Champlain College Designated National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education

Related Media

2012 Champlain Cyber Defense Team

• Champlain College Cyber Class

BURLINGTON, VT (05/14/2012)(readMedia)-- Champlain College has been re-designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education for the academic years 2012-2017 from the National Security Agency (NSA). The NSA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) jointly sponsor the National Centers of Academic Excellence in IA Education (CAE/IAE) programs. The goal of these programs is to reduce vulnerability in our national information infrastructure by promoting higher education and research in IA and producing a growing number of professionals with IA expertise in various disciplines.

Champlain College has two undergraduate programs related to Information Assurance (IA) – Computer & Digital Forensics and Computer Networking & Information Security (CNIS). It also offers a masters degree in Digital Investigation Management. The curriculum of these programs at Champlain College meets and exceeds the government criteria for Internet Security and Systems Administrations. In addition, the designation is based on faculty and student involvement in Information Security through conference participation, student projects, and outreach.

The Information Assurance (IA) programs were judged on specific criteria such as:

• Outreach and Collaboration: Sharing curriculum and resources, accepting credits from other institutions, using technology and media in the classroom, the opportunity for students to attend external IA workshops, and providing students with IA practitioners.
• IA Treated as a Multidisciplinary Science: IA appeals to students not studying IA; non-IA students are introduced to IA topics in their curriculum; IA students can incorporate their studies into core papers in non-IA courses.
• University Encourages the Practice of IA: The institution has their own IA security plan(s), promoting not only the teaching of IA, but the practice. Evidence of this IA security plan and the institution's Information Systems Security Officer must be provided.
• Academic Program Encourages Student Research in IA: Student theses, dissertations, papers, projects and even syllabi showing these requirements show that the program encourages student research in IA to fuel its relevancy.
• Faculty Active in Current IA Practice and Research: Faculty members are engaged in and/or have initiated student IA programs, have contributed to IA research and literature, are members of professional societies, and attend professional IA conferences.
• IA Resources: Key online resources are provided to students by professor and IA labs and equipment are available for hands-on learning.
• IA Academic Program is Robust and Active: The number of students currently enrolled in the program and that have graduated in the past two academic years. There must be sufficient courses provided for students to take.
• Declared Center for IA Education: The institution has declared a formal organization where faculty and students can share research, collaborate, and interact.
• Number of IA Faculty and Course Load: A sufficient number of full-time faculty members and additional members with the necessary credentials to teach IA.

With the honor, Jim Hoag, associate professor and department chair of Champlain's Information Assurance and Technology, and his team will attend the Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education (CISSE) in Lake Buena Vista, FL in mid-June. The Colloquium's goal is to work together to define current and emerging requirements for information assurance education and to influence and encourage the development and expansion of information assurance curricula, especially at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Hoag and Assistant Professor Zachariah Tanko will be attending the Colloquium in June to accept the designation. "It is an honor to have Champlain's continued work in Information Assurance education recognized by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security," said Hoag. "We look forward to helping students become the next generation of cyber security professionals."

Champlain College originally received the designation in 2007. The designations are in effect for five years, at which point the College has to apply for re-designation and submit changes made during the five years.

About Champlain College: Since 1878, Champlain College has provided career-focused education to students from its hilltop campus in Burlington, Vt. Champlain's distinctive educational approach embodies the notion that true learning only occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain offers traditional undergraduate and online undergraduate courses, along with online certificate and degree programs and eight master's degree programs. Champlain offers study abroad programs at its campuses in Montreal, Quebec and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain College is included in the Princeton Review's "The Best 376 Colleges: 2012 Edition." Champlain was named a "Top-Up-and-Coming School" by U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges and is ranked in the top tier of 2012 Regional Colleges in the North. For more information, visit www.champlain.edu.

By Kayla Hedman '14 / Champlain College News