I would like to nominate Jeff Recor, Walsh College for FISSEA's Educator of the Year for 2003.
Background:
Jeff Recor is an outstanding educator whose impact reaches outside the boundaries
of his educational institution. Jeff's passion for teaching and his philosophy
of "learning by doing" helped establish the Information Assurance
Center at Walsh College. The main focus of the IAC is to act as a "community
outreach" program whereby organizations submit security problems and projects
for consideration to be worked on within the curriculum at Walsh College. Jeff
Recor manages all of these projects and assigns students to help complete various
tasks within each project. This combination of education and participation has
bridged the gap for students who are learning about IA concepts in the classroom
and then get to apply them in real-world situations. The community benefits
because security problems can be solved in a secure and cost effective manner.
Students benefit by learning all of the skills associated with plying their
craft, as well as gaining exposure to potential employers.
Some of Jeff's projects have won awards, and have driven a new partnership paradigm between educators and the private & public sectors. For example, the IAC helps law enforcement with forensic analysis, has partnered with the State of Michigan to design a security awareness program for 45,000 employees, and has designed security plans, programs and risk assessment methodologies for countless organizations.
Jeff has been successful at integrating IA content and programs into the other disciplines within the college, effectively increasing the awareness and training of all students at the College. This multidisciplinary approach has enabled the IAC to also help individuals that have been impacted by electronic fraud, Identity theft and other computer-related crimes in association with outside accounting and legal firms.
Jeff's commitment to Information Security training has been shown through activities such as making his curriculum at Walsh College, a "NSA Center of excellence" program, freely available to other schools to improve their ability to deliver IA education to more students. Jeff also holds regular IA training classes for instructors, including courses on IA syllabus development, lab design and program development. Jeff has been very successful at leveraging his private sector relationships in order to obtain lab software and hardware for schools throughout the Midwest region.
Jeff Recor continues to dedicate himself to reaching beyond the confines of the classroom to develop security awareness and training.
Congratulations Jeff Recor!