Tag: California State University (CSU) Chancellor

Educating California’s Workforce

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Newswise — When companies want to invest in their employees’ education, they turn to the CSU because it’s the best value in higher education. At only $5,742 per academic year, CSU tuition is among the lowest in the country and has not risen in more than a decade in keeping with the university’s commitment to making college affordable for all.

The CSU works with industry partners to help employees advance their careers and foster a more educated workforce for California’s economy. Read about a few of these partnerships.

Amazon Education Partners

Amazon’s Career Choice program provides education and training opportunities that include full college tuition, industry certifications and foundational skills, such as English language, high school diplomas and GEDs. Full- and part-time Amazon employees who have worked for at least 90 days are eligible.

The e-commerce company has chosen several CSU campuses to be education partners and serve regions in which the company operates: Channel Islands, Fresno, Pomona, San Diego, San Josè and Stanislaus.

“[Earning a degree] may be the difference between employees being in a warehouse position versus a higher-paying managerial position, so it could have tremendous benefits—life changing in some ways,” says Ron Rogers, Ph.D., San Josè State interim vice provost for academic innovation and online initiatives. “Career Choice provides them mobility within their careers, which will ultimately contribute to their social mobility.”

The program also provides employees with the opportunity to explore other career options at Amazon like communications and marketing, software development and more. Students receive a quality education from the university as well as strong academic and career advising.Stanislaus State student and Amazon employee Mischelle Martinez. Photo credit: Stanislaus State

As a Career Choice education partner, San Diego State University Global Campus, for example, provides access to a range of SDSU degree-completion programs offered fully online or hybrid with some in-person components, giving students flexibility in how, when and where they learn.

“We were very excited when Amazon reached out to us to be their first Career Choice partner in the San Diego region,” Casey Rothenberger, executive director of academic and professional programs for SDSU Global Campus, says in a press release. “This partnership allows SDSU and Amazon to provide increased access to a bachelor’s degree for the thousands of Amazon employees in our region.”

For Mischelle Martinez, a Stanislaus State business major who transferred from Modesto Junior College last spring, learning that Career Choice is available to her was a pleasant surprise.

“I was transferring in and found out that I qualified for this program, so I decided to definitely take advantage of it,” says Martinez, who works 30 hours a week as an Amazon packer while taking a full load of classes. “It is a big help because it covers all of my educational costs.”

A Patterson resident and mother of two small children, Martinez says she chose to attend Stan State for its business programs and proximity to Patterson, which allows her to save money by living at home and commuting. She is considering a human resources track and plans to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in spring 2023.

‘Cal State Disneyland’

Last summer, Cal State Fullerton joined Disney Aspire, The Walt Disney Company’s education investment and career development program that offers 100 percent tuition paid upfront for hourly employees.

Dozens of CSUF programs will be available starting spring 2023 to more than 29,500 hourly employees eligible to participate in Disney Aspire in California, more than 3,400 of whom are already enrolled at the university.

“It’s always been a little joke that CSUF is called ‘Cal State Disneyland’ because so many Disney cast members also attend or graduated from Cal State Fullerton, so this is a natural fit,” says Elva Rubalcava, CSUF associate vice president of government and community relations. “Disney also recognizes that CSUF has an incredible impact on Orange County’s economy. In fact, nearly 80 percent of our more than 310,000 alumni have stayed within a 50-mile radius of campus.”

In addition to covering tuition, Disney will also reimburse employees for applicable books and fees. Employees will have access to a variety of in-person and online courses at CSUF, located about seven miles from the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim.

CSUF joins Disney Aspire as the program’s first four-year brick-and-mortar university, as all previously established educational opportunities are through online universities and programs. This will allow local employees the chance to engage in an on-campus college student experience.

Serving Working Adults

Cal State San Bernardino has established the Stater Bros. Market completion program to help employees advance their careers. Through this partnership, the grocery chain can provide a significant educational opportunity to its employees to earn a Bachelor of Arts in administration through the Jack H. Brown College of Business and Public Administration (JHBC).

