CPS’s Connie Peterson Uthoff, associate program director of the Cybersecurity Strategy & Information Management master’s degree program, was quoted in the October 17 Washington Post Express story, “Defenders of the Web,” written by Beth Luberecki.
The article, written during National Cybersecurity Month, had a few major takeaways, one of them being that “in today’s cybersecurity degree programs, it’s not just about graduating engineers.” The article underscores the plentiful opportunities for students interested in careers in the cyber arena, the more technical coders and hackers, as well as those who make policy, legal and business decisions using an understanding of cybersecurity.
They reported, "If you’re a prospective graduate student looking to make yourself an attractive candidate for a cybersecurity position, there are lots of options. George Washington University offers a master’s of cybersecurity strategy and information management through its College of Professional Studies. The 5-year-old program was designed in consultation with government, military and law enforcement organizations, and helps train students interested in decision-making rather than technical cybersecurity roles.”
“It’s geared toward people who want to do something that involves leadership and management,” says Connie Peterson Uthoff, associate program director. “This master’s will make them more competitive, especially in the federal government.”
The article references a 2017 study by the Center for Cyber Safety and Education forecasting a global cybersecurity workforce gap of 1.8 million by 2022 to support the claim of high job demand. It also mentions CyberSeek, an online interactive tool supported by the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, which reported more than 300,000 cybersecurity job openings in the United States as of press time, with more than 43,000 of those positions in the D.C. metro area.
According to another GW faculty member quoted in the article, “We need people in stand-alone cybersecurity programs who can get a very robust depth of knowledge in the more technical facets,” says Diana Burley, executive director and chair of the Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection at George Washington University, who also co-chairs a joint task force on cybersecurity education.
“But we also need people who are able to perform a variety of different roles with at least a minimum amount of cybersecurity knowledge, so they can make informed decisions.”
Link to full article on the Washington Post's website