Starting this Fall 2020, Western Michigan University will be offering a Bachelor of Science degree in Cybersecurity.
Currently, there is a master’s degree in cybersecurity which was launched three years ago.
This new degree will allow undergraduates to study cybersecurity.
The demand for cybersecurity has grown over the years as people become more connected with technology. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, hiring for cybersecurity analysts are expected to increase by 32% by 2028.
“There is a massive demand for cybersecurity professionals,” Dr. Alan Rea, Business Information Systems professor said.”
If a student majors in cybersecurity, they will have the option to take it from anywhere in the world. Classes will be held online and in-person, students can choose which method to take. This class method was decided before the COVID-19 pandemic.
When taking classes in cybersecurity, students will find it is cross disciplinary as they take classes in the college of business and college of engineering.
“You do not see many cybersecurity degrees like this,” Rea said. “They (students) get the intensely technical knowledge but they also get the higher systemic view of things from an organizational or business perspective.”
All of that makes the program exciting according to Rea.
“It’s a very promising career field, it’s a very promising degree, it’s very flexible,” Rea said.
Configuring firewalls and the policies behind the writing of them are just some of the things students will learn as part of the cross disciplinary degree. Students will also learn about cryptology, typography, windows and Linux systems, as well as networking and security.
Students can expect to get two industry certifications upon completion of the bachelor’s program.
Rea said that cybersecurity workers serve an important role to businesses and the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need.
“Businesses need people to secure networks to secure data,” Rea said. “Businesses no longer have people in the same building, that was the case before but even more so now.”
WMU Cybersecurity
https://wmich.edu/cybersecurity