“Stater Bros. has provided startup funding for the program and is promoting the program among its own employees,” JHBC Dean Tomás Gómez-Arias, Ph.D., says. “As part of our agreement with Stater Bros., their employees get a 15 percent tuition discount and Stater Bros. provides an additional 15 percent tuition reimbursement.”

The program resembles the curriculum of CSUSB’s regular Bachelor of Arts in Administration program but is offered fully online in a more flexible modality with eight-week courses. It is designed for students who have taken their lower division courses at community colleges or other institutions and can complete the program in 60 units.

“Being fully online and asynchronous, it fits with people’s schedules,” Dr. Gómez-Arias says. “The short course format allows students to progress towards their degree in predictable chunks that accommodate changes in people’s life demands.”

The partnership will also have a major impact in providing access to a high-quality educational program and opportunities to increase the college attainment rates of Inland Empire residents. The inland region has a population of 4.5 million residents, but less than 20 percent of the residents have a bachelor’s degree.

Learn more about these programs by visiting the Amazon Career Choice, Disney Aspire and CSUSB Jack H. Brown College websites.

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California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s Office

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January 25, 2023
CSU Faculty and Staff Honored for Dedication to Student Success

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Newswise — The California State University (CSU) will honor four faculty and one staff member with the esteemed Wang Family Excellence Award for their unwavering commitment to student achievement and advancing the CSU mission through excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. As part of their recognition, each honoree will receive a $20,000 award that is provided through a gift from CSU Trustee Emeritus Stanley T. Wang and administered through the CSU Foundation.

Honorees will be recognized publicly Tuesday, January 24, during the CSU Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach, California.

“As we emerge from the pandemic, it is my great honor to confer the 2023 Wang Family Excellence Award to five extraordinary individuals who are connecting students with transformational opportunities to grow, contribute and lead in our communities,” said CSU Interim Chancellor Jolene Koester. “We extend our enduring appreciation to Trustee Emeritus Stanley Wang and his family for their unparalleled generosity and for continuing to nurture a world of connection.”

Introduced in 1998, the Wang Family Excellence Awards recognize CSU faculty members who have distinguished themselves through high-quality teaching and excellence in their area of expertise. The awards also acknowledge a staff member whose contributions go above and beyond expectations.

The five honorees are:

Steve Alas, Ph.D., Cal Poly Pomona (Professor of Biology, Director of SEES), Outstanding Faculty Service

A tumor immunologist with expertise in genetics and DNA repair and a former research fellow at City of Hope National Medical Center, Dr. Steve Alas’ impact on human lives extends far beyond his research lab. The veteran biologist has provided extraordinary service and opportunities to thousands of students at his alma mater, Cal Poly Pomona, while diversifying the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields and connecting California’s industries with invaluable untapped talent.

Dr. Alas first joined the university as an assistant professor in 2005. Today, as director of CPP’s Science Educational Enhancement Services (SEES), he works tirelessly to eliminate barriers for underrepresented and first-generation students in the fields of science and engineering, serving more than 700 students each year. While establishing a community of peers, SEES provides students with professional development, peer mentoring, academic support, referrals to fellowships and scholarships and summer orientation for incoming freshmen, among many other services. His efforts have helped narrow the graduation gap for participating underrepresented students from 17.6 percent to 3.9 percent.

Described by CPP President Soraya Coley as “the epitome of a teacher-scholar-mentor-leader,” Dr. Alas has received the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Service, as well as the CSU Faculty Innovation and Leadership Award (FILA). He holds a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from CPP and a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

David Blekhman, Ph.D., Cal State LA (Professor of Technology, Technical Director of Hydrogen Research and Fueling Facility), Outstanding Faculty Scholarship

Tapped by Cal State LA to expand its green portfolio by developing the largest hydrogen and fuel-cell research facility at any academic campus in the United States, Dr. David Blekhman jumped at the opportunity. When the Cal State LA Hydrogen Research and Fueling Facility opened in 2014, the engineering technology professor was named its technical director. The station was the first in the world to be certified to sell hydrogen by the kilogram directly to drivers, and it has hosted more than 10,000 students and industry professionals.

