New members have been named to an advisory council that provides recommendations to the Department of Homeland Security on education campus-related issues. DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas appointed 20 new members to Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council on June 21.
The 30-member council, which Mayorkas reconstituted in 2022, was established in 2012 to "provide strategic and actionable recommendations to the Secretary on campus safety and security, improved coordination, research priorities, hiring, and more," DHS states in its June 21 press release.
The new members represent a diverse group of higher-education entities, according to the release, including two- and four-year universities and colleges; associations; campus law enforcement; K-12 public school systems; education-employee associations or labor organizations; private-sector company, non-governmental organization or civil society; and minority-serving institutions such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal colleges and institutions serving Hispanics, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Members serve a two-year term, the release reports.
"I am grateful to each of the twenty Council members I am appointing today for their willingness to serve," Mayorkas said in the release, "and I look forward to receiving their guidance and recommendations.”
Matters on which the council will advise DHS include on-campus safety and security measures such as prevent, mitigation, response and recovery, and emergency management; improving how threat and security-related information is coordinated and disseminated; measures to promote career opportunities in a modern DHS workforce; and supporting and expanding research opportunities, such as with the DHS Science and Technology Centers of Excellent and the DHS/National Security Agency joint Centers of Academic Excellence, according to the release.
“The Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council’s insights into strategic research, innovation, career development, and partnership opportunities for the Department will support our mission to safeguard the American people," Mayorkas said in the release, "and help our country think through and prepare for whatever threats lie ahead."
