33 / Southern Colorado Business Forum & Digest
Cybersecurity
cybersecurity.uccs.edu
UCCS BUILDS CYBERSECURITY ECOSYSTEM, SEEKS CONTINUED FUNDING
by J E A N N E DAVA N T
F
or the past five years, The University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) has been at the forefront of developing the cybersecurity ecosystem in the Pikes Peak region. The university has been the statewide leader in opening up a workforce pipeline, collaborating with other educational institutions and conducting research to advance knowledge in the field. This crucial work has been supported by state funding. Due to the foresight of then-Gov. John Hickenlooper and state legislators, SB18-086 allocated funding to build cybersecurity in Colorado. This included annual support to UCCS, Chancellor Jennifer Sobanet says. The original three-year allocation was renewed for three more years, but that funding is expiring this year. Sobanet and Gretchen Bliss, UCCS director of cybersecurity programs, say it is crucial for the funding to be extended. Bliss and Sobanet both testified before the legislature’s Joint Business Committee, which voted unanimously in favor of continuing the funding for three years. The committee referred the matter for approval to the Joint Budget Committee, which will vote in mid-March.
The need is great, according to Sobanet. “We have 22,000 open jobs in Colorado in cybersecurity and 660,000 across the United States,” she says. Colorado is now fifth in the nation in cybersecurity employment — one indication of the progress the state has made in creating the cybersecurity ecosystem, with UCCS at the forefront, Sobanet says. “We have taken that $5.1 million that they give to us per year for all of higher education and we have transformed it into $72 million with matching funds,” she says. Assistant Vice Chancellor of Marketing and Communications Chris Valentine says UCCS has deployed its $2.8 million annual share to: • Create more than 1,700 student scholarships worth almost $3.9 million • Hire 38 faculty and staff • Award 2,964 cybersecurity degrees and certificates • Place 138 students in internships • Engage with more than 130 companies and organizations (government, military and community) • Host 65 cyber events since 2022, attended by more than 2,700 people, including students, as well as representatives of the government, the military and industry