Beyond his vision for clear skies and a green and healthy planet, the alternative energy expert is intent on creating a world where his diverse and talented students are prized as highly skilled practitioners, with a direct hand in advancing sustainable policies and technical solutions for California’s top research firms, businesses and government agencies. To achieve this goal, Dr. Blekhman actively develops cutting-edge courses in electric and hybrid vehicles, fuel cell applications, photovoltaics, advanced engine design and other in-demand fields, leading students to explore real-world problems and their solutions through hands-on projects, guest presentations, industry tours and attendance at local conferences. Instrumental in introducing electric vehicle charging infrastructure and solar energy projects to Cal State LA, he now employs the campus as a “living laboratory” to enhance students’ learning and professional development.

An internationally renowned author and presenter, Dr. Blekhman holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in thermal physics and engineering from St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University in Russia, as well as a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Buffalo in New York.

William (Bill) J. Hoese, Ph.D., Cal State Fullerton (Professor of Biological Sciences), Outstanding Faculty Innovator for Student Success

“I allow students the freedom to learn, permission to fail, space to strive, opportunities to take risks and support to succeed. I use field experiences to take students out of their comfort zones, build community and encourage curiosity about the world around us.”

Revered at Cal State Fullerton as “a creative, effective and rigorous classroom instructor who is universally loved, praised and admired,” Dr. William (Bill) Hoese has distinguished himself as an exceptional educator with a gift for inspiring students to delve into life science.

A 23-year veteran at CSUF, Dr. Hoese has been nationally recognized for his efforts to transform the way biology is taught, from a fact-driven course to one that engages students in active learning and critical thinking. As just one example, Dr. Hoese has introduced 300-plus lower-division biology students each semester to Southern California’s ecosystems with an overnight trip to the Mojave Desert where—away from city lights—many reported seeing stars for the first time. His approach led to “Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education,” a movement spearheaded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science with support from the National Science Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Institutes of Health and the United States Department of Agriculture.

Dr. Hoese has also designed multiple programs that increase student success beyond his classroom.

Dr. Hoese holds a bachelor’s degree in human biology from Stanford University, a master’s degree in biology from Stanford and a Ph.D. in zoology from Duke University.

Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall, Ph.D., CSU San Marcos (History Professor and Graduate Coordinator), Outstanding Faculty Teaching

Various pundits are credited with issuing the warning, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” CSU San Marcos history professor Dr. Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall is determined to steer her students clear of that fateful path and instead give them a full picture and visceral connections with the people, events and challenges of our past.

Dr. Sepinwall joined CSUSM in 1999 and was promoted to full professor in 2011. As a past winner of CSUSM’s President’s Award for Innovation in Teaching and the Harry E. Brakebill Outstanding Professor Award, she specializes in showing students how history connects to their own lives through compelling and hands-on projects, first-hand accounts such as diaries, whole-class and small-group discussion and diverse guest speakers. Her creative assignments, such as a cookoff exploring changes in eating habits for a women and Jewish history class, not only create community within the classroom, but they also allow students to see themselves in historical narratives. Her cutting-edge teaching is continuously informed by feedback from her students, and their questions shape her research.
With a busy schedule that includes serving on university and department committees, advising graduate theses and conducting research, she has become a sought-after expert in Haitian and French history, slavery and colonization and the history of gender, as well as visual and pop cultures. Widely quoted in national media, she is also a frequent speaker and guest lecturer at the CSU and around the world.

Dr. Sepinwall holds bachelor’s degrees in history and political science from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in history from Stanford University.

Joy Stewart-James, Ed.D., Sacramento State (AVP, Student Health & Counseling Services), Outstanding Staff Performance

After a 20-year career working for a large hospital health care system in Austin, Texas, overseeing several clinics and departments, Dr. Joy Stewart-James made the leap to higher education in 2007, landing on her feet at Sacramento State. Since then, the seasoned public health professional has been widely credited with keeping the Sacramento State community safe, healthy and calm, even as the campus navigated the global COVID-19 public health crisis. She has become a recognized leader not only within the CSU system, but across the state and national college health communities.
After joining Sacramento State as executive director for Student Health and Counseling Services, Dr. Stewart-James was promoted to associate vice president in 2017. In her current role, she provides strategic leadership, management, fiscal oversight and programmatic direction for a comprehensive model of health and wellness for a campus of over 30,000 students. She oversees and manages Sacramento State’s fully accredited, multidisciplinary health care services, including urgent and primary care, mental health counseling services, pharmacy, radiology, nutrition, athletic training, sports medicine, health promotion services, basic needs, case management and student peer education programs.

