John Brown University announced today the addition of an undergraduate cybersecurity degree beginning in the fall of 2020. Students can select to pursue either a Bachelor of Science degree or a Bachelor of Arts degree which allows students to pursue an interdisciplinary program with other academic areas such as entrepreneurship and innovation.

According to Cyberseek, a project under the U.S. Department of Commerce, there are nearly 1,400 unfilled cybersecurity positions in Arkansas alone and the supply-demand ratio for cybersecurity is nearly double the national average of all positions. Nationally, there are over 500,000 unfilled cybersecurity openings.

“Digital data infrastructures are storing massive amounts of data that must be protected,” Ted Song, JBU associate professor of engineering, said. “With a critical shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals, JBU sees this as an important opportunity to provide graduates with the technical knowledge, soft skills and the foundation of Christian ethics to meet this vital need.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 32% growth rate in the cybersecurity industry between 2018-2028 with a median salary of $98,350.

The new program offering features a partnership between JBU and Bluefield College, a fellow member of the Coalition of Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) in Bluefield, Virginia. JBU students will take 26 of the required 47 credit hours of cybersecurity courses through Bluefield’s online classes.

“Bluefield is a great CCCU sister institution with significant expertise in cybersecurity and related fields,” Ed Ericson, JBU vice president of academic affairs, said. “Partnering with Bluefield provides our students with a great holistic residential experience at JBU combined with amazing content knowledge in this discipline — all of from a biblical perspective. We are truly excited about the new opportunities this partnership will provide to our students.”

Students can elect to follow an accelerated 4+1 program which allows them to finish both their bachelor’s degree and master’s in cybersecurity from JBU in five years.

For more information about the program, visit jbu.edu/cyber or email Ted Song at tsong@jbu.edu.

John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. As Arkansas’ top-ranked university (Wall Street Journal, 2020), JBU enrolls more than 2,100 students from 36 states and 59 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers more than 40 majors, with top programs including engineering, nursing, family and human services, biology, graphic design and construction management.