Champlain College To Host Cyber Security Roundtable

Homeland Security

BURLINGTON, VT. — Champlain College will facilitate a U.S. Department of Homeland Security roundtable with Douglas A. Smith, assistant secretary for the private sector for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday, Sept. 19 from noon to 2 p.m. During the event, Smith, along with national experts from public, private, government and nonprofit sectors, will exchange ideas regarding the future of cyber security and digital forensics in the United States and abroad, proactive measures to prevent cyber attacks and how to promote higher education initiatives for cyber security and digital forensics professional training and development. The roundtable will be hosted in partnership with Business Forward, a national organization designed to build business support for policy that promotes economic competitiveness.

Homeland Security  Douglas SmithIn his role with DHS, Assistant Secretary Smith advises Secretary Janet Napolitano on the impact of department policies, regulations and processes on 29 million private sector companies, universities and nonprofit institutions throughout the country. He is an ex-officio member of the President's Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, the President's Export Council, the White House Business Council and the World Economic Forum Risk Officers Community. Smith was instrumental in leading the DHS Private Sector Office's launch of the Loaned Executive Program, an initiative that provides private sector subject matter experts the opportunity to serve in a unique capacity on temporary rotation or sabbatical at DHS.

Champlain College was chosen as the roundtable host due to its reputation as a leader in cyber security and digital forensics higher education. Offering bachelor's and master's degrees in these fields, Champlain College has been named the 2013 Best Cyber Security Higher Education Program by SC Magazine for exemplary professional leadership in information technology security. In addition to hosting nationally-ranked degree programs, Champlain College is home to the Senator Leahy Center for Digital Investigation. The Center supports industry innovation through a world-class laboratory designed to international standards, focused on establishing and assisting with public and private sector initiatives surrounding cybercrime, digital forensics and information assurance.

"We are honored to host Assistant Secretary Smith, who is helping drive current initiatives of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security," said Jayson Boyers, managing director of the Division of Champlain College Online at Champlain College. "It is critical that we bring the nation's foremost thought leaders together to discuss proactive solutions for combating cyber attacks that pose a threat to public and private institutions at home and abroad. This roundtable will have far-reaching implications on current policy discussions and the place of cyber security and digital forensics in protecting citizens and their interests in the future."

ABOUT BUSINESS FORWARD:

America's most respected companies have come together to help bring more business leaders into the policymaking process. In the first half of 2012, Business Forward is supporting a series of fly-ins and forums that will bring more than 2,000 business leaders from across the country to share their ideas with White House officials. Since, the 4th quarter of 2009, the organization has worked with more than 160 Administration officials, Members of Congress, and state and local elected officials to brief business leaders in over 45 cities across 31 states on economic recovery and exports, energy security, education, healthcare and immigration reform, IT innovation and cyber security, and open government. Business Forward believes business leaders play a particularly important role in policy debates because they understand the importance of looking at the long-term - and because employers are among the first to suffer from the competitive challenges that face America's economy today. For more information about Business Forward, visit http://www.businessfwd.org


Founded in 1878, Champlain College is a small, not-for-profit, private college in Burlington, Vermont, with additional campuses in Montreal, Canada, and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain offers a traditional undergraduate experience from its beautiful campus overlooking Lake Champlain and over 90 residential undergraduate and online undergraduate and graduate degree programs and certificates. Champlain's distinctive career-driven approach to higher education embodies the notion that true learning occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain College is included in the Princeton Review's The Best 384 Colleges: 2019 Edition. For the fourth year in a row, Champlain was named a "Most Innovative School" in the North by U.S. News & World Report's 2019 "America's Best Colleges,” and a “Best Value School” and is ranked in the top 100 “Regional Universities of the North” and in the top 25 for “Best Undergraduate Teaching.” Champlain is also featured in the Fiske Guide to Colleges for 2019 as one of the "best and most interesting schools" in the United States, Canada and Great Britain and is a 2019 College of Distinction. For more information, visit champlain.edu.