She has dedicated herself to improving the patient experience and helping students to become better health care consumers. With a new paperless system that allows students to access appointments, view records and message their providers via their patient portal, use of the student health center has increased dramatically.
Dr. Stewart-James holds a bachelor’s degree from Florida International University in Miami, a master’s degree from the University of Oregon, Eugene and an Ed.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Excellence in teaching and a dedication to student success from faculty and staff as demonstrated by the 2023 Wang Family Excellence awardees further supports the CSU’s Graduation Initiative 2025. This key initiative is focused on increasing graduation rates for all CSU students while eliminating equity gaps and meeting California’s workforce needs.

For more information on the awardees and their accomplishments, visit the Wang Family Excellence Award website.

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About the California State University

The California State University is the largest system of four-year higher education in the country, with 23 campuses, nearly 460,000 students, and 56,000 faculty and staff. Nearly 40 percent of the CSU’s undergraduate students transfer from California Community Colleges. The CSU was created in 1960 with a mission of providing high-quality, affordable education to meet the ever-changing needs of California. With its commitment to quality, opportunity and student success, the CSU is renowned for superb teaching, innovative research and for producing job-ready graduates. Each year, the CSU awards more than 132,000 degrees. One in every 20 Americans holding a college degree is a graduate of the CSU and our alumni are 4 million strong. Connect with and learn more about the CSU in the CSU NewsCenter.

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California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s Office

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January 24, 2023
California State University, Los Angeles Presidential Search Committee to Hold Open Forum
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Newswise — The California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees is beginning the search for a new president of California State University, Los Angeles to succeed William A. Covino, Ph.D., who will retire as campus president at the end of the 2022-23 academic year.

The first meeting of the Trustees’ Committee for the Selection of the President will be held in a hybrid in-person/virtual open forum from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 2 in the Luckman Theatre on campus. During this time, the committee will outline the search process and the community will be invited to share their preferred attributes of the next president of Cal State LA. Please note that campus and community members wishing to address the committee are required to register in advance. The deadline to register to speak during the open forum is Tuesday, November 1 at noon. Confirmed registrants will receive details about how to participate.

CSU Trustee Jack B. Clarke, Jr. will chair the committee. The other trustee members include Larry L. Adamson, Adam Day and Jean Picker Firstenberg, as well as Trustee Chair Wenda Fong and CSU Interim Chancellor Jolene Koester.

The virtual open forum will be web-streamed live and archived on the President Search website, where individuals may also provide their input via written submission.

Board policy requires the chair of the CSU trustees to appoint an Advisory Committee to the Trustees’ Committee. The Advisory Committee is composed of representatives from the faculty, staff, students and alumni, as well as a member of a campus advisory board, all of whom are selected by the campus’s constituency groups. Also on the Advisory Committee is a vice president or academic dean from the campus, and a president of another CSU campus—both selected by the chancellor. Both committees function as one unified group.

Members of the Advisory Committee for the Selection of the President include:
- Linda Margarita Greenberg, Ph.D., professor and chair of the English Department, and Anthony Hernandez, Ph.D., professor in the Charter College of Education, Division of Applied and Advanced Studies in Education (faculty representatives)
- Kris Bezdecny, Ph.D., chair, Academic Senate
- Lianne Salerno, school certifying official and assistant registrar (staff representative)
- Curtis Gaines and Arwa Hammad (student representatives)
- Bertha Haro (alumni representative)
- Omel A. Nieves (campus advisory board representative)
- Tye W. Jackson, Ph.D., dean of the College of Business and Economics (administration representative)
- Victor Dominguez and Capri Maddox (community representatives)
- Lynn Mahoney, Ph.D., president, San Francisco State University
Over the next several months, the committee will review candidates and conduct interviews.

