The Faculty Senate on Wednesday passed a new master of arts in homeland security, a degree that exemplifies Northeastern’s commitment and leadership to security research and other efforts centered around national defense.

The degree is a companion to the first-in-the-nation master of science in security and resilience studies passed at last week’s Senate meeting.

John LaBrie, dean of the College of Professional Studies and vice president for professional education, noted the degree reaffirms Northeastern’s commitment to security research taking place university-wide across many disciplines. Those efforts include a variety of academic programs as well as dedicated research centers like the George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security and the ALERT (Awareness and Localization of Explosives-related Threats)—a multi-university, Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence.

“In conjunction with these efforts, we see Northeastern emerging as the national leader in the growing security space,” LaBrie said.

LaBrie said the new degree, targeted toward homeland security professionals, will focus on preparing for, responding to, recovering from, and mitigating disasters and emergencies. He said it also aligns with the efforts of the Naval Postgraduate School, which after 9/11 was charged with creating and disseminating a homeland security curriculum and has since become standard of sorts in this field.

The Faculty Senate also passed several resolutions pertaining to proposed changes regarding the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution’s handling of students who violate the university’s academic integrity policy. The body also passed a resolution that endorses a university-wide online system for submitting and tracking new proposed courses. The current system in place tracks them at the college level.

At the start of the meeting, the Senate observed a moment of silence for those affected by the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday.