LA Cyber Academy

The LA Cyber Academy is a statewide strategy to develop and deliver relevant cybersecurity education, meet the growing need for cybersecurity talent, and scale the state’s cybersecurity workforce.

With funding from the Cybersecurity Education Management Council* in May 2024, the LA Cyber Academy was launched by six institutions in Louisiana, with Bossier Parish Community College as the lead institution. Participating institutions include:

• • • Bossier Parish Community College
    • Baton Rouge Community College
    • Grambling State University
    • LSU Shreveport
    • Nicholls State University
    • Southern University at New Orleans

The National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH) provided the Louisiana Board of Regents with additional funding. The funding was provided to support connecting institutions to a single instance of Canvas for seamless registration, course sharing, and scale across all six institutions.

Courses

Through a SACSCOC Cooperative Academic Arrangement with the six participating institutions, all courses offered through the LA Cyber Academy were developed and are taught by faculty experts within the partnership.

Students can register at any of the six institutions where the LA Cyber Academy is offered. Soon, all public postsecondary institutions in Louisiana will offer it.

This set of fully online, 3-semester-hour courses is offered at the 100 and 200 levels and is part of the Cybersecurity Universal Transfer Pathway. These offerings were developed to align with the CAE program goals and the NICE Workforce Categories. Courses include top industry credential alignment from CompTIA. After participating in coursework, students will be prepared to sit for exams. (Test vouchers are not included in this program.)

• • • Information Technology Principles (CompTIA Tech+)
    • Problem Solving and Programming Techniques (Python)
    • IT Hardware Support (CompTIA A+ Core 1)
    • IT Software Support (CompTIA A+ Core 2)
    • Network Essentials (CompTIA Network+)
    • Cybersecurity Principles (CompTIA Security+)

* The Cybersecurity Education Management Council (CEMC), tasked with promoting cybersecurity degree and certificate programs to institutions in Louisiana, was created by statute (R.S. 17:3138.9) within the state treasury, the Louisiana Cybersecurity Talent Initiative Fund was established with oversight of the CEMC.