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About the California State University

The California State University is the largest system of four-year higher education in the country, with 23 campuses, 477,000 students and 56,000 faculty and staff. Nearly 40 percent of the CSU’s undergraduate students transfer from California Community Colleges. The CSU was created in 1960 with a mission of providing high-quality, affordable education to meet the ever-changing needs of California. With its commitment to quality, opportunity and student success, the CSU is renowned for superb teaching, innovative research and for producing job-ready graduates. Each year, the CSU awards more than 132,000 degrees. One in every 20 Americans holding a college degree is a graduate of the CSU and our alumni are 4 million strong. Connect with and learn more about the CSU in the CSU NewsCenter.
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California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s Office

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October 21, 2022
4 Ways the CSU Promotes Fire Safety
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Newswise — October 9th kicked off the National Fire Protection Association’s 100th annual Fire Prevention Week. This year’s campaign, “Fire won’t wait. Plan your escape,” aims to raise awareness around how individuals can keep themselves safe in the event of a fire. In time for this long-running observance, we looked at ways the CSU is working to protect its students, faculty, staff and community in the midst of fires.
1. Systemwide Resources
The CSU’s Emergency Management team supports campuses through the creation of a broad range of systemwide resources, including guidance documents, webinar presentations and regular group brainstorming sessions that keep all campuses engaged and connected to one another. This network helps campuses access the information they need to make informed decisions around safety. The purview of the team, however, goes beyond fires to include other crises like earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The CSU has unique campuses, unique geographies, unique cultures, and so it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution for our campuses,” says Jenny Novak, director of Systemwide Emergency Management and Continuity. “Our goal is to bring people together as much as we can to get people sharing good practices that they’re implementing on their campuses and lessons learned from incidents.”

Recently, the team gathered an interdepartmental Wildfire Smoke Work Group to develop the Systemwide Wildfire Smoke Guide, which provides guidance for preparing for, responding to and recovering from a wildfire smoke event that impacts campus air quality. It includes references like websites that track air quality, good practices like which local partners to work with and regulatory information like requirements around personal protective equipment for campuses to consider when making decisions around operations and response.

“The big issue historically has been smoke more than fire itself because the smoke has such a broad, regional impact compared to the fires,” Novak says. “When we put together a guide like this, we want to alleviate some of the campus burden by conducting the research and compiling it to give people a single place to look for information.”

The team plans to create similar resources for wildfire recovery that will cover working with insurance providers, bringing in temporary facilities and technology and providing mental health care.
1. Systemwide Emergency Support Team
In the event of a regional emergency affecting multiple campuses, the Chancellor’s Office can activate its Systemwide Emergency Support Team to provide extra help.

“It makes sense for us, especially, in a wildfire-type situation where there’s a lot of smoke over a very large area and we’re all seeing those impacts at the same time, because we want to have an idea of the number of campuses that are impacted,” Novak says. For example, the team activated for the first time during the 2020 wildfires, which impacted seven campuses, to coordinate response efforts.

When activated, the Systemwide Emergency Support Team can use information gathered by the campuses to produce daily reports on their status, including academic operations, current fire threat and air quality. It will also schedule calls with campus partners to support decision-making and communications. But the team also helps campuses prepare for future emergencies through group exercises and training sessions.
1. Office of Fire Safety
Through the creation of the Office of Fire Safety five years ago, the CSU is gradually taking over the responsibility from the State Fire Marshal of ensuring campus facilities meet fire safety regulations and campus administrators are prepared for a fire emergency.

“It was a conscious effort when this program at the CSU got started to make it centralized under the Chancellor’s Office to have a consistent approach systemwide from Humboldt to San Diego,” says Vincent Anderson, CSU deputy director of Fire Safety. “We’re going to have the same trainings and service delivery regardless of what zip code you’re in or which mascot is greeting you at the front gate. It is a humbling opportunity to be part of such a collaborative family between the Office of Fire Safety and the Capital Planning, Design and Construction Department (CPDC).”

By taking on this role, the Office of Fire Safety can customize the processes for inspecting, constructing and maintaining facilities to the university environment and academic schedule as well as make sure these processes are done in a timely manner. The office also works with campus partners to keep their protocols and practices up to date.

