The Ferris State University College of Business’ heralded Information Security and Intelligence program has been included in the charter class of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, for schools offering cybersecurity instruction.
ABET is considered the gold standard among accrediting bodies applied and natural science, computing, engineering and engineering technology. Greg Gogolin, ISI’s program coordinator and director of Ferris’ Center of Cyber Security and Data Science, said the Baltimore, Maryland-based nonprofit, non-governmental agency conducted an extensive review. The review was to assure the university’s program met the quality standards of the profession.
“There were several hundred hours of campus investment provided to bring about this accreditation,” Gogolin said. “ABET looks into factors such as income data for our graduates, program outcomes and the professional status of our graduates. Other designations that our program has received over the years were more focused on curriculum.”
Gogolin said the ISI program made its first inquiries about ABET Cybersecurity accreditation, in 2017, when the intent to certify leading programs was announced. Other institutions that received ABET accreditation include two universities in Missouri, (Fontbonne, in Saint Louis, and Southeast Missouri State, in Cape Girardeau), Towson University, in Towson, Maryland; Cedarville University, in Cedarville, Ohio; and two U.S. military academies (the Air Force Academy, in Colorado, and the Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland).
“Receiving ABET accreditation for our ISI program is an important distinction as more and more cybersecurity-focused learning is established across the state,” Gogolin said. “We are proud to be among those in ABET’s charter class, having received an accreditation that will certainly be desired by other programs.”
Those designations received by the Information Security and Intelligence program include:
- A National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by the National Security Agency
- A Center of Digital Forensics Academic Excellence by the Department of Defense
- ISI program is also an Amazon Web Services Academy
- A Cellebrite Forensic Academy
- An EC-Council Accredited Training Center
- A Palo Alto Networks Academic Partner
- A CompTIA Academy Partner
- And a Pearson Vue Testing Center