The University of Idaho has announced it will now offer the state’s first cybersecurity bachelor’s degree program through its College of Engineering.
“The Center for Cyber Safety and Education estimates that there’s going to be about 1.2 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by 2022,” said Alexiss Turner, communication manager for the college. “We’re definitely trying to fill a need — this is something we’ve kind of been leading on for a couple decades.”
Jim Alves-Foss, distinguished professor in computer science and director of the UI’s Center for Secure and Dependable Systems, said he taught the university’s first cybersecurity class in 1992.
In 1999, Alves-Foss said the National Security Agency designated the UI as one of the first seven Centers of Academic Excellence in “Information Assurance Education” — a sector now known simply as “cybersecurity.”
He said it was only a matter of time before the school developed a degree pathway.
“We’ve been teaching cybersecurity classes for years and slowly adding more and…
