Collaborative Project: Developing Faculty Expertise in Information Assurance through Case Studies and Hands-on Experiences

University Of Tennessee Chattanooga, Chattanooga TN

Investigators

Abstract

Three universities, North Carolina A & T State University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, are collaboratively developing faculty expertise in information assurance (IA) and computer security through two faculty development workshops. Covering two years, the workshops involve thirty-six faculty members from two-year, four-year, and minority colleges and universities. The workshops are helping participants to integrate IA labs and case studies into the curricula at the participants' home institutions. The workshops are designed to increase the faculty members' expertise and their home institution's capacity to produce a diverse workforce in the area of information assurance. Personalized instruction plans and follow-up assistance are provided to faculty participants. Besides building faculty expertise, the project is improving partnerships in information assurance education. This project is improving overall information security and critical infrastructure protection in the U.S. by producing a larger and more diverse IA workforce with better IA skills. The curriculum materials disseminated through the workshops can be adopted across multiple disciplines such as computer science, software engineering, information technology and business, and are being made available to a broader audience through conferences, publication, and a dedicated website. The project is building a community of security education experts across multiple disciplines. Broad coverage of IA topics and the introduction of innovative teaching techniques are attracting faculty participants with diverse backgrounds.