NCC awarded $540k to bolster programs in Cybersecurity
Contributed by Rocky Mount Telegram. Author Bill West.
Nash Community College has been awarded a grant of more than $500,000 from the National Science Foundation to help integrate cyber safety principles into the college’s information technology and information systems associate degree track.
U.S. Representative Don Davis
NCC applied for the grant. U.S. Rep Don Davis, D-1st District, in a June 30 news release, announced that the foundation had signed off on a total of $539,574 for the college.
“Securing the vital resources for eastern North Carolina necessary to bolster cybersecurity knowledge and ensure the safety of community members is essential,” Davis said in prepared remarks as a part of the news release.
Davis said expanding cybersecurity training can lay the foundation for a more secure cyber landscape, which can help to safeguard the region from potential cyber threats.
The National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency that supports research and education in science and technology through grants and cooperative agreements.
Davis said that the purpose of the foundation’s funding for NCC is to produce skilled information technology and information systems technicians with an essential knowledge of cybersecurity to safeguard organizational data, networks and applications.
Davis also said that the plan is to include the creation of the Nighthawk Cyber Alliance, a mutual partnership between the Business and Industry Leadership Team and the NCC faculty, staff and students to promote the dissemination of cyber literacy principles and the attainment of foundational cyber literacy skills.
The Business and Industry Leadership Team is similar to an advisory panel and is composed of information technology department leaders at local employers.
The team was formed and met in August 2023 and is going to meet this month for a roundtable discussion.
NCC President Lew Hunnicutt said in email correspondence that the college is appreciative of the support from Davis’ office.
The money is going to be used to focus on a project that has three goals.
The first goal is to create a more diverse credentialed information technology workforce in the eastern part of the state.
The second goal is to implement cyber safety principles in the information technology and information systems associate science degree track at NCC.
The third goal is to create a culture of cyber safety literacy across non-information technology disciplines of study.
Nakisha Floyd, NCC’s department chair of information technologies, said in email correspondence that the goals were guided by feedback and in-depth discussions with the Business and Industry Leadership Team.
Amy Harrell, vice president of instruction and the college’s chief academic officer, said in email correspondence that NCC is excited about the opportunities the grant will provide to expand training about cybersecurity, not just to the college’s information technology and information systems students, but to students throughout the college.
“In our world today, cyberattacks are threats to professionals in many disciplines — and providing a foundation of cyber literacy to all our students will only better prepare them for careers in any field of study,” Harrell said.