“The main benefit to the campuses of our office is consistent, systemwide, time-effective fire safety programs tailored to the unique needs and uses of the CSU system,” Anderson says.

The office will also conduct outreach to empower campus community members, including students and faculty, to ensure their own fire safety—an especially important task as campuses welcome a new cohort of students each year.

“It’s building that safety ecosystem and that culture of safety through the public education piece—and again, tailoring it to the academic university,” Anderson says.
1. Campus Emergency Management Programs
Lastly, all 23 CSU universities have their own emergency management programs and emergency operations centers that respond to active emergencies and have notification systems to quickly communicate important information to the campus community. They also work with local partners, such as fire departments, to establish proper procedures and campus access for emergency personnel as well as perform outreach to develop a resilient campus culture.

Check the Systemwide Campus Safety & Security page or the Systemwide Risk Management page for more information.
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California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s Office

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October 10, 2022
Preparing the Next Cyber Defenders

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Newswise — October is designated as Cybersecurity Awareness Month by the national Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). This awareness effort was driven by the need to increase the public’s understanding of cyber threats and the urgent need for talent in the vast field of cybersecurity.

According to CyberSeek, a program supported by the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), there are more than 700,000 cybersecurity job openings in the U.S., with more than 75,000 in California alone. And in summer 2022, the White House convened the first National Cyber Workforce and Education Summit to address the growing labor shortage in this sector.

As a national leader in cybersecurity education, the California State University is helping close this workforce gap by accelerating its graduates into a broad range of cyber careers.

You Don’t Have to Be a ‘Coder’

When you think “cybersecurity,” you may envision someone who codes and does technical work on the back end of software systems. But the truth is, cybersecurity is a nearly all-encompassing area that needs a broad range of talents to address the complex and constantly shifting global threat landscape.

“The awesome thing about cybersecurity is that one can choose from a broad range of career fields: computer forensics, national security, space systems, technical writing, policy development, privacy and compliance,” says Ed Hudson, systemwide chief information security officer at the CSU Chancellor’s Office. “One doesn’t have to be extremely technical, or a ‘coder’ in order to have a career in cybersecurity.”

Hudson adds that there are also cybersecurity focus areas related to application development and hardening, encryption, regulatory compliance and protection of health care records. “One can even become an ‘ethical hacker,’ which typically follows application development. If you know how to build it, you know where potential weaknesses are.”

‘Sherlock Holmes’ of Computers

Chioma Nwagbala fell in love with computer forensics while earning her master’s in public administration with a concentration in cybersecurity at Cal State San Bernardino. “The computer forensics class taught by Dr. Vincent Nestler, in particular, helped me realize that this is what I wanted to do,” Nwagbala says. She was also struck by Dr. Kimberly Collins’ public policy class, which she says really helped bring her MPA and cybersecurity concentration together.

While a CSU grad student, Nwagbala worked as a student assistant in information security at the CSU Chancellor’s Office. While at that role, she was recruited as a cyber intern with the U.S. Department of Justice, where she was eventually hired as a full-time DOJ counterintelligence staff member in Washington D.C.

Today Nwagbala works on the private industry side of cyber for the KPMG Cyber Security Response Services team, where she helps clients remediate after cyber attacks and security breaches.

“The reason I like computer forensics is because I get to be nosy for a living. You almost get to be the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ of computers,” Nwagbala says. “You get to find the clues, put pieces together and find out ‘whodunnit’—and how they did it. we’re also able to tell clients how we can prevent this in the future and how they can respond.”

Cyber Education at the CSU

Four CSU institutions are currently recognized as National Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE-C) in Cyber Defense Education. Managed by the National Cryptologic School at the National Security Agency, the program aims to reduce vulnerability in our national information infrastructure by promoting higher education and expertise in cybersecurity.

The four CAE-C Cal States—Cal Poly Pomona, Sacramento State, Cal State San Bernardino and CSU San Marcos—are committed to producing high-quality cybersecurity professionals. CSUSB is also the CAE Community National Center, leading over 300 universities and administering cyber workforce initiative grant funding to the CAE-C regional hubs across the country.

