Invest in Yourself – Pursue a Graduate Certificate from the College of Information and Cyberspace at National Defense University! 

26 n Armed Forces Comptroller Summer 2021

 he good news is that the College of 

 Information and Cyberspace (CIC) at the 

 National Defense University (NDU) 

 stands ready to help you meet the 

 challenges of today and tomorrow by 

 offering opportunities to take graduate 

 level courses that will support your 

 academic and professional 

development goals. 

You may remember our college by our previous names —

Information Resource Management College or iCollege.

We updated our name to the College of Information and 

Cyberspace a few years ago and 

offer a newly-updated master’s 

degree that is focused on the 

dynamic information and 

cyberspace operating environment 

and its critical role in strengthening 

national security. For this article, 

we wanted to highlight the 

graduate certificates we offer at 

CIC – these certificates align 

particularly well with the business 

of government that ASMC members 

support every day: 

 Chief Financial Officer

 Chief Information Officer

 Information Technology Program Management

 Cyber Leadership

 Cybersecurity

 Chief Data Officer

When you take the time to earn a CIC graduate certificate,

you are investing in yourself and your career. Our students

benefit from the academic qualifications and professional

experiences of our top-notch faculty, gain new knowledge

through the completion of coursework and research, and

further develop communication skills and leadership 

capabilities. They also learn from the diverse perspectives

of our student body, and bring back best practices to their

components and agencies. We help our students become

better leaders and decision-makers.

Our graduate courses may be completed by DoD personnel

at no cost, are offered in online or hybrid formats, and are 

 accredited by the Middle 

 States Commission of Higher 

 Education. Each graduate 

 certificate requires the 

 completion of five, three-credit

 courses. Let’s review each 

 graduate certificate in more 

 detail.

 Chief Financial Officer (CFO) 

 The CFO Certificate is noted 

for a strategic leadership 

curriculum that is dynamic and 

relevant to the needs of the government financial management community, including personnel who work in accounting and finance, budget formulation and execution,

cost analysis, auditing, and resource management. The

program highlights the changing role of CFOs as organizational leaders of 21st century government and aligns

with the financial management competencies specified in

the DoD Financial Management Certification Program,

which is managed by the Under Secretary of Defense

(Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer. 

With the ever-changing operating environment the Department of Defense (DOD) faces

in meeting mission requirements, it is particularly important for ASMC members to 

continue developing their skill sets and enhance leadership capabilities. 

Invest inYourself–

by Dr. DorothyO.Potter and Professor DavidA.Harvey

T

PursueaGraduateCertificatefrom

theCollegeof InformationandCyberspace

atNationalDefenseUniversity!

“When you take the time to 

earn a CIC graduate certificate, 

you are investing in 

yourself and your career.”
Invest in Yourself – Pursue a Graduate Certificate from the College of Information and Cyberspace at National Defense University! 

Required courses include:

 The White House, Congress, and the Budget

 The Future of Federal Financial Information Sharing

 Risk, Internal Controls, and Auditing for Leaders

 Strategic Performance and Budget Management

 Data Management Strategies and Technologies

 Chief Information Officer (CIO) 

The CIO certificate focuses on developing future leaders

in the federal CIO community. It addresses the ClingerCohen Act and other relevant legislation mandates, as

well as standard practices for interpretation and 

implementation of these legislative actions. The CIO 

Certificate is organized around subject areas directly 

related to CIO competencies identified by the Federal

CIO Council. Required courses include: 

 Strategic Performance and Budget Management

 Cybersecurity Fundamentals

 CIO 2.0 Roles and Responsibilities

 Strategic Information Technology Acquisition

 Warfighting and Disruptive Technologies

 Information Technology Program Management (ITPM)

The ITPM program is designed to meet the ever-increasing call for program managers across the federal 

government. The ITPM certificate is designed to assist

agencies in complying with Office of Management and

Budget (OMB) direction. The OMB requires that project

managers qualified in accordance with CIO Council 

guidance manage all major information technology 

projects. The ITPM certificate requires successful 

completion of a graduate level curriculum to satisfy 

competencies established by the Office of Personnel

Management Interpretive Guidance for Project 

Management Positions and the CIO Council ClingerCohen Core Competencies. The certificate complements

general project management training and the American

National Standards Institute-recognized Guide to the

Project Management Body of Knowledge. It also provides

formal educational credit, one of the qualifications 

required for award of the Project Management Institute’s

Project Management Professional certificate. Required

courses include:

