Cyber Opportunities

The University of Nebraska at Kearney's Cyber Systems Department has three major ABET-accredited degree programs, four minors, and one supplemental teaching endorsement. Each of these programs is uniquely positioned towards enhancing industry opportunities for students. All students begin with a shared set of core courses, making it easy to transition between majors and find the program that best fits their interests and goals.

Cyber System Programs

Cyber Security Operations

The Cyber Security Operations Comprehensive major emphasizes hands-on, experiential learning through lab-based activities embedded throughout its core courses. This practical approach prepares students for a broad range of cybersecurity careers, including roles in Security Operations Centers (SOCs), as well as cybersecurity analyst and engineering positions. The curriculum is based on the National Security Agency’s advanced CyberOps standards, with NSA CyberOps accreditation being pursued beginning in fall 2026.

Computer Science

The Computer Science major is designed to support students from rural communities who may have limited prior technical experience. Beginning with foundational coursework, the curriculum progressively builds students’ skills and knowledge, again with a focus on hands-on learning. Integrated mathematics and algorithms courses connect mathematical concepts directly to coding applications. Throughout the program, students gain hands-on experience with up to seven programming languages and a variety of operating systems, preparing them for either advanced graduate study or careers in computing.

Information Technology and Networking

The Information Technology and Networking major is one of only a handful of similar programs in the Nation. Designed for students interested in internet, networking, and telecommunications careers, the curriculum emphasizes hands-on, experiential learning with industry-standard equipment, including routers, switches, cloud servers, a variety o virtual machines, and firewalls. Graduates are prepared for careers in network and server administration, network engineering, telecommunications analyst or engineering, and other related IT fields.

Goals and Accreditation

The Computer Science Comprehensive program is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET, under the commission’s General Criteria and Program Criteria for Computer Science and Similarly Named Computing Programs.

The Cyber Security Operations Comprehensive program is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET, under the commission’s General Criteria and Program Criteria for Cybersecurity and Similarly Named Computing Programs.

The Information Technology and Networking Comprehensive program is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET, under the commission’s General Criteria and Program Criteria for Information Technology and Similarly Named Computing Programs.

The UNK Cyber Systems Department seeks to produce well-prepared Cyber Systems graduates who in their careers:

Lead a team within an ethical and legal framework.
Demonstrate professionalism and adaptability within the corporate or government landscape.
Engage in continuous learning and skill development.
Apply critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills in the industries of computing and computing applications, information systems and networks, and securing computer and network systems.
Communicate effectively and collaborate productively in multidisciplinary and diverse team environments.

All UNK Cyber System graduates from the Computer Science Comprehensive, Cyber Security Operations Comprehensive, and Information Technology Comprehensive will have the ability to:

1. Analyze a complex computing problem and apply principles of computing and other relevant disciplines to identify solutions.

2. Design, implement, and evaluate a computing-based solution to meet a given set of computing requirements in the context of the program’s discipline.

3. Communicate effectively in a variety of professional contexts.

4. Recognize professional responsibilities and make informed judgments in computing practice based on legal and ethical principles.

5. Function effectively as a member or leader of a team engaged in activities appropriate to the program’s discipline.

A program specific student outcome for Computer Science students is that graduates of the Computer Science Comprehensive program will be able to:

6. Apply computer science theory and software development fundamentals to produce computing-based solutions.

A program specific student outcome for Cyber Security students is that graduates of the Cyber Security Comprehensive program will be able to:

6. Apply security principles and practices to maintain operations in the presence of risks and threats.

A program specific student outcome for Information Technology and Networking students is that graduates of the Information Technology and Networking Comprehensive program will be able to:

6. Use systemic approaches to select, develop, apply, integrate, and administer secure computing technologies to accomplish user goals.

The assessment process for the program is centered around the Student Outcomes. They are designed such that all the students within the program are evaluated on their progress toward reaching the Student Outcomes. However, since some of the outcomes contain multiple attributes, they are broken into smaller pieces that contain a single skill to observe so that the evaluation is more clear. For example, the third Student Outcome states, “Communicate effectively in a variety of professional contexts.” Those contexts can be defined as technical and non-technical contexts each within the medium of verbal communication and written communication. Thus, the third Student Outcome can be broken into four independent skills to be evaluated for program assessment. For simplicity, these individual skills will be referred to as Student Outcome attributes.

The assessment process is broken into two phases so that areas of concern can be identified and addressed quicker. Each attribute of the Student Outcomes is assessed in a course from the program’s core approximately midway through the program as well as near the end of the program’s completion. In both phases, the assessments are tied to a regular course assessment where the instructor can observe the students’ competencies of the outcome. The students’ work is classified as either Does not Meet Expectations, Meets Expectations, or Exceeds Expectations for each student objective observed.

Every course assessment that is used for program assessments has a specific rubric that allows instructors to make the students’ progress for each of the Student Outcome attributes that are expected to be observed. The instructor completes the rubric while grading the assessments and then reports the totals to a Qualtrics survey. The specific data that is reported to the survey includes the number of students who do not meet expectations, the number of students who meet expectations, and the number of students who exceed expectations for each Student Outcome attribute. The results of the Qualtrics survey are consolidated into a format that makes it easy for faculty to annually analyze and identify areas of weakness.