NW Washington News

On December 8 and 9, 2022, Whatcom Community College’s (WCC) National Cybersecurity Training & Education Center (NCyTE), in collaboration with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD), hosted a strategic summit focused on addressing the nation's exploding workforce gap in cybersecurity.

“The National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy that we are working on at the White House must be all-inclusive in terms of identifying the largest possible population that we can serve. We will use community colleges as a valuable gateway to help career-connected learners step into better jobs. We will expand pathways in cyber careers so that those jobs are available to everyone who wishes to pursue them, building an economy of resilience from the bottom up and the middle out,” Chris Inglis, National Cyber Director and cyber advisor to the President of the United States.

With a focus on community colleges and their unique contributions to workforce development, participants from the Northwestern region of the U.S. and across the nation examined what is working, what is needed, and how federal programs may be able to help stimulate key initiatives and strategies identified during the event. Over 95 invited stakeholders in cybersecurity workforce development participated.

Context for the event was set by welcoming remarks given by Corby Hovis, NSF Program Director; Paul Tortora, Deputy Assistant to the National Cyber Director for Workforce & Education and Chris Inglis, National Cyber Director.  The riveting opening keynote by Will Markow, VP of Applied Research for Lightcast illuminated the data and reasons behind the growing cybersecurity workforce gap, (a projected 700,000 unfilled positions across the U.S. alone): declining workforce participation, declining birthrates and immigration, the fact that cybersecurity jobs take 21% longer to fill and attract 10% higher pay than other IT jobs, and the expansion of cyber demand across roles and industries. Other speakers included: WCC President Dr. Kathi Hiyane-Brown who facilitated a discussion on The role and impact of senior administrators on cybersecurity workforce development, addressing how organizational leaders from education, government and industry can increase their impact on the current workforce shortage.  Camille Stewart Gloster, Esq., Deputy Director, Office of the National Cybersecurity Director gave a keynote address in the form of a fireside chat with Dr. Hiyane-Brown, and Zach Oxendine, Service Engineer at Microsoft Corporation led a panel of recent graduates and current students around their career-finding experiences, and Kara Four Bear, Superintendent of Eagle Butte School District, and recipient of the Presidential Cybersecurity Education Award in 2019 led a panel of Native American leaders who provided their perspectives for engaging tribal members in the workforce.

“Addressing the cybersecurity workforce gap presents a significant challenge that is also an enormous opportunity.  And, community colleges are the epicenter of 21st-centry workforce training, providing students with the skills to meet demand and a pipeline to businesses that need their energy and expertise.  Communities are transformed when community colleges, businesses, and government work together and this summit is an incredible example of that collaboration.  We know that by training students in cyber-related jobs we are building an economy of resilience from the bottom up and the middle out,” said Camille Stewart Gloster, Esq., Deputy Director, Office of the National Cybersecurity Director.

Original source can be found here.