Dean of career technicals education at JWCC receives Future of Illinois grant for course on cybersecurity

QUINCY — The Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center has awarded a “Future of Illinois” grant to David Hetzler, dean of career technical education at John Wood Community College.

The grant is one of eight awarded to faculty from Illinois universities and community colleges, with a total investment of more than $650,000. The purpose of the grants is to engage faculty in preparing Illinois manufacturing for the future using innovative solutions.

Hetzler’s proposal outlined an extension of JWCC’s two-credit hour course called Fundamentals of Networking. This course is currently not a requirement for students enrolled in the college’s manufacturing and electrical programs. Once the course is upgraded, it will be worth three credit hours, align with networking needs of the local manufacturing and industry sector and become a required course for manufacturing and electrical JWCC students.

Further course development will focus on all aspects of cybersecurity, especially as it relates to industry and manufacturing in JWCC’s community. New course topics may include, but are not limited to, firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention; phishing and basic network scams; and complying with industry regulations.

Input for the specific course content will be sought from manufacturing advisory councils to ensure the content aligns with industry needs.

The addition of cybersecurity courses will strengthen the computer networking/technology degrees and certificates, Hetzler said in a press release. The U.S. Department of Labor projects cybersecurity analyst employment will grow by 33 percent from 2020 to 2030, placing it among the nation’s fastest growing jobs.