Tuesdays with Don: Several UMUC faculty and staff members meet weekly with Don Goff to discuss proposals the University might send to various federal agencies and corporations interested in partnering with the University. (Clockwise from left) Goff, Janet Zimmer, Ouanessa Boubsil, Nichole Mattison, Loyce Pailen, and Patti Wolf.

New NSA Award Funds Expansion of Information Assurance Education at UMUC

By Andrea Martino

The National Security Agency (NSA) has awarded UMUC a program expansion grant of $330,000 to increase the number of qualified students entering the field of information assurance, part of an effort to respond to the Department of Defense’s increasing dependence on information technology for warfighting and the security of its information infrastructure. The monies were available exclusively to centers of academic excellence in information assurance education (CAE/IAE). UMUC was designated a Center of Academic Excellence in April 2002.

UMUC’s program in information assurance is distinctive in that it is offered completely online. Also to the University’s credit are articulation agreements in information technology with the National Defense University’s Information Resources Management College and the U.S. Army Signal Center at Fort Gordon.

“Our history of serving the U.S. military really worked to our advantage,” said Don Goff, chair of information and telecommunications studies in UMUC’s Graduate School, of the award. “That, coupled with our broad global reach online, makes us the ideal candidate among CAE/IAEs to broadly disseminate information assurance knowledge and skills directly to current military personnel, as well as to other federal employees and first responders. Our new initiatives will enable the Department of Defense to develop a large potential employee pool of qualified information assurance professionals at the entry level in their careers.”

According to Goff, thanks to the grant, the University can further develop the track of courses in information assurance at the undergraduate level, likely adding several thousand students stateside and in Europe and Asia. Students interested in continuing their education in information assurance can proceed at UMUC by enrolling in graduate courses.

New undergraduate students in information assurance will benefit from remote-access laboratories initially developed for use by UMUC graduate students, thanks in large part to resources provided by companies such as Oracle and Computer Associates, Inc. The remote access laboratories enable students to manage and configure security applications over the Internet, with a primary focus on information assurance applications for databases, networks, and software engineering. The University is also developing SCORM-compliant multimedia learning objects and simulations for use in the labs.

To support the development of undergraduate information assurance education, the NSA grant also provides capacity-building funds to support curriculum development, faculty development, laboratory improvements, and to Webcast colloquia and workshops on information assurance. UMUC also plans to create a virtual postdoctoral fellowship for faculty members at other IAE/CAEs to learn methods and techniques for teaching information assurance online. This, Goff suggests, may prove to be an important resource for new, part-time UMUC faculty in the field.

UMUC will also implement an institute for information assurance education to coordinate activities with other Maryland and national universities and focus resources in the field of information security.