Week of August 8, 2016

1 Communitas

MVCC has been designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Two-Year Education (CAE2Y) by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.

“The CAE2Y designation certifies that MVCC’s Cybersecurity program meets the highest national standards for cyber-security education,” said Jake Mihevc, Associate Dean of Business, Cybersecu-rity, and Computer Sciences at MVCC. “The NSA and DHS have been very active in supporting cybersecurity educa-tion to meet the growing national demand for cybersecurity professionals. MVCC’s GenCyber camp for secondary school students and teachers this summer is the first demonstration of that support.”

MVCC offers an associate in sci-ence degree and a one-year certificate in Cybersecurity and is one of only 40 community colleges nationwide to hold this distinction. The designation is valid through the 2021 academic year. MVCC’s Cybersecurity AS program has grown from 26 students to 130 students over the last three years. Many MVCC Cybersecurity graduates remain in the region, choosing to transfer to Utica College or SUNY Polytechnic Institute to continue their studies.

The CAE2Y program, jointly sponsored by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, recog-nizes colleges and universities that have met standards of excellence in providing quality cybersecurity awareness, train-ing, and education to the community. The program aims to reduce vulnerability in our national information infrastructure by promoting higher education and research in cybersecurity and producing profes-sionals with cybersecurity expertise for the nation.

“Our region is fast becoming one of our

MVCC named National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense

KEEPING THE CODE SAFE – MVCC President Randall VanWagoner, Ph.D., discusses how the Cyber-security program at the College has grown from 26 to 130 students in just five years. Joining him was U.S. Congressman Richard Hanna and Jake Mihevc, Associate Dean of Business, Cybersecurity, and Computer Sciences at MVCC.

cybersecurity Continued on Page 3

Tickets to all events in the Fall season of the MVCC Cultural Series will go on sale at noon Monday, Aug. 15, at www.mvcc.edu/tickets.

The first event of the season is a screening of the movie “Warcraft” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24, in Schafer Theater. Admission is $5 general, $2 for MVCC employees, and free for MVCC students.

Headlining the Fall series is actor, social justice activist, and social media mega-power George Takei, who will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, in the Jorgensen Event Center. Admission is $35 general, $25 for MVCC employees, and free for MVCC students.

Other notable events in the lineup are a performance by comedian and actor Dave Coulier, best known as Joey from the ABC television series “Full House,” at 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25; a concert by local native Ryan Quinn, who appeared on NBC’s “The Voice,” at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2; a lecture by Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet and Award-winning Memoirist Peter Balakian at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11, and Manhattan Medium Thomas John at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3.

For the complete series lineup, visit www.mvcc.edu/culture. Events include con-certs, comedians, lectures, film screenings and discussions, workshops, family fun events, and more. The Cultural Series is brought to you by MVCC’s Cultural Events Council, in collaboration with MVCC’s Program Board, with significant support from the Student Activity Fee.

Cultural Series tickets to go on sale Monday

Note: This article was submitted by AIM Director Cory Albrecht. It was written for FuzeHub.com

The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), a national network of specialists who assist U.S. manufacturers, has designated the Advanced Institute for Manufacturing (AIM) at Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) as an MEP center. AIM will provide business and technical de-velopment, manufacturing training and instruction, and certification-relat-ed services to manufacturers in a six-county region that include Oneida, Herkimer, Fulton, Montgomery, Schoharie, and Otsego counties.

Since 1988, the MEP system has been strengthening manufacturing in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. New York State is home to 10 MEP cen-ters that have regional designations and an 11th MEP center, FuzeHub, which connects manufacturers to statewide resources. Funding for NYS MEP centers is provided by multi-year grants from Empire State Devel-opment’s (ESD) Division of Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI), and by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) MEP program.

Quality, Safety, and Cybersecurity

In an interview with FuzeHub, AIM Director Cory Albrecht described the new MEP center’s mission, opportunities, and challenges. Albrecht, a former business development manager and vice president for Mohawk Valley Applied Technical Corporation (MVATC), became AIM’s full-time director in April. The transition from MVATC to AIM was “a natural one”, he said, as AIM will deliver “all of the typical core MEP services”. These include lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and ISO-certification programs; environmental compliance, food safety, and OSHA training; and strategic business services.

In addition, Albrecht says, AIM will provide cybersecurity programs for small manufacturers. According to Fortinet and as reported by FuzeHub, hackers launched 8.63 million cyberattacks against 59 manufacturers from October 1, 2015 to April 30, 2016. Most of these attacks targeted larger firms, but smaller manufacturers also need to prepare. Locally, the Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council (MVREDC) has designated cybersecurity as a key focus. AIM will help manufacturers to leverage the region’s university and private-sector resources in this area.

