Waleed Farag, PC4A Program Director and Director of the IUP Institute for Cybersecurity, hosted personnel from six PC4A partner community colleges for the first annual PC4A Partner Conference on August 7-8, 2023.
The event began on Monday evening with dinner at local family-owned restaurant Lemoona House and a tour of the IUP campus. On Tuesday IUP President Michael Driscoll, Steve Hovan, Dean of KCNSM, and Tim Flowers, Chair of the MACS Department, met and welcomed conference attendees. All partners gave presentations on their accomplishments, challenges, and lessons learned over the first year of the project and collaborated on ways to improve project offerings in year two. Representatives from the IUP Research Institute also offered a Q&A session to support partners in their efforts. Notable accomplishments shared by partners include distribution of over 100 virtual lab software vouchers, 50+ scholarships, 200+ tutoring sessions, seven certification prep workshops, and four faculty development workshops attended by over 20 faculty.
The conference was the first time all PC4A partners were able to meet together face-to-face since the start of the project in September 2022, and the event acted as a conclusion to the first year of the project. Farag said “I would like to thank everyone for their sincere work and contributions to our consortium. At proposal submission time, I envisioned this group establishing a unique consortium that can serve as a model for others and as time passes, I am more confident that we can all do that.”
The PC4A Project is the largest grant in IUP history, and will continue through August 2025, with a possible extension to August 2028. The main objective of the project is to strengthen our nation’s cybersecurity and STEM workforce through increased certifications, increased transfers to four-year institutions, and increased interest in DoD/DIB employment. Visit the project website for more details, and contact Waleed Farag at farag@iup.edu with any questions.
