A new summer course at Penn State Harrisburg will teach educators and guidance counselors about skills their students need for careers in security and intelligence.
Part of a federally funded University initiative, “National Security, Homeland Security, and Intelligence Communities: Structure, Process, and Career Opportunities” will be offered Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 9:15 p.m. June 29 through August 10.
Scholarships of at least $600 will be available to educators who successfully complete the three-credit graduate-level course.
The instructor, Col. Xavier Stewart, has more than 29 years of active commissioned military service and is currently the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency liaison officer and special assistant to the adjutant general, Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs at Fort Indiantown Gap.
The course will provide an introduction of the national security and intelligence community with a focus on its structure, the legal framework, the activities of the agencies involved and the risks to national security. Course material can be incorporated into teachers’ lesson plans, lectures and discussion.
Representatives from the intelligence community will speak to several classes about employment opportunities and skills required for careers in security and intelligence.
Penn State Harrisburg is a key partner in the initiative aimed at encouraging Pennsylvania school students to consider college majors which lead to intelligence careers. The two-year, $1 million grant from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence also involves the University’s College of Information Sciences and Technology and Penn State’s Office of Military and Security Programs.
Penn State Harrisburg is home to majors in Information Sciences and Technology and Security and Risk Analysis and the University’s online certificate program in Homeland Security and Defense.