March 21, 2007

With LE departments over-tasked and cybercrime on the rise, there is a growing demand for police officers to have strong technical skills. There is also a need for information about current cybercrimes to be presented in college and university classrooms. Since these needs overlap, academia and law enforcement can mutually benefit from supporting one another by forging partnerships.

Tammy Alexander, IACT Director, traveled to Kennesaw State University in Georgia to present "Forging Partnerships between Law Enforcement (LE) and Academia." Among topics she addressed were how to partner and strengthen forces, sharing lessons learned and where to focus preliminary efforts. Also presented were case studies of LE and academia partnerships:
UT Law Enforcement Innovation Center LEIC, http://www.leic.tennessee.edu/,
Champlain College’s LE Partnership, http://digitalforensics.champlain.edu/, and
Fountainhead’s approach to LE Partnerships through InfraGard: http://www.infragard-etn.org/.

The presentation is available for sharing: http://www.iawire.org/ppt/alexander_secsummit2007.ppt

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About Fountainhead College of Technology's (FCT) Center for Information Assurance & Cybersecurity Training (IACT)

Fountainhead College of Technology, formerly Tennessee Institute of Electronics, was founded in 1947 and is committed to using its resources to significantly contribute to efforts to secure the nation's critical infrastructure. In 1999 the college began offering an associate's degree in Information Technology with curriculum developed to include information security training. In 2002 the college began development of a baccalaureate degree in Network Security and Forensics, and in 2003 Fountainhead College of Technology became the first college in the Southeast to offer a computer security-focused baccalaureate degree. The mission of the IACT center is to develop and maintain a strong information assurance curriculum that adheres to national standards, and to also address the cybersecurity needs of the community by offering training and support for Fountainhead College of Technology students, staff, and faculty; local law enforcement; government agencies; and information technology professionals.

For more information, please visit the official IACT Website at: http://www.iawire.org, or contact Casey Rackley, Program Coordinator, at casey.rackley [at] fountainheadcollege [dot] edu .