While classes in public and global health and cybersecurity have been offered at BJU since last fall, students have not been able to pursue these as major areas of study. This will no longer be true come the fall of 2020 when both programs will be converted to bachelor of science degree programs.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity professionals are more than digital knights fortifying and protecting their employers’ cyber castles. Sometimes, they also go on the offensive. “There actually are legitimate jobs that involve breaking into computer systems,” said Dr. James Yuill, cybersecurity faculty at BJU. “Companies hire penetration testers to break into their own computer system. The testing reveals vulnerabilities in the computer system, but also weaknesses in the company’s processes for security design and computer system operations.”
Therefore, careers in cybersecurity require knowing more than how to code. These jobs demand both computer skills and security skills. In its Computer Science and Information Technology programs, BJU already has strong computer system development and operations programs. According to Yuill, “The cybersecurity program adds the courses students need for developing security skills.”
The Cybersecurity program will be a good fit for those students who are curious about how technology works yet who don’t wish to pursue software development or IT management.
Public Health/Global Health
“Global health is a popular buzzword in colleges these days,” says Dr. Amy Hicks, chair of the Division of Health Sciences. “Everyone wants to understand more about it and be involved in some aspect of it. (Through the new Public Health/Global Health program), BJU offers students the chance to do meaningful, impactful work as undergraduates while developing a practical Scriptural understanding of why and how they should be doing it.”
See Also: Dr. Amy Hicks: From Researcher to Teacher
The program will equip students for a wide variety of careers, including health educators, public health journalists, global infectious disease analysts and emergency response specialists. “We are living in times in which the medical model is undergoing a massive shift from a traditional focus of treating disease to a focus of preserving health and preventing disease. Public health majors will be at the forefront of pushing an effort to keep our communities, both locally and globally, healthy,” said Hicks.
Students who want to help those around them may find the Public Health/Global Health program to be the right program for them. Said Hicks: “We have a motto in the Division of Health Sciences. Do Justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly. … There is a lot of injustice and wrong, so we teach students to make things right wherever they go. They are to make things right between God and man by showing His love and speaking His words as they go to those who have no voice. They love mercy. When students work with the poorest and most marginalized in our world, they are bringing God’s mercy to those in great need of it. We want our students to love God and love their neighbors, and so show mercy to fellow sinners. Lastly, they are to walk humbly rather than with the arrogance that sometimes marks experts. They work with communities, not dictate to communities.”
Explore BJU’s other available programs at bju.edu/programs.
