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Talladega College Teams With IBM to Address Cybersecurity Talent Shortage

September 22, 2022

Talladega College, a National Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD),  will work with IBM to establish a Cybersecurity Leadership Center, giving students and faculty access to IBM training, software and certifications at no cost.

(Talladega, AL) September 21, 2022 – During the National HBCU Week Conference convened by the U.S. Department of Education and the White House, IBM announced a collaboration with Talladega College to help establish a virtual Talladega College Cybersecurity Leadership Center.

Talladega College, a National Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD), is one of 20 schools working with IBM to create Cybersecurity Leadership Centers.

With 500,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the U.S., the need for expertise is critical: According to a recent IBM Security study*, insufficiently staffed organizations average $550,000 more in breach costs than those that state they are sufficiently staffed.

“There is a steep demand for cybersecurity experts, and Talladega College aspires to be at the forefront of a growing movement to address this critical need. Through our collaboration with IBM, we will establish a pipeline of talent while simultaneously helping to reduce barriers to diversity in cybersecurity,” said Talladega College President Dr. Gregory Vincent. “This initiative will generate impactful and lasting change.”

Through IBM’s collaboration, faculty and students at participating schools will have access to coursework, lectures, immersive training experiences, certifications, IBM cloud-hosted software, and professional development resources, all at no cost to them. This includes access to:

  • Cybersecurity curricula: IBM will develop for each participating HBCU a customized IBM Security Learning Academy portal – an IBM client offering – including courses designed to help the university enhance its cybersecurity education portfolio. In addition, IBM will continue to give access to IBM SkillsBuild.
  • Immersive learning experience: Faculty and students of participating HBCUs will have an opportunity to benefit from IBM Security’s Command Center, through which they can experience a highly realistic, simulated cyberattack, designed to prepare and train them on response techniques. Moreover, faculty at the 20 HBCUs will have access to consultation sessions with IBM technical personnel on cybersecurity.
  • Software access: Multiple IBM Security premier enterprise security products hosted in the IBM  Cloud.
  • Professional development: Forums to exchange best practices, learn from IBM experts, and discover IBM internships and job openings.

“Collaborations between academia and the private sector can help students prepare for success. That’s especially true for HBCUs because their mission is so vital,” said Justina Nixon-Saintil, Vice President, IBM Corporate Social Responsibility and ESG. “The Cybersecurity Leadership Centers we’re co-creating with Historically Black Colleges and Universities epitomize our commitment to the Black community and STEM education; it also builds on our pledge to train 150,000 people in cybersecurity over three years.”

Talladega College, Alabama’s first private historically black college, is consistently ranked among the best southeastern colleges and top HBCUs in the nation. It was founded in 1867 by two formerly enslaved men, William Savery and Thomas Tarrant, and is the home of the renowned Hale Woodruff Amistad Murals. Talladega College is currently ranked #13 for Social Mobility according to the 2022 U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review selected Talladega College as one of the 2023 Best Colleges: Region by Region.

* Conducted by Ponemon Institute and sponsored and analyzed by IBM