Oklahoma City Community College.

Reese, Susan

OKLAHOMA CITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE (OCCC) SERVES MORE than 28,000 students from Oklahoma City and the surrounding area, offering 3,000 college classes. Its associate degree programs and technical and professional certification programs provide students with the option to directly enter the workforce or to go on to four-year colleges and universities. OCCC's stated mission is to provide access to learning that will empower students to earn degrees and certificates that will not only change their lives, but will also enrich the lives of everyone in their communities.

Among the programs at OCCC is Cyber/Information Security. In addition to offering a program in this exciting career field, OCCC is a member of the Cyber Security Education Consortium, which is a partnership of community colleges and CTE centers in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas, as well as the University of Tulsa, which serves as the principal training entity and mentor to the two-year institutions.

OCCC has been recognized as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency. Six technology centers in Oklahoma have also received this prestigious designation: Central Technology Center, Francis Tuttle Technology Center, Great Plains Technology Center, Meridian Technology Center, Mid-America Technology Center and Tulsa Technology Center.

The OCCC Cyber/Information Security program offers both a certificate and an associate degree option. The 36-credit-hour Certificate of Mastery is designed to prepare students with training in general security concepts, communications security, infrastructure security, cryptography, and operational and organizational security. It includes courses in computers and applications, beginning programming, computing technologies, information security, secure electronic commerce, database management, operating systems and hardware, networking technologies, network administration, network security and cyber forensics.

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The associate in Applied Sciences option requires a minimum of 61 credit hours, which include 42 credit hours of courses in computer science like those in the certificate program. However, students in the degree program also must complete 18 credit hours of general education courses in communications, English, math, history and political science, as well as a life skills course. The associate degree program prepares students to enter the career of cybersecurity specialist.

The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies notes that cybersecurity professionals must have the knowledge and skill to rapidly respond to threats as soon as they are detected, and that professionals in this field "must possess a range of technical abilities to perform a variety of activities, while retaining a willingness to work in a dispersed environment and remain extremely collaborative."

CTE programs like OCCC's Cyber/Information Security program are empowering students with the knowledge and technical skills that will increasingly be needed to protect our nation from the threat of cyberattacks and the destruction they can bring.

For more information about Oklahoma City Community College and its Cyber/Information Security program, visit www.occc.edu. Tech

Susan Reese is a Techniques contributing writer. E-mail her at susan@printmanagementinc.com.