In addition, at least six CSUs currently offer undergraduate or graduate degrees in cyber, while several more campuses offer certificates in computer science and/or cybersecurity. Several CSUs also have institutes or centers dedicated to cybersecurity research and education, including Cal State Fullerton’s Center for Cybersecurity, Sacramento State’s Center for Information Assurance and Security, CSUSB’s Cybersecurity Center, San José State’s Silicon Valley Big Data and Cybersecurity Center and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s California Cybersecurity Institute.

In May 2022, CSUSB also became the first university to join the new federal Cyber Halo Innovation Research Program (CHIRP) designed to increase the cyber workforce that protects space-based assets.

Outside the classroom, the CSU is amping up opportunities for students to gain real-world cyber career experience before graduation. “We are working with a number of business partners to put in place paid apprenticeships for students while they finish degrees so that when they graduate, they not only have their degree but also real-world experience on an information security team, either at their university or with a business,” Hudson says.

Speaking of real-world experience, Kyle Westmoreland was able to work as an information security intern at the CSU Chancellor’s Office for two years while earning his bachelor’s in computer engineering at Cal State Long Beach.

While Westmoreland knew he wanted a career on the technical side of computers, he didn’t initially seek out a role in cybersecurity. After learning about the burgeoning career field from a roommate, he applied for the internship. He credits this real-world experience in helping him get hired at his current role as a full-time information security analyst at the Chancellor’s Office.

Westmoreland explains that his work entails a wide range of information and data security-related issues, including firewall access, working with information security colleagues at the CSUs, handling vendor access software requests, ensuring security standards are up to date for software, coordinating data loss prevention tactics and much more.

“It’s never a dull day in security,” Westmoreland says. “It’s always evolving. There’s always something new, some new vulnerability, some new threat that we’re going to have to adapt to. So there’s always going to be a need for cybersecurity professionals.”

Women in Cyber

While female representation is growing in the cybersecurity workforce, it still has a ways to go. A 2019 report from the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)² found that women comprised 24% of the global cybersecurity workforce.

Nwagbala encourages young women who are interested in cyber to step up to the plate. “We need more women in general,” she says. “When I was in school, I was the only girl in my classes sometimes, or one of maybe five women. Also me being the only Black girl was a very common thing in my classes.”

To women interested in cyber jobs, Nwagbala says, “Don’t feel intimidated. You’re just as smart as anyone else. You’re just as talented as anyone else, if not more. You might be one of the few, but you’ll be one of the best.”

Nwagbala points to open source intelligence or OSINT as a hot field in which people gather information that’s available via social media and the internet to track down bad actors with malicious cyber intent. “So, there’s a job for that. And it’s in tech, honey,” she says. “Or if you want to program something, you want to hack something, there’s so much.”

“Cybersecurity should not be scary to women. Programming or data analysis should not be scary to women. You just have to find your niche because cyber is so broad.”

To that end, several CSUs have established community outreach efforts and education pipelines to attract more school-age young women and underrepresented people to cybersecurity and STEM careers. Cal Poly Pomona, for example, recently launched the HackHER Gals Cybersecurity and STEM Initiative to spark interest in the career field through meaningful activities for middle schools, high schools and colleges.

Learn more about how the CSU is helping to bridge the cybersecurity workforce gap and increase diversity in this critical field.

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How I Got into Cybersecurity

Curious to find out how the chief information security officer (CISO) overseeing the largest four-year public university system in the United States got into the field?

CSU’s systemwide CISO, Ed Hudson: “I started my career in computer forensics while in law enforcement. I was the nerdy detective who had a computer at home back when hardly anyone had them. We started seeing computers increasingly used in and associated with crime scenes, so I went back to school to get my bachelor’s in general information technology and then specialized schools for computer and network forensics. Along the way I investigated software piracy, network intrusions and wrote incident response plans for Fortune 100 companies. I never imagined that one day I would be the CISO for an organization like the CSU!”

Hudson also earned a master’s in public administration from Cal State San Bernardino, home of the CSUSB Cybersecurity Center (CSC), a National Center of Academic Excellence (CAE-C) in Cyber Defense Education and the CAE Community National Center.

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California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s Office

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October 4, 2022