of the prior day. This will allow for a maximum number of firefighters to attend classes. The mirrored class schedule was recommended by leadership personnel in all of the fire departments involved in the discussion of this program.
Degree Requirements
I. Core Courses (33)
| 91-320 | Fire Service Administration | 3 |
| 91-324 | Risk Management in the Fire Service | 3 |
| 91-328 | Labor -Management Relations | 3 |
| 91-332 | Ethics in the Fire Service | 3 |
| 91-336 | Planning for Community Fire Protection | 3 |
| 91-340 | Analysis of Issues and Trends in the Fire Service | 3 |
| 91-344 | Administration of Emergency Medical Services | 3 |
| 91-402 | Personnel Management of the Fire Service | 3 |
| 91-404 | Legal Aspects of Fire Service Management | 3 |
| 91-406 | Financial Management of the Fire Service | 3 |
| 91-408 | Applications of Fire Research | 3 |
II. Select two additional electives: (6)
| 10-330 | Public Relations Writing | 3 |
| 10-349 | Organizational Communication | 3 |
| 26-373 | Organizational Leadership | 3 |
| 81-341 | Criminalistics: Introduction to Forensic Investigations | 3 |
| 81-460 | Architectural Design | 3 |
| 81-370 | Intelligence Gathering | 3 |
| 81-385 | Agency-Community Relations | 3 |