Major in Humanitarian and Disaster Relief
Understand disaster relief • Develop practical skills • Change lives
John Brown University
2000 W. University St.,
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
479-524-9500
jbuinfo@jbu.edu
What are you looking for?
Understand disaster relief • Develop practical skills • Change lives
The humanitarian and disaster relief major equips students to meet people at some of the most chaotic and vulnerable times in their lives and offer a reflection of God's love. This program helps students develop practical skills, such as emergency medicine or construction management and combines that with quality education in intercultural studies and emergency management. Supporting this diverse curriculum is a foundation in leadership development.
Start your applicationRoles in the humanitarian or disaster relief field can include working at government agencies, local and international relief ministries and refugee care agencies.
The humanitarian and disaster relief degree includes many of the knowledge areas desired in this field, including intercultural studies, experiential education and emergency management.
You'll be prepared to nurture spiritual formation and serve others in a growing industry. There is expected to be a need for 70,000 new relief workers over the next decade.
Students can earn certifications in remote and emergency medicine. They will graduate with certain FEMA certifications, an EMT license and a wilderness EMT certification.
JBU offers a 4+1 path for students to earn both a bachelor's degree in humanitarian and disaster relief and a master’s degree in outdoor program management from JBU's business school in just 5 years.
Home to the Buffalo River and the Ozark Mountains, Northwest Arkansas has very active community search and rescue teams for students to volunteer with while completing their degrees.
Dr. Greg Robinson is currently the Associate Professor of Outdoor Leadership Ministries at John Brown University. Previously, he was the Program Director for HoneyRock, the Outdoor Center for Leadership Development of Wheaton College, as well as President of Challenge Quest, LLC in Pryor, Oklahoma, the Managing Member of Adventure Quest Recreation, LLC.
Dr. Robinson has a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Leadership from The Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also has a M.S. in Counseling from John Brown University.
Dr. Robinson's professional career has concentrated in the areas of experiential learning, team development, leadership development, facilitation and consulting with organizational change efforts. He is the author of A Leadership Paradox: Influencing Others by Defining Yourself; Teams for a New Generation: A Facilitator’s Field Guide; Adventure and the Way of Jesus, Lessons of the Way: Using experiential activities to explore the way of Jesus; and Leading from Where You Are: How Every Person Can Help or Hinder a Collaborative Culture.
His family includes his wife of 28 years Jeannie, his daughter Keely and her fiancée Nick LaTurner, his sons Kobe and Kyle, as well as two grandsons Lucas and Max.
Department Chair, Bible and Ministry; Professor of Outdoor Leadership Ministries
Dr. Aminta Arrington spent eight years serving with an organization that places Christian teachers at Chinese universities, most recently at Renmin University of China in Beijing. Prior to the four years she spent in the Chinese capital, she spent an additional four years in the agricultural hinterlands of eastern China's Shandong province teaching at Taishan Medical University. She chronicled those experiences in the edited book Saving Grandmother's Face and Other Tales from Christian Teachers in China, and the memoir Home Is a Roof Over a Pig: An American Family's Journey in China.
Dr. Arrington wrote her dissertation on the Lisu — a people dispersed throughout southwest China, eastern Myanmar (Burma), and northern Thailand. The Lisu converted to Christianity approximately one hundred years ago after evangelization by the China Inland Mission and other mission organizations. She spent several months living with the Lisu in woven bamboo huts on steep mountain inclines participating in the rhythm of village life: planting corn, feeding animals, eating food cooked over a fire, washing dishes, and five times a week, sitting on hard pews in church singing hymns in four-part harmony. Through the Lisu, she learned about a Christian faith that is focused on togetherness within a community of fellow believers, a faith most authentically expressed through music and song, a faith directed outward toward God and neighbors.
Dr. Arrington has traversed both major and minor waterways throughout Southeast Asia: the Mekong River from northern Thailand, through Laos, Cambodia, and the Mekong Delta in Vietnam; the Irrawaddy river from Mandalay to Bagan in Myanmar (Burma); and, trekked through northern Thailand on foot and via bamboo raft. She has explored the ruins of ancient civilizations at Siem Reap, Cambodia; Ayutthaya and Sukhotai in Thailand; and, Hue, Vietnam. She has traveled across the length of Java (east to west) and Vietnam (south to north) by rail. She spent a year studying Japanese in Tokyo. She has participated in homestays with the Karen of northern Thailand and the Bidayuh of Malaysian Borneo. She has been attacked by monkeys in Bali and eaten mango sticky rice in Thailand too many times to count. But her greatest joys are found in worshipping God with Christians from the Global South, and in teaching her students to better understand and appreciate the depth, diversity, and beauty of what the Greek New Testament calls the pante ta ethne — the world's peoples and cultures.
Associate Professor of Intercultural Studies; Coordinator of Faculty Development
Equip yourself for a successful career and a life of purpose.
JBU does not unlawfully discriminate based on race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, military status, or age in the administration of its educational policies, admissions, financial aid, employment, educational programs, or activities.
John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top-ranked regional university (U.S. News Best Colleges 2019), JBU enrolls more than 2,100 students from 38 states and 53 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers 41 majors, with top programs including engineering, nursing, family and human services, biology, graphic design and construction management.