# NDU iCollege Graduates 245 Students and Honors Award Winners

/ Published May 6, 2013

Washington, DC. Friday, May 3, 2013. In a formal ceremony, the National DefenseUniversity (NDU) iCollege honored 245 students with over 400 graduate certificates in a varietyof Cyber and IT leadership disciplines. Categories included: Cyber Security; Cyber Leadership;Chief Information Officer (CIO); Chief Financial Officer (CFO); Chief Information SecurityOfficer (CISO); Information Technology Program Management (ITPM); Enterprise Architecture(EA); Government Strategic Leader (GSL); and, Advanced Management Program (AMP).The graduates represented the Services and Combatant Commands within the Department ofDefense, other US Government agencies, private sector organizations, and international defenseministries (Czech Republic, Sweden, Republic of Korea).

Dr. Robert D. Childs, Chancellor of the NDU iCollege, welcomed graduates, guests, and facultymembers. Dr. Childs talked about the college’s successes and perseverance through recentgovernment cutbacks and the way ahead for education in the cyber arena. He also discussedthe college’s current initiatives to collaborate with National Intelligence University (NIU) ona cooperative Master’s Degree in Cyber, integrate cyber coursework and a possible Master’sDegree into Joint Professional Military Education (JPME), host a “Cyber Beacon” focus group inJuly 2013 to ensure the best cyber education at NDU, and continue current work with U.S. CyberCommand and the COCOMs to help meet their leadership education needs. Finally, Childshighlighted the recent college effort with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)to educate 250 GS-15s in a new, mandatory 24-month program that DISA Director RonnieHawkins established, requiring his leaders to complete education at the NDU iCollege.

Dr. Childs then introduced the guest speaker, Ms. Melissa Hathaway, former acting seniordirector for cyberspace at the National Security Council. Ms. Hathaway directed CyberspacePolicy Review at the White House for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama untilAugust 2009, when she left to establish Hathaway Global Strategies, LLC. She led PresidentObama's 60-Day Cyberspace Policy Review from February-May 2009. Ms. Hathaway guidedthe graduates through a brief history of IT and cyber and outlined her thoughts for the future ofcyber security and information leadership.

Additionally, several of the NDU iCollege’s partners presented honorary awards to distinguishedgraduates as follows:        
      - OMB presented the CFO Program Award for Academic Excellence to Mr. Chris Fredericks,
      -  AFCEA presented the CIO Program Award to LTC Bradley Cook and the Advanced    Management Program (AMP) Award to Mr. Jeffrey Whiddon,
      -  CACI Technologies, Inc. presented the Cyber Security Program Award to Lt Col Mark    Steven Danehy (in absence),        
      - AMP Director, Dr. Gerry Gingrich, presented the AMP plaque to Dr. Childs.

Two additional awards were presented at the ceremony. The John M. Carabello Prize (namedfor the first Dean of the iCollege) was presented by the NDU Foundation to Professor JohnSaunders for excellence in teaching, research, and outreach. Dr. Saunders has conducted manyyears of research in the field of critical infrastructure protection and has become well known and

much sought after for his work and teaching in this area. Finally, the college named its 2013inductee into the NDU iCollege Hall of Fame - the Honorable John G. Grimes, former AssistantSecretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration and DOD CIO from 2005 to2009. Mr. Grimes was honored for his continued and ongoing support the NDU iCollege, bothnationally and internationally.

After the ceremony, students, family members, special guests, and the college staff/facultyenjoyed a reception in honor of the graduates. The reception was sponsored by the NDUFoundation. The NDU iCollege holds its annual certificate graduation ceremony each spring.The college’s Master’s Degree graduates will join the larger NDU Graduation in June 2013.