Harford Community College Receives National Grant Awards

Harford Community College recently received two national grant awards totaling more than $759,000.

The U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women awarded the Student Affairs and Institutional Effectiveness division $292,663 for a three-year program for prevention and education on sexual assault and related areas. Harford Community College was one of 57 higher education institutions nationwide awarded funding to prevent and respond to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking on college and university campuses and to strengthen community partnerships. Harford will be working collaboratively with the Sexual Assault/Spouse Abuse Resource Center (SARC) of Harford County and the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.

“We are pleased to be one of 57 recipients across the country selected for this competitive federal grant. The funding will help leverage and strengthen our ongoing efforts to provide sexual assault prevention education to the campus community. We are fortunate to have community partners in Harford County who are equally committed to promoting prevention education and strengthening our collaboration in addressing this important issue,” said Dr. Jacqueline Jackson, Project Director and Vice President for Student Affairs and Institutional Effectiveness at Harford Community College.

The grant was created by Congress as a means for assisting colleges and universities in developing a more comprehensive coordinated community approach to preventing and responding to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.

The second grant that Harford Community College was awarded was in the amount of $466,488 from the National Science Foundation for its “Hire Harford First” three-year program to infuse the cybersecurity workforce pipeline. HCC team members include Dawn Grissom, Project Director, Integrated Business and Applied Technology; Pamela Karwowski, Director for Government, Contractor and IT Training; and Kelly Koermer, Dean of Integrated Business and Applied Technology.

Project Director Dawn Grissom commented, “We are excited to receive this support from the NSF which will allow the College to expand its cybersecurity program and address the critical shortage of qualified cyber warriors.” HCC sought the funding from NSF’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program to address the increasing need for a skilled cybersecurity workforce. The goal of Harford’s program is to increase the number of highly skilled cybersecurity workers able to fill the regional workforce demand, particularly at nearby APG and companies in the surrounding area. HCC will develop an accelerated Information Assurance and Cybersecurity Associate of Applied Sciences (IAC AAS) degree program aligned to industry standards that students will complete in just 18 months. Additionally, HCC will modify two courses in the Information Assurance and Cyber core program to an adaptive-learning, competency-based format. Additional research will be done to determine whether a competency-based learning approach is more effective than the traditional outcomes-based approach in developing cybersecurity skills.

To learn about this new accelerated cybersecurity program, contact Project Director Dawn Grissom at 443-412-2364.

Cutline:

Pictured, (L to R): Jeffrey Gahler, Sheriff, Harford County Sheriff’s Office; Kim Ashman, Coordinator for Student Conduct and Intervention, Harford Community College; Dr. Jacqueline S. Jackson, Vice President for Student Affairs and Institutional Effectiveness, Harford Community College; Luisa Caiazzo, Chief Executive Officer, the Sexual Assault/Spouse Abuse Resource Center (SARC); and Neala Lancellotti, Development Director, the Sexual Assault/Spouse Abuse Resource Center

Harford Community College received a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women for a three-year program for prevention and education on sexual assault and related areas. Harford was one of 57 higher education institutions nationwide awarded funding to prevent and respond to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking on college and university campuses and to strengthen community partnerships. The College will be working collaboratively with the Sexual Assault/Spouse Abuse Resource Center (SARC) of Harford County and the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.