St. Mary’s University wins national cybersecurity designation
St. Mary’s University is the latest San Antonio school to be recognized for its cybersecurity training programs by the National Security Agency and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The West Side university on Thursday was named a National Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense.
It joins San Antonio College, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, Our Lady of the Lake University and St. Philip’s College, all previous designees.
But St. Mary’s is the only local school to receive recognition for a master’s degree program in cybersecurity, according to Ayad Barsoum, an associate professor of computer science and cybersecurity graduate program director at St. Mary’s.
“This means our cybersecurity program meets national standards,” Barsoum said. “We are producing students going through a validated curriculum.”
The announcement comes as federal agencies ramp up efforts to hire cybersecurity workers.
In 2020, Texas counted 13,410 people working as information security analysts, earning an annual median wage of $113,400, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The U.S. job outlook for these positions is expected to increase by 33 percent to 188,300 workers through 2030.
San Antonio remains a hot zone of federal recruitment. It’s the nation’s second largest cybersecurity hub outside of Washington, D.C., and home to the NSA’s Texas Cryptologic Center and the Air Force’s cyber warfare team at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.
While the St. Mary’s designation doesn’t come with federal funding, school administrators said it provides opportunities for students to apply for scholarships from the Department of Defense. And it could help when it comes time for St. Mary’s cybersecurity graduates to apply for jobs.
“To receive this elite designation from NSA and DHS will open doors for the students and graduates of St. Mary’s University in this high-growth industry,” said Ian Martines, interim dean of the St. Mary’s University School of Science, Engineering and Technology.
It took several years for St. Mary’s to get the federal stamp of approval.
When Barsoum began teaching at St. Mary’s in 2013, the university had two undergraduate cybersecurity courses, he said. The professor started talking with his colleagues about “a strategy to put St. Mary’s on the cyber map in San Antonio.”
Faculty members approached local security firm IPSecure, cloud-computing company Rackspace Techonology, the Southwest Research Institute and insurance and financial services company USAA, all struggling to hire workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“We didn’t want to build the program in isolation of the market,” he said.
In fall 2015, St. Mary’s launched its masters program in cybersecurity, offering courses in risk management, wireless security, computer forensics and interactive classes.
After the school’s first graduate class received their degrees in December 2017, the school began applying to the NSA to become the next San Antonio campus to be named a National Center.
“It’s been a journey,” Barsoum said. “Now we are following NSA and DHS guidelines in a dynamic field of cybersecurity, which changes every year.”
Gary Bevans, a former psychologist in the U.S. Army, is currently a student in the university’s cybersecurity master’s program. He’s taken several courses with Barsoum.
“I wanted to be well-rounded in cybersecurity,” said Bevans, 34, a part-time graduate assistant. “The courses here offer insight into how to prepare against cyber attacks that can hijack computer connections, as an example.”
eric.killelea@express-news.net
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