UWT to Offer Masters in Cyber-security and Leadership

This June, UW Tacoma will offer a master’s degree in Cyber-security and Leadership (MCL). Offered by both UW Tacoma’s Institute of Technology (IT) and the Milgard School of Business, the graduate program will emphasis the skills of both technology and community based tools of leadership.

Bryan Goda, a professor of UW Tacoma’s IT will be spearheading the program and its details, and told media that the idea spawned from a request by a Washington National Guard unit that is based south of Tacoma, in Camp Murray. A unit that handles cyber-attacks asked the campus to develop a program with the training necessary to fully equip people with the tools to ward off cyber criminals.

UW Tacoma’s website describes its newest degree path as ideal for those “seeking a competitive advantage for advancement, either within the military or in government agencies and the private sector, for positions of responsibility in the growth areas of cyber-security operations and personnel leadership.”

Other than the National Defense University, the MCL will be the only graduate degree offered that uniquely joins cyber-defense with leadership skills, and is intended to prepare its students for all aspects of future employment in companies.

The MCL is designed to meet a growing demand for such prepared employees. Mayor Marilyn Strickland devoted the theme of a “Tacoma Means Business” networking event to ‘Cyber Security Technology in Tacoma’ last June, capitalizing on the importance and need of economic development in the area of cyber defense.