Supply Chain Development

“The economy of the Mohawk Valley is changing for the better,” Albrecht says, and the Marcy Nanocenter holds great promise for local and regional manufacturers who become part of the semiconductor supply chain. Lo-cated at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Marcy, the 450-acre site is already home to ams AG, a leading global semiconductor manufacturer. The balance of the world’s largest shovel-ready semiconductor site is being developed for additional semiconductor manufacturing facilities.

For local companies who want to engage these large manufacturers, obtaining quality certifications and implementing process improvements can be critical. “We need to prepare our small and medium manufactur-ers for the process of entering the supply chain for major technology companies,” Albrecht explains. “Our job at AIM,” he adds, “is to educate and train them so that they have an opportunity.” Part of that job may involve answering questions about cleanroom requirements and avail-able technologies.

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It was a day of games, fun and getting to know what mom and dad do when they trek off to work each day. The Wellness Council hosted its inaugural “Bring Your Child/Grandchild to Work” day this past Friday.

The group of children on hand had the opportunity to goof around with Star Wars bubbles before getting a tour of the Utica Campus. They were given access to the biology lab, where Assistant Professor Melissa Barlett, Ph.D., explained all the neat experiments per-formed by the students. They also toured the nursing lab before heading out into the quad for some fun and games.

Following a picnic, the children were given an un-manned aerial systems (drone) demonstration by Pro-fessor William Judycki. The activities wrapped up with the children going to the Jorgensen Center to play basketball, run around the track and splash around in the swimming pool.

“We have plans to do this again in the future during the February and April school breaks,” said Gail War-chol, Coordinator Healthcare Careers in the Center for Corporate and Community Education. She wanted to extend her appreciation to Zachery Wessenger, a high school student from Whitesboro who volunteer to help.

The day wrapped up with the children receiving Hawk magnets and tattoos, CCED summer camp t-shirts and a certificate of participation. They spent the final hour of the day shadow-ing their parent/grandparent to see what they do at work.

Kids get glimpse of parent’s workplace

Albrecht takes AIM to help local industry

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cybersecurity national designation - Continued from Page 1nation’s most advanced hubs of cyber research and devel-opment and we are fortunate to be anchored by the cutting edge work happening every day at Rome Lab,” said U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna. “MVCC’s designation as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber by the NSA builds on this work, providing our area with yet another critical as-set in cyberspace. It’s a testament to MVCC’s bold leader-ship, strategic vision, and enduring commitment to train our region’s workforce for the challenges of the future.”

To earn the designation, MVCC’s Cybersecurity AS and certificate programs had to meet stringent Center of Aca-demic Excellence criteria and mapping curricula to a core set of cyber defense knowledge units. This included:

• Developing state-of-the-art physical and virtual lab facilities for cybersecurity instruction. The virtual plat-form is capable of delivering more than 100 concurrent virtual machines through standard web interfaces and allows students to experiment with cybersecurity tools and techniques within a virtual “darknet,” preventing collateral damage to production systems. The virtual platform is leveraged within cybersecurity courses to provide the highest-level instruction, and allows MVCC to host the CNY Hackathon and its extremely complex exercises.

• Aligning MVCC’s cybersecurity course content and laboratory exercises with the rigorous set of knowledge units required of CAE2Y institutions by the NSA/DHS.

• Demonstrating that MVCC encourages the practice of cybersecurity throughout the institution — in other fields of study, in non-credit professional development courses, and in the College’s Information System Se-curity Plan.

• Developing transfer agreements with local four-year institutions that offer Information Assurance Programs, such as SUNY Polytechnic Institute and Utica College.

• Participating in cybersecurity competitions, such as the CNY Hackathon, Cyber Aces online competition, and the Hacker Battleship and Crypto Challenge competi-tions at the Rochester Security B-Sides event.

• Sponsoring cybersecurity-related community events, such as the CNY Hackathon, Cyber Lecture Series, presentations for local organizations and middle school and high school students.

MVCC’s Cybersecurity degree combines the study of

criminal justice and computer-technology to address current needs in the cybersecurity field, preparing students to identify vulnerabilities and threats that affect corporate and govern-ment computer networks, to protect critical information in cyberspace and to effectively design, implement, and support security policies for a large-scale enterprise network. Stu-dents examine a wide variety of security analysis/defensive tools and concepts, and then attempt to circumvent them. This program prepares students to transfer to upper division Cybersecurity programs or assume entry-level positions in the Cybersecurity Industry.

The certificate provides students with an overview of computer and network security. It is designed for Information Technology professionals that would like to update their skills, certifications, and credentials to better qualify for positions in our local cybersecurity industry. Learn more about MVCC’s cybersecurity programs at www.mvcc.edu/cyberlab.

Under an agreement approved by Oneida County lawmakers, MVCC’s Blue Collar Unit of the United Public Service Employees Union will receive pay hikes under a new two-year contract.

