Grants Gifted to Hancock and Cuesta Colleges for Cybersecurity Degrees and More
Jarrod Zinn
SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Allan Hancock College and Cuesta College will be collaborating on a new cybersecurity degree program.
Funding is coming from the state via the “Uplift Central Coast’s Catalyst Pre-Development Grant”.
“We’re going to be able to partner with Cuesta and work with them to create a shared curriculum that’s going to create a pathway for a two year cybersecurity degree,” says Chris McGuinness, Allan Hancock College’s marketing and communications director.
High Tech Hubs: Diversifying Careers Through Education seeks to fill in some crucial workforce gaps by preparing the next generation of skilled technicians in high demand industries such as aerospace engineering and cybersecurity.
“It’s an expansion. And that’s going to actually be a degree for transfer, which means students can then use that to transfer to a university,” says McGuinness.
This will be an opportunity for students across the region with interest in cybersecurity careers.
“While Allan Hancock may have the capacity for a cybersecurity program, they may not have enough students to fill that program. And so this is our opportunity to maybe feed some of our students who have that interest,” says Jason Curtis, Cuesta College’s vice president of instruction.
The program is one part of a broader $9 million initiative that spans six counties, all supporting work development and economic growth.
“Cuesta College has programs in criminal justice or administration of justice. Those programs here at Cuesta focus mainly on forensics. We haven’t really stuck our toe in the waters of cyber security very much. And so this is an opportunity for our students in administration of justice, who might also have computer interests to develop those interests further through the partnership with Alan Hancock,” says Curtis.
The two colleges are busy hammering out the details of the collaboration, with the aim of getting a degree program going in about 2 years.