Becoming a Center of Academic Excellence 2-Year (CAE2Y) is a new reality and opportunity for community colleges.  This institutional award is established by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and CyberWatch.  Community colleges that have established a robust information assurance (IA) program, and have successfully mapped their security courses to two of the Committee on National Security Systems training standards, CNSS 4011 and one other, are now eligible to apply for the coveted status of CAE2Y.

Only six community colleges became CAE2Y institutions in 2010, the first year of the program.  The benefits to a CAE2Y institution are significant:  recognition of the quality of the program by industry, professional associations, and academe; seamless program articulation with CAE universities; better job placement and/or transfer opportunities for students; opportunities for collaboration with other CAE2Y and CAE institutions; improved institutional standing in the local, regional, and professional community; opportunities for institutional/program marketing; and monetary support.

Community colleges can be assisted in their quest to map their courses to the CNSS standards by one of the three NSF supported ATE centers devoted to information assurance education: CyberWatch at Prince George’s Community College, Maryland; Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance (CSSIA) at Moraine Valley Community College, Illinois; and Cyber Security Education Consortium (CSEC) at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Not coincidentally, every one of the six CAE2Y institutions designated in 2010 is affiliated with one of these centers. CyberWatch has also assumed a special leadership role in developing and promoting the CAE2Y Program, and in mentoring 2-year institutions who wish to apply.

The six successful CAE2Y applicants in 2010 are as follows. (Hyperlinks link to the institution's CAE2Y application package, which you may find instructive, should your institution wish to apply):

:: Anne Arundel Community College (CyberWatch member)

:: Hagerstown Community College (CyberWatch member)

:: Moraine Valley Community College (CSSIA lead institution)

:: Prince George's Community College (CyberWatch lead institution)

:: Rose State College (CSEC member) --also see RSC Application.pdf

The CAE2Y designation represents an expansion of the Centers for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAE/IAE) program previously established for four-year schools. This program recognizes excellent academic education programs (CAE) and excellent research programs (CAE-R).

The following CyberWatch member institutions have been designated as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education:

:: Anne Arundel Community College (CAE2Y)
:: Capitol College (CAE)
:: George Washington University (CAE)
:: Hagerstown Community College (CAE2Y)
:: Johns Hopkins University (CAE)
:: Prince George's Community College (CAE2Y)
:: Towson University (CAE)
:: University of Maryland (CAE-R)
:: University of Maryland University College (CAE)

For more information about the CAE program, send an inquiry to askCAEIAE (at) nsa.gov; for the CAE2Y program specifically, email askCAE2Y (at) nsa.gov; and for the CAE2Y mentoring program, contact Vera Zdravkovich. You may also find these two documents helpful in planning for your attainment of CAE2Y status:

Mapping Courseware in the IACE Database

CAE2Y - Criteria for Measurement