New Degrees Tied to In-Demand Careers

Two new degrees coming to Arkansas Tech University in fall 2017 will assist society in fighting what is both a current and ever-increasing threat: online crime.

Arkansas Tech’s new Bachelor of Science and Associate of Applied Science degrees in cybersecurity were developed by and proposed by the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Department of Computer and Information Science at ATU.

Dr. Mohamed Abdelrahman, vice president for academic affairs, wrote in a memorandum presented to the ATU Board of Trustees that the programs were developed “in response to the unprecedented rise in cyber threats nationwide.”

A report sponsored by the Herjavec Group, a leading global information security advisory firm, revealed the following information about online crime in 2016:

  • global annual cybercrime costs will grow from $3 trillion in 2015 to $6 trillion annually by 2021
  • global spending on cybersecurity products and services for defending against cybercrime is projected to exceed $1 trillion cumulatively over the next five years, from 2017 to 2021
  • unfilled cybersecurity jobs will reach 1.5 million by 2019

ATU students can help fill some of those anticipated career opportunities by earning one or both of the cybersecurity degrees going into effect in fall 2017.

Abdelrahman wrote that the baccalaureate program will prepare students “to understand how a threat occurs, how to prevent a threat and how to recover from a threat,” while the associate program is “designed to prepare a student to support the cybersecurity professional in both prevention and recovery from a threat.”

Students interested in pursuing the cybersecurity degree programs may contact the ATU Office of Admissions at (479) 968-0343 or tech.enroll@atu.edu to learn more about applying to become a Tech student.