As fallout from the global COVID-19 pandemic increasingly drives the public online to conduct personal and professional activities remotely, information security has never been more important than it is today.
Enter Kellogg Community College.
Beginning this fall, KCC is offering a new 62-credit Associate in Applied Science in Cybersecurity degree that will prepare graduates to meet the unique challenges posed by the growing needs of a digital society head on.
Dr. Dennis Baskin, dean of Workforce Development at KCC, said the new degree program will prepare students for employment in high-demand, high-paying entry-level cybersecurity positions, with graduates ready for the workforce or for transfer to a four-year university.
“Significant cybersecurity talent gaps exist across the country, and a need for trained professionals is growing,” Baskin said. “KCC’s new Cybersecurity degree program is specifically designed to meet those demands, and KCC is proud to begin preparing cybersecurity professionals to serve the evolving modern needs of our communities.”
Broadly speaking, cybersecurity as a practice uses technology and computerized processes to protect hardware, software and electronic data from threats or unauthorized access – everything from online class materials and Zoom meetings to banking information and cloud-based information systems.
And, as Baskin noted, cybersecurity professionals are in high demand.
According to CyberSeek, a resource supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) initiative to track supply and demand in the cybersecurity job market across the U.S., there’s a critical shortage of qualified cybersecurity workers across the nation.
CyberSeek currently lists more than 504,000 cybersecurity job openings in the U.S. and more than 8,700 in Michigan alone.
Mike Gagnon, director of Business and Information Technology at KCC, said KCC’s new Cybersecurity Program will use content and outcomes aligned with industry standards to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to fill such positions.
“This is a forward-thinking program designed with the current and future needs of our students and society in mind,” Gagnon said. “Cybersecurity graduates at KCC will enter the workforce well-equipped with the practical and analytical skills necessary to assess and remediate security threats and vulnerabilities, providing a much-needed service to the communities we serve that will only grow with time.”
For more information about KCC’s new Cybersecurity Program, visit www.kellogg.edu/cybersecurity or contact an academic advisor at advising@kellogg.edu. For more information about the current job market for cybersecurity professionals, visit the CyberSeek website at www.cyberseek.org.
For more news about Kellogg Community College, view our latest press releases online at https://daily.kellogg.edu/category/news-releases.