As the threat of cybersecurity breaches increases, the need for additional skilled workers in a variety of cyber roles grows. Moraine Valley Community College earned a grant to help fill the resulting career gap.
Dr. Kristine Christensen, Moraine Valley professor of computer information systems, secured a nearly $900,000 Advanced Technological Education grant from the National Science Foundation to go toward the Cybersecurity Career Awareness and Exploration Initiative.
“I’m very excited about this. Cybersecurity is a fast-growing field, and this grant addresses the shortage of qualified workers,” said Christensen, who also serves as the principal investigator for the grant. “There is a limited view of what cyber careers are. The stereotype is a hacker in a hoodie, which does a disservice to the field. There are 52 career roles available. There’s a place for everyone. The stereotype is that it’s only for technical people, but you can have writers in this field. People don’t realize the job opportunities.”
Christensen added that Illinois has 19,000 jobs available in cyber – everything from policy analysis and compliance to writing and technical roles – with over 500,000 unfilled jobs in the industry around the country.
While many colleges and universities have developed robust cybersecurity curricula, there are limited resources and training opportunities for career counselors, academic advisors and educators to help them confidently guide students into myriad cybersecurity career pathways. In her experience working with other institutions around the country, Christensen said many educators are seeking a toolkit to help them gain this confidence. To meet this need, the grant team will develop one repository of information – or toolkit – on cybersecurity career opportunities for use by school employees, as well as a workbook for students and informal materials for parents and organizations. They will then design and deliver workshops for high school and college employees to learn about cyber pathways, programs of study and how to use the toolkit in sharing with students.
“We want people to know what opportunities exist and for schools to tell students what they can do to transfer to study cybersecurity, degree options, what’s needed in the field, what they can do to transfer or if an employer can help fund their education,” Christensen explained. “It can be overwhelming, but we need to create a repository because there’s information on cybersecurity all over the place, and it’s not organized.”
A resource book about cyber careers, workshops, a community of practice and additional outreach opportunities will be made available to colleges across the country throughout the initiative.
For news media inquiries, contact Maura Vizza, Moraine Valley communications specialist and sports information coordinator, at (708) 974-5742 or Vizzam@morainevalley.edu.
