The Early Responders Distance Learning Center (ERDLC) of Saint Joseph's University was founded in the autumn of 1999 in response to the Nunn-Lugar-Domenici Act with the mission of providing state of the art and accredited training for emergency responders to WMD/terrorist incidents. ERDLC is partially funded through congressional appropriations directed to facilitate cross-agency cooperation and involvement at the federal, state, and local government levels.

ERDLC sees its mission as being passionately committed to using its diverse talents and resources in creating state of the art distance learning content and delivery embedded in psychological science to aid and strengthen our nation's emergency response community.

ERDLC creates and administers accredited Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) courses for the Emergency Response Community on preparing for Weapons of Mass Destruction/Terrorist Incidents with a specialized focus on psychological consequences. In addition, ERDLC creates and administers Continuing Education Credits for Mental Health Professionals through the American Psychological Association (APA) and the National Association for Social Workers (NASW) and is certified for offering additional Continuing Education Credits through the International Association for Continuing Education Training (IACET). Furthermore, all ERDLC courses are submitted for certification through the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).

ERDLC is currently involved in two course projects with the federal government under the direction of the Tactical Support Working Group (TSWG): Weapons of Mass Destruction Psychological Impacts and Effects (WMD-PIE) and Weapons of Mass Destruction- Panic Response Operations (WMD-PRO). Furthermore, TSWG has directed ERDLC to create and implement a Virtual University to deliver and administer web-based ADL courses in complete SCORM compliance.

Future ERDLC projects include a pre-bachelor's, post-bachelor's, pre-master's, and post-master's accredited certificate program from Saint Joseph's University in the Psychological Aspects of Homeland Defense and Security and an additional program in Food Protection and Security.

Our primary mission of providing state of the art training for emergency responders to WMD/terrorist incidents provides the basis for the new symbol of the ERDLC. The shield, a traditional icon used in both academic and emergency response communities, symbolizes our simultaneous goals of providing strength, comfort, and protection.

The overlapping shields indicate a major purpose of the ERDLC, "protecting the protectors", through education and training. Further, by vertically splitting the four diamonds of the front shield in overlapping fields of red and white, we symbolize how the effects of terrorism impact us both above and beneath the surface.