"With major tech and defense hubs in north Alabama — particularly the Huntsville area — Athens State's new bachelor's in cybersecurity program is a perfect fit for this region," said Athens State spokesperson Lauren Blacklidge. "There is a strong job market for cybersecurity professionals in the area, and students will have access to internships, networking and experiential learning opportunities during their time at Athens State.
"Local companies and employers, in turn, will have access to skilled graduates who will help better manage risk, protect sensitive systems and handle incident response effectively."
Prior to adding this bachelor's program, Athens State offered a master's in cybersecurity, a bachelor's in management of cybersecurity operations (MCO) and two cybersecurity-related certificates. Students could also specialize in cybersecurity from the computer science program, but Adam Lewis, Athens State professor of computer science, said the field has evolved enough to qualify cybersecurity as a distinct discipline.
The degree option will be available to students starting with this fall semester, which will start Monday.
"It consolidates together a bunch of things that we were already doing, but it sets it up in such a way that it makes it both more attractive to an incoming student and makes it a lot easier for a student who's attending a junior college, like Calhoun, to transfer to us to finish up with a four-year degree," Lewis said. "The term I heard one of our administrators use was 'a smoother pathway.' I found that to be an accurate way of thinking about it."
High school students who participate in dual enrollment may even be able to finish the master's in cybersecurity at Athens State by the time their peers are finishing their bachelor's degree.
"One of the really cool things about that is given how prevalent dual enrollment is happening in the high schools, a student could come in and go through that dual enrollment program, get their high school diploma and an associate's degree from Calhoun, then come directly into our program, finish that, then come into our master's degree," Lewis said.
Roughly 60 percent of computer science students come directly from Calhoun Community College, according to Lewis. He anticipates a mix of 35 to 40 new students and students currently in the computer science program will declare a major in cybersecurity.
After graduation, students can move into jobs like cybersecurity analysts, security engineers and information security managers. Over the course of their studies, they'll take classes like network security, digital forensics, incident response and data analysis. The courses will aim to prepare students for certain industry certifications that employers require, according to Lewis.
Companies that recent graduates have accepted offers from include those based on or around Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, such as Leidos, Davidson Technologies, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and more, Lewis said.
The university highlighted a prediction from the Alabama Department of Labor, saying that in 2024, three of the top 10 high-demand jobs for Alabama would be related to computer science.
"As security threats grow in complexity and frequency, industry needs professionals who not only understand how systems work, but also how to secure them, manage risks and respond effectively," said Katia Maxwell, Assistant Dean for the College of Arts & Sciences, in a press release. "This program is designed to meet that need by preparing students to lead in both technical and operational roles within today's rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape."
Lewis said the new degree will also keep more local graduates in the area by offering an economic incentive and proximity incentive to stay near home rather than enroll in a cybersecurity degree program elsewhere.
© 2025 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
