Becoming a Cybersecurity Enabler: How Community Colleges Can Bridge the Diversity and workforce Gap
Date: August 1, 2019
When: 9AM
Presented By: Marci McCarthy
Leaders in the cybersecurity industry recognize that there is a lack of women and diversity among their teams. Even though women and minorities nearly comprise half of the general workforce, they only make up a small portion of cybersecurity professionals despite millions of jobs going unfilled and rising cyberattacks. In the past, employers have maintained a structured mindset about candidates’ qualifications to include four-year or advanced degrees, proven industry experience and like-minded thinking. However, due to the shortage of qualified cybersecurity talent, we are experiencing a paradigm shift in how we view these hiring requirements. We now need candidates who are gamechangers, who can bring much needed soft skills, passions and differing opinions that can take team thinking to the next level. With their various perspectives, women and minorities must be encouraged to enter the field as early as possible, but it’s also crucial that they maintain a passion to learn and succeed by cultivating the necessary skills to stay there. Fortunately, they can obtain technical skills and certifications by pursuing specialized training, work-study programs and apprenticeships, such as those offered by cyber boot camps, technical schools and community colleges. Currently, though, community colleges and similar establishments experience challenges with marketing themselves as security partners who enable cybersecurity professional development. To connect upcoming, diverse talent with employers who need them, community colleges can adapt and enhance the way they interact with both groups. Join us as we share our insights about the challenges community colleges face in becoming cybersecurity enablers, facilitating job readiness and contributing to solve the industry’s diversity and workforce shortage.
Meet the Governor
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Date: July 30, 2019
When: 6 PM
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The son of a sheriff and charity hospital nurse, John Bel Edwards understood the importance of serving others from an early age. From his service as an active duty Airborne Ranger in the U.S. Army to his time in the Louisiana House of Representatives, Gov. Edwards has always put people first.
John Bel was born seventh out of eight children to Sheriff Frank Jr. and Dora Jean Edwards. He grew up hunting and fishing in Amite, a rural town in Tangipahoa Parish. He and First Lady Donna Edwards began dating while students at Amite High School. After graduating top of his class, Gov. Edwards attended the United States Military Academy at West Point.
As a cadet, he completed Airborne School and served as vice-chairman of the panel that enforces the West Point Honor Code. The governor graduated from West Point in 1988, commissioning as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He subsequently completed Ranger School and served as an active duty Airborne Ranger for eight years.
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He and the first lady married in 1989. They have three children: Samantha Bel, Sarah Ellen and John Miller.
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After commanding a parachute infantry regiment in the 82nd airborne, Gov. Edwards retired from the Army with the rank of captain. He moved back home and earned a law degree from Louisiana State University before opening a civil law practice in his hometown of Amite.
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In 2008, the people of House District 72 elected him to the Louisiana House of Representatives, where he represented the people of Amite, Greensburg, Kentwood and Hammond for eight years before being elected governor in November 2015.
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On January 11, 2016, John Bel Edwards was sworn in as the 56th Governor of Louisiana.
In his first official act, Gov. Edwards signed an executive order to expand Medicaid coverage to 430,000 of the state’s working poor. The decision to expand Medicaid cut Louisiana’s uninsured rate from 24 percent to just 10 percent, saving lives and improving the quality of life for citizens across the state. Gov. Edwards considers this the easiest big decision he’s had to make as Governor.
Upon taking the oath of office, Gov. Edwards inherited the largest budget deficit in Louisiana’s history, following years of budget mismanagement, which included cuts to higher education and vital state resources and services. In 2016, the state faced a $1 billion shortfall to close out the last quarter of the fiscal year. And in 2017, the state faced a $2 billion deficit in the governor’s first full fiscal year.
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Gov. Edwards and a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers worked hard to stabilize the state’s budget through a balanced approach. Today, higher education funding has been restored, the state’s gross domestic product is the highest it’s ever been and Louisiana’s budget is balanced and stable.
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One of the governor’s top priorities coming into office was comprehensive criminal justice reform. For decades, mass incarceration plagued Louisiana, and the state led the nation in incarceration rates. Gov. Edwards signed sweeping bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation in 2017 that targets recidivism and invests in treatment programs. In 2018, the state saw a 20 percent decrease in the number of people imprisoned for non-violent crimes. Under his leadership, Louisiana shed the title of the most incarcerated state in the country.
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Gov. Edwards continues to do what the people sent him to Baton Rouge to do: Put Louisiana First. Hundreds of thousands are insured, Louisiana’s budget is stable and Louisiana is open for business.