Leveling Up

Jones College continues to earn street cred by launching curriculum options that better serve students—and the business community

by Drew Ruble and DeAnn Hays

Surging technological advancements teamed with ongoing workplace changes have pushed business colleges to rapidly innovate their curricula.

MTSU’s Jones College of Business is rising fast to meet the market demands. It recently added two new degrees in the fast-growing realm of Cybersecurity Management (a B.S. and an M.S.), as well as reconfigured the M.B.A. program, adding relevant new concentrations and leaning heavily into online delivery.

The college has also expanded its Accounting master’s coursework, including in the fast-growing study of anti-money laundering.

THE WEB WE WEAVE

With electronic data being so foundational to modern commerce and industry, Jones College now offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Cybersecurity Management—a profession that is expected to grow exponentially over the next decade and beyond.

The new program provides students with the foundational knowledge and focused expertise necessary to excel in this high-demand field. Approved by the MTSU Board of Trustees in June 2023, the undergraduate program launched in January 2024, followed by the graduate option that summer.

MTSU is the only university in Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree related explicitly to cybersecurity management, where the curriculum is designed to support students interested in pursuing careers such as security analysts and information security managers.

The Bachelor of Science degree covers various areas, including development and programming for cybersecurity, cloud computing, digital forensics, infrastructure design and management, database design, and systems analysis and design—all from a cybersecurity perspective.

From mid-2021 to mid-2022, there were more than 650 unique job postings in cybersecurity in the Midstate alone, including in areas such as Rutherford, Davidson, and Williamson counties. In early 2024, the website cyberseek.org reported nearly 7,000 cybersecurity job openings.

Careers include cybersecurity analysts, data security specialists, digital forensics investigators, ethical hackers/systems testers, network support administrators, risk management specialists, vulnerability assessment analysts, and more.

Current projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for information security analysts, for example, show a 35% growth rate in demand through 2031, accompanied by a median annual income of $102,600.

Cyberseek.org reports a “dangerous shortage of cybersecurity workers in the United States,” which puts “digital privacy and infrastructure at risk.”

According to cyberseek.org, more than 1 million people across the U.S. were estimated to be employed in cybersecurity-related jobs from September 2022 through August 2023.

For that same time, the website reported more than 572,000 online job listings for cybersecurity-related positions and said only 72 cybersecurity workers were available for every 100 cybersecurity jobs in demand.

Cybersecurity focuses on managing, creating, and maintaining secure digital systems. Experts in cybersecurity work to protect our most important and private information, such as bank accounts, medical records, military communications, and more.

“Cybersecurity is something that must be managed across people, processes, and technology within an organization. It is critical to ensure business continuity,” said Nita Brooks, associate dean for undergraduate programs and accreditation for MTSU’s Jones College.

A Cybersecurity Management degree helps equip graduates with an understanding of both the technical and management sides of cybersecurity, which allows them to progress higher up an organizational ladder more quickly.

The Business Administration minor also helps equip graduates with people skills that aren’t part of a traditional curriculum focusing on the computer science side of cybersecurity.

FITTING THE BILL

Jones College also recently expanded its M.B.A. offerings. And it streamlined the degree process to make it more accessible to students.

The 10 M.B.A. core courses are streamlined as 3 credit hours each, culminating with a 1-hour capstone—allowing students to complete an M.B.A. without a concentration in just 31 hours. The seven concentration options only require an additional two or three courses. According to Jones College Dean Joyce Heames, that simple math alone has boosted interest in the programs.

In creating new M.B.A. concentrations, Heames said, Jones College looked for opportunities to leverage the “street cred” of its M.B.A. program by launching new, relevant concentrations that are both attractive and career-boosting for applicants.

In 2024, MTSU’s Jones College began offering three new M.B.A. concentrations: one in Ethics and Legal Governance, another in Risk Management, and one in Human Resource Management. All three new concentrations had students enrolled this past fall. More than 120 new students recently went through orientation for one of the programs.

“We listened to employers while designing the programs to make sure that our program is market-relevant,” Heames said. “From there, it is our job to make sure our students graduate with the viable competencies.”

Future M.B.A. expansion is likely to occur in areas including education and aviation management, to name a couple.

“It’s an opportunity for us to be of service to middle Tennessee,” Heames said. “We have some very lofty, aggressive goals regarding how many students we want in the M.B.A. program, which is already the largest master’s program on campus.”

TAKING ACCOUNT

By moving much of its coursework online, Jones College experienced a whopping 50% increase in enrollment in its Master of Accounting program between fall 2023 and fall 2024.

As it expands, the Accounting Department is also forging ahead on new curriculum options that both spark student interest and fill real-world needs. One example is a new anti-money laundering course now available in the master’s program. Industries ranging from law enforcement to the financial services industry to online gaming have expressed interest in such a program.

New coursework options like these are necessary to expose students to pivotal and ongoing trends reshaping the world of business.

They are also necessary as business schools get reshaped. Business schools operate in a challenging environment. Competition is stiff, and the stakes for communities and economies are high.

The best business schools are the ones that develop different strategies to meet the new challenges ahead and that innovate to stay on top.

Heames is steering Jones College toward innovation. In doing so, she has positioned the college to be the No. 1, true educational service to the Midstate business economy.