City College set to offer bachelor’s in Cyber Defense and Analysis
New four-year degrees will begin in the fall 2024 semester
Professor David Kennemer (left), who spearheaded the cybersecurity bachelor’s proposal, receives an award from City College President Ricky Shabazz at the 2023 Convocation. San Diego City College Flickr photo
February 9, 2023
In a first in the 108-year history of the campus, San Diego City College has been approved to offer its first bachelor’s degree.
The Cyber Defense and Analysis baccalaureate program will begin in the fall 2024 semester, according to a press release by City College.
The news came after the California Community College Board of Governors approved in January the program, which was one of 10 proposed in early 2022.
City College is the second campus in the San Diego Community College District that will offer a four-year degree. Mesa College has offered a bachelor’s degree in Health Information Management since 2015.
Information, Network and Technology professor David Kennemer said City’s program will have a very specific focus tied to specific unmet workforce needs in San Diego.
Employment of computer security analysts is projected to grow 35% from 2021 to 2031, according to data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“We’re going to focus on critical infrastructure and supply chain,” Kennemer told City Times last year, “and all this emerging technology, and focus on the defensive side, and how you can actively defend in real-time.”
During a recent press conference hosted by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s office, Interim Chancellor Daisy Gonzales said four-year degree programs offered by community colleges are here to stay.
“This is only the next step,” Gonzales said, “because what we should really be building out is a pipeline for all of our students just to have options.
“Now the work is about integrating them so that our students can benefit, not just offer a new option but to offer it in a way that expedites their completion and that allows them to reach their next destination.”
A team of student journalists from San Diego City College spent the spring 2022 semester reporting on AB-927, a law that allows community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees, and its impact both at San Diego City College and beyond as part of the Democracy and the Informed Citizen Emerging Journalist Fellowship program. To view the project in its entirety, click here.
