Propel and Southern Company have teamed up once again for a new initiative.
The two have joined forces to launch the Propel HBCU Cybersecurity Consortium (HCC), according to a news release. The inaugural consortium was created to further support HBCUs’ cybersecurity curriculums. What’s more, it aims to connect academia, industry, and government.
“The dynamic and ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape has generated a myriad of leading career opportunities that have become critical across virtually every business sector – with a mere nine percent of those individuals being Black professionals,” Propel President Dr. Lisa Herring shared in a statement. “In partnership and collaboration with our co-founder, Southern Company, we’re cracking the code in a sector that is grossly underrepresented by diverse talent and an industry in need of a greatly expanded workforce.”
The news release notes that the HCC is made up of a resource hub, professional development, accelerated learning, and workforce pipeline. In addition, it’s set to spur industry projects, research, collaborations, and employment.
“PROPEL’s consortium will set a benchmark for developing a future workforce that is well equipped to address and solve the cybersecurity needs of today and tomorrow,” Chris Womack, chairman, president, and CEO of Southern Company, said.
He continued, “Leveraging the insights, tools, resources, and access to real-world opportunities that industry and government entities can bring to the table now will help further develop and enrich the transformative skills our future workforce must have. These skills are essential in how we continue to protect our critical infrastructure and be better prepared to face the cyber challenges ahead.”
As of this writing, the HCC has launched two programs: Faculty Fellows and Student Accelerator. Faculty Fellows caters to cybersecurity educators while Student Accelerator aims to advance third and fourth year HBCU students. Applications for the two new programs will be accepted until May 8, 2024, per the news release.
