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National Security Agency Designates Colorado State University-Pueblo as Cyberdefense Hub

The program highlights the importance of higher education as a solution to defending America’s cyberspace.

(TNS) -- Colorado State University- Pueblo has been designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education for the academic years 2016 to 2021.

The designation comes from the National Information Assurance Education and Training Program, under the authority of the U.S. National Security Agency.

School officials said Wednesday that letters of notification will be sent to CSU-Pueblo President Lesley Di Mare, Gov. John Hickenlooper, members of U.S. Congress and appropriate congressional committees.

A ceremony recognizing this national designation is scheduled for June 7 at the eighth annual National Cyber Summit in Huntsville, Ala.

Di Mare said that the designation places the university among only 5 percent of schools in the nation.

“Having this designation is an enormous accomplishment in itself. It puts us in the company of some elite institutions and is particularly important due to our location near a number of military installations and the strong Colorado industrial base in the defense industry,” Di Mare said.

“The CAE designation also lays the foundation for a new strategic emphasis to broaden our existing programs in security studies now represented by the programs in homeland security, cybersecurity and criminology.”

The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security jointly sponsor the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyberdefense Education programs, which seek to reduce vulnerability in the U.S.’s national information infrastructure by promoting higher education and research in the areas of cybersecurity and information assurance and to produce a growing number of students and professionals to advance state-of-the-art knowledge and practice in these respective areas.

Students attending nationally designated CAE-CDE schools become eligible to apply for related scholarships and grants through the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency.

The program directly supports the 2003 U.S. National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace and the 2011 International Strategy for Cyberspace to address the critical shortage of professionals with cyberskills and highlights the importance of higher education as a solution to defending America’s cyberspace.

”This designation provides the reputation and recognition to all our programmatic efforts in cybersecurity and information assurance, which we can specifically leverage in terms of offering certificate programs, and other information security and IA initiatives to a broader audience of IT professionals,” said Hasan School of Business Dean Bruce Raymond.

©2016 The Pueblo Chieftain (Pueblo, Colo.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.