 Data Management Strategies and Technologies

 Capital Planning and Portfolio Management

 Information Technology Program Leadership

 Strategic Information Technology Acquisition

 Information Technology Project Management

 Cyber Leadership (Cyber-L) 

The Cyber-L program focuses on developing the skills

and desired leadership attributes necessary to be an 

effective strategic leader in the cyberspace domain. The

program achieves this through a rigorous curriculum that

enhances the understanding of all aspects of cyberspace

and how to best integrate cyberspace with the other 

elements of national power to achieve the nation’s 

strategic objective. Required courses include:

 National Security Strategy

 Cybersecurity Fundamentals

 Cyberlaw

 Multi-Agency Information-Enabled Collaboration

 Illicit Use of Cyber

The Journal of the American Society of Military Comptrollers n 27
Invest in Yourself – Pursue a Graduate Certificate from the College of Information and Cyberspace at National Defense University! 

28 n Armed Forces Comptroller Summer 2021

 Cyber Security (Cyber-S) 

The Cyber-S program is geared to those serving or 

seeking to serve as Chief Information Security Officer,

Senior Agency Information Security Officers, their 

respective staffs, and as cyber security managers. This

program provides advanced education to respond to the

requirements set forth in the Federal Information Security

Management Act. Required courses include:

 Cybersecurity for Information Leaders

 Cybersecurity Fundamentals

 Critical Information Infrastructure Protection

 Risk Management Framework for Strategic Leaders

 Illicit Use of Cyber

 Chief Data Officer (CDO) 

The CDO Certificate is geared to those involved in 

establishing, enabling, or running programs related to

data strategies, data governance, data analytics, or data

management. This certificate balances development of

technical knowledge and skills fundamental for data 

analysis, as well as leader-oriented principles and 

techniques critical for data-empowered government 

organizations. The program is designed for students with

diverse undergraduate backgrounds and work experience,

enabling them to become strategic leaders skilled in

building, developing, and running data mature 

organizations and leveraging data as a strategic resource

for national security. Required courses include:

 Data Management Strategies and Technologies

 Data Analytics for Leaders

 Data Strategy and Governance

 Strategic Information Technology Acquisition

 Warfighting and Disruptive Technologies

To be eligible for admission to our graduate certificate 

programs, applicants should possess a bachelor’s degree

with a minimum 3.0 GPA and hold a minimum officer pay

grade of 0-4 or civil service pay grade of GS-13. Additional

information is available at https://cic.ndu.edu, and our 

Office of Student Services can be reached at (202)685-6300

or via CICOSS@ndu.edu. If you are interested in applying,

please access our online application at:

https://cic.ndu.edu/Admissions/Apply-Online/ 

Remember, investing in yourself is a great investment. We

hope to see you in class!

Dorothy O. Potter is a Professor of

Practice with the CFO Academy

within the College of Information

and Cyberspace at the National 

Defense University. Prior to joining

NDU, she served as the Audit 

Engagement Manager and Risk

Management and Audit Remediation Section Head at Headquarters,

U.S. Marine Corps. She also served

as the Budget Officer for the U.S.

Army Medical Research Institute of

Infectious Diseases. She is a

member of the American Society 

of Military Comptroller’s Washington

Chapter.

Dr. Dorothy O.Potter,

PhD,CDFM-A,DFMCP3,

CICA,CBM David A. Harvey is a Professor of

Practice with the CFO Academy

within the College of Information

and Cyberspace at the National 

Defense University. Prior to joining

NDU, he served as the Federal 

Retirement Thrift Investment Board’s

Chief Audit Executive for Internal

Audit. He also served as the 

Pension Benefit Guaranty 

Corporation’s Deputy Director of the

Corporate Controls and Reviews

Department. He is a member of 

the American Society of Military

Comptrollers and the Association 

of Government Accountants.

DavidA.Harvey,

MBA,CPA,CGFM,CDFM