Internship Press Release, April 2015

April 16, 2015

 Merritt College News Release      

Silicon Valley Non-Profit Seeks Internships for
Merritt College Cybersecurity Students

In an effort to help academically talented but financially challenged students establish career paths in the high-tech world, two Silicon Valley executives have been working with Merritt College to develop a program in the in-demand career of cybersecurity. Now they are looking to their counterparts in the Bay Area to provide summer internships to provide real-life experience as part of the curriculum.

Mark Egan, Partner in StrataFusion, and Jim Cates, President of LOBI Group, are members of a CIO networking community called the Consortium of Information System Executives (CISE) which sponsors a non-profit organization called CISE Education Fund. Over the past 10 years, the fund has given more than $750,000 to support students at four-year colleges, and more recently at California’s community colleges. The first Merritt College courses in both Application and Infrastructure Security began this spring taught by both Merritt professors and industry professionals.

“We feel privileged to have helped Merritt College update its IT curriculum and give this opportunity to its students,” says Cates. “Our security advisory council of top names in the industry and Silicon Valley security professionals have volunteered more than 1,000 hours to establish the program with approval from California’s educational governance groups. We are excited to have received an overwhelming response to our first semester of courses with full classes of students.”

Now Egan and Cates are looking toward the Bay Area’s high tech community to sponsor hands-on internships for their accelerated students—an essential ingredient to the success of the two-year certificate/degree programs.

“After giving our students a year of rigorous classroom studies, it’s vital that they extend their classroom learning by getting the real-life experience of working in the industry,” says Anita M. Black, Program Coordinator at Merritt. “We are thrilled to have been chosen to partner with CISE to allow our students this important career opportunity that they otherwise may not have had.”

More information about the program and the advisory board members can be found at www.merritt.wp/securityprogram.

Companies interested in sponsoring an internship beginning June 8 should contact Jim Cates at jecates@gmail.com or Anita M. Black at ablack@peralta.edu