By Sloane M. Perron, Manager of Marketing Communications
Anna Maria College focuses on providing students with real world experiences and career-ready majors. As part of this commitment, the college is announcing two new majors debuting in Fall 2023: Cybersecurity and Data Analytics.
The new unveiling is part of a partnership with Rize Education, a higher education, course-sharing platform that expands student access to a wide range of majors.
Whether as a full major, or as individual classes, Anna Maria students now have new educational and career opportunities through the Cybersecurity and Data Analytics majors.
“It’s all about putting our students in a win-win situation and making an investment in their education. I believe it’s our duty to prepare them so that when they graduate, they don’t just get a diploma in May, they get a career that they can start as soon as possible,” said Anna Maria College’s Director of Undergraduate Business Programs Lawrence Sasso.
The two majors of Cybersecurity and Data Analytics were strategically selected after assessing that jobs in these fields are in high demand, especially with changing markets and workforce trends. As the global economy anticipates the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and the ever-changing role of technology in business, these majors will help students navigate this new career climate.
“The business department at Anna Maria College is always aware of how real-world changes impact our students. We’re always looking and networking for new opportunities. We’re talking to our advisory committees, we’re talking to business leaders, we’re present at Chamber of Commerce meetings to see what’s happening out there. We are active in our local business communities, and we want to be in tune with what’s happening so we can recognize opportunities for our students when they graduate,” Sasso said.
While these two new majors have many business benefits, these classes can benefit students of any major who want to learn more about these fields.
Cybersecurity classes such as Ethical Hacking, Cyber Forensics, and Networking Technologies and Telecommunications, may interest majors such as Criminal Justice students. Meanwhile, the Data Analytics course offerings such as Programming and Algorithms could be complimentary to students who have a passion for computer science and technology.
According to Sasso the partnership provides more opportunities for Anna Maria students.
“The Rize partnership is huge because they provide the subject matter experts and professors so that our students can take the courses in those fields. To create a new program and have it up and running would take us a long time. This is a turnkey solution which accelerates student access to these popular majors,” Sasso said.