This includes wage increases of 1.5 percent for both this year and next for employees on the salary scale and raises of 2.75 percent in 2016 and 2.5 percent in

2017 for employees at the top of the salary scale who, as a result, are not eligible for step movement based on years of service.

Additionally, an 80-cent an hour differ-ential that is paid to about half the union members will be eliminated July 1, 2017. In its place, $1,664 will be added to the salary schedule for all employees.

There are no changes in health cover-

age.The Board of Legislators passed the

agreement 23-0 this past month. The contract is retroactive to Jan. 1. The last contract expired Dec. 31.

The county reached a two-year agree-ment with its largest employee bargaining group, the White Collar Unit, earlier this year.

UPSEU, Oneida County reach contract agreement

Spread The NewsSubmit your information for Communitas to rhaubert@mvcc.edu

MVCC’s annual August Institute will be held on Thursday and Friday, Aug 18 and 19.

The online registration for August Institute is now available. Some of the workshops being offer this year include Building

Collaborative Empowered Groups, How to Run Your Fastest Boilermaker Ever, and The Practice of Mindfulness As We Pre-pare In Emergency Situations.

Some workshops will focus on lifestyle. The registration link can be found on our website on the faculty/staff page, and on MVCC Today. For your conve-

nience, visit: http://www2.mvcc.edu/training/aug/

• Net Neutrality and Some Technology Tips at MVCC• Space Elevator: Next Step Towards Space Exploration• Heroin: The Addicted Person, Family, and Community

Concerns, Available Treatment• MVCC’s OER Grant• Building Collaborative Empowered Groups• How to Run Your Fastest Boilermaker Ever• The Practice of Mindfulness As We Prepare In Emer-

gency Situations• African American Vernacular English (AAVE): An Ameri-

can Dialect• Creating a Digital Watercolor• How To Be a Trans Ally• Afternoon Boxed Lunch• Payroll Authorization and Pay Rate Training• Tech Tools with The New Instructional Design Librarian

• What Stands Between Us• Content Management for Web Uploaders• Preparing Children for Natural Disasters and Active

Shooters• Google Apps: Level 2• So You Want To Be A Club Advisor• Teaching SquaresThe Art and Practice of Using Henna• Fish Trying To See Water: Understanding Gender• Starfish Kickoff• ATD Reading Strategies Toolbox

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August Institute kicks off new school year

By Kelly FlemingiServe Mohawk Valley Coordinator

On May 24, a local business (Best Buy) joined forces with iServe Mohawk Valley - a Volunteer Generation grant funded program based on the MVCC Rome Campus - for a day of ser-vice project. Regional District Manager Joel Tranko coordinated with local store Manager Nicole Deleone to bring 11 other Best Buy Associates with them to pitch in on a work day at Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen, 401 North Washington Street, Rome.

Associates provided much needed help at the Soup Kitchen by painting two restrooms, cleaning out the basement, sorting items to be donated and peeling many pounds of potatoes for the evening side dish: German Potato Salad.

Loaves and Fishes has grown from originally serving 25 meals a week out of the Rome Wesleyan Church basement, to approximately 2,000 meals weekly from its new Washington Street location. Meals are served for breakfast and dinner, free of charge to the public every weekend and on Holidays. Home delivered meals are also taken to those unable to travel on site, via an iServe volunteer. There is also a free clothing donation center on site along with support groups, children’s activities and other special events.

Best Buy associates from throughout New York and Penn-sylvania were in town for a regional convention. Tranko stated Best Buy has adopted the policy of setting aside time to have associates help out at a local non-profit, as part of their annual gathering. This occurs across the Nation in whatever location their convention may be held. iServe Mohawk Valley eagerly facilitated this effort to help the associates fulfill their obligation while assisting a local nonprofit to thrive and grow.

Local business lends a hand

Professor David Katz, Executive Director of Organizational Development, had a busy summer. He visited Pima Commu-nity College in June and delivered a plenary presentation and a breakout session at their annual Professional Development Day.

Pima CC is a comprehensive, multi-campus college serving 40,000 students within the Tucson metropolitan area in south-ern Arizona.

Katz’s interactive presentations dealt with topics very familiar to the MVCC community; emotional intelligence, an affirming strengths based culture, and empowering students, colleagues and teams by applying current brain research and positive psy-chology to learning and relationships.

He then went to San Antonio, Texas in July to visit with The Alamo Colleges (a consortium of five distinct two year colleges with a total enrollment of nearly 60,000 students) and deliver a keynote address and breakout session on Leading Collabora-tive Groups.

The presentation was given to their Unified Staff Council (a very large representative body of 100 people which is equiva-lent to our senate).

According to Katz his biggest takeaways were one, it is very hot in Arizona and Texas, and two, that many colleges are interested in our progressive ideas on building a dynamic and affirming culture for our students and staff!

Katz hosts interactive lecture at Pima CC