MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Cybersecurity takes the spotlight in June’s edition of “Out of the Blue,” the television magazine program for Middle Tennessee State University, as viewers learn details about a new degree program providing trained information technology professionals to fill a growing need in today’s workforce.

Nita Brooks, associate dean for undergraduate programs and accreditation in the Jones College of Business, shares details on the college’s new Cybersecurity Management undergraduate degree with program host Andrew Oppmann, vice president for marketing and communications.

“We saw a need in the market certainly for these jobs and working closely with companies within the Middle Tennessee region, and of course, just watching the news, you know that there’s a need for qualified employees to fill these types of positions across all industries,” said Brooks, who’s also a professor of information systems and analytics.

You can watch the full segment below:

MTSU’s Department of Information Systems and Analytics launched the Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity Management during the spring semester while having been offering a specialization and then a concentration in cybersecurity at the graduate level for years, Brooks said.

“We’ll have courses in things like security analytics in Python, and we’ll do things in SQL (database creation) and penetration testing and incident response — all of the topics that students need to be exposed to, to really prep them to go into an organization and

work in the field,” she said, noting that the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that security analyst jobs will grow 30% over 10 years.

The degree program also has a built in business minor, something that Brooks feels will provide students — whether in the public or private sector — with a “foundation of business knowledge … so they can understand the structure of the organization and the work that they’re going to be doing when they go into cybersecurity.”

The department is already building on the new degree program by launching a master’s degree in cybersecurity management this summer.

“Out of the Blue” is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; NewsChannel5+ at 3:30 p.m. Sundays; and streamed on the MTSU Jazz Network through WMOT.org at 7 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month; and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings. 

It is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Google Play and as individual interview segments on Spotify at https://spoti.fi/453hxg3. 

Watch previous episodes of “Out of the Blue” at https://mtsunews.com/out-of-the-blue.

— Jimmy Hart (Jimmy.Hart@mtsu.edu)