The finalists for four award categories in the EC-Council Academia Partner awards program attended a black-tie gala in their honor in Atlanta, GA on September 13th prior to the annual Hacker Halted and Global CISO Forum conferences on the 14th and 15th.
In a black-tie ceremony, EC-Council honored academic leaders and innovators in information security by recognizing finalists and winners in four categories. The Academia Awards precedes both Hacker Halted, EC-Council’s largest annual cybersecurity conference, and the Global CISO Forum, EC-Council’s premier executive-level event. EC-Council’s Academia Awards recognize institutions each year that impact others through their commitment to educate and make a difference in the Cybersecurity workforce. EC-Council Academia Award recipients are first selected based on a specific award qualification category and criteria. EC-Council’s Executive Committee reviews each nominee’s impact, assessing their faculty, student experiences, industry exposure, and more prior to voting on an award recipient.
The first award category was the Academia Best New Comer of the Year award. This award is presented to an institution based on their commitment to educate and make a difference in the Cybersecurity workforce, student feedback on EC-Council courses and faculty, evaluation reports, student interaction, ratio of students who move on to test out on EC-Council certification, and volume of students educated in Cybersecurity.
The 2018 award winner was Queens College of Business Technology and Public Safety (Lambton College) in Mississauga, Canada. The college mission is to ensure that students are equipped with the most current and relevant tools to succeed in the workplaces of today and tomorrow. In a world of ever-increasing interconnectedness, the demand for properly trained security experts is increasingly vital. As such, equipping people with the principles, tools, techniques, and practical steps to defend against cyber threats is one of the fundamental imperatives of the institute.
The next Academia award is the Academia Innovator of the Year award. This award is EC-Council Academia’s newest award category. The winner of this award was based on their commitment to educate and make a difference in the Cybersecurity workforce, instructor engagement and course development, student interaction, and continuous technology development in the classroom.
The winner of this year’s award was Western Nevada College. Western Nevada College is a comprehensive community college that serves more than 5,000 students each year within a five-county area, spanning more than 10,000 square miles. Since 1971, Western Nevada College has helped students embark on the road to success by preparing them for a variety of careers through associate and bachelor’s degrees, industry certifications and workforce training. WNC offers exemplary academics, small classes, affordability and student satisfaction. Many Western grads become leaders in their communities and excel in their professions. With campuses in Carson City, Minden, and Fallon, and multiple online degrees and classes, Western can meet many students’ needs, whether they are residing in remote parts of Nevada or trying to fit in their education while balancing their commitments to work and family.
The next Academia award category is the Academic Circle of Excellence. This award is presented to five institutions. The criteria for this category includes the commitment to educate and make a difference in the Cybersecurity workforce, student feedback on EC-Council courses and faculty, evaluation reports post class, student engagement, ratio of students who move on to test out on EC-Council certifications, volume of students educated in Cybersecurity, and continuous program development.
This year’s winners were University of Maryland University College (UMUC), California Institute of Arts and Technology (CIAT), Tech Strategies International/Stetson University, Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), and Strayer University. Academia Circle of Excellence awards have been presented to some of the most prestigious, successful, and impactful Cybersecurity programs across the nation. These recipients are each hand selected from over a thousand Academia partners.
The final Academia award category is the Academic Partner of the Year Award. This year’s 2018 winner was Western Governors University. Established in 1997 by 19 U.S. governors with a mission to expand access to high-quality, affordable higher education, online, nonprofit WGU now serves more than 100,000 students nationwide and has 118,000 graduates in each state. Driving innovation as the nation’s leading competency-based university, WGU has been recognized by the White House, state leaders, employers, and students as a model that works in postsecondary education. In just 21 years, the university has become a leading influence in changing the lives of individuals and families, and preparing the workforce needed in today’s rapidly evolving economy.
The award was given based on the universities commitment to educate and make a difference in the Cybersecurity workforce, successful evaluation reports post class, student engagement and interaction, the ratio of students that move on to successfully pass EC-Council certifications, continuous program development, and more.
About EC-Council
EC-Council has been the world’s leading information security certification body since the launch of their flagship program, Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), which created the ethical hacking industry in 2002. Since the launch of CEH, EC-Council has added industry-leading programs to their portfolio to cover all aspects of information security including EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA), Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator (CHFI), Certified Chief Information Security Officer (CCISO), among others. EC-Council Foundation, the non-profit branch of EC-Council, created Global CyberLympics, the world’s first global hacking competition. EC-Council Foundation also hosts a suite of conferences across the US and around the world including Hacker Halted, Global CISO Forum, TakeDownCon, and CISO Summit. For more information about EC-Council, please see https://www.eccouncil.org.