Compiled by Bill Zalud

The Department of Defense (DoD) has selected a Capella University graduate student to receive its Information Assurance Scholarship, which is a full-ride scholarship that the DoD created to recruit and retain well-qualified personnel for work in the information assurance field, and to cultivate continuing capacity for information assurance workforce development at select institutions of higher learning throughout the United States. The student (who cannot be named because of DoD job placement security considerations) is a former member of the military who is pursuing a master’s degree in information technology with a specialization in information security at Capella, which is an accredited, fully online university that offers bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degree programs. Capella offers information assurance and security degrees that reflect the theme of IT architecture. Approximately 16 percent of Capella students are members of the military.

In addition to the scholarship, the recipient will receive an annual stipend, and if all conditions are met, will also receive a full-time position with the DoD upon graduation.

In 2007, Capella was designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education by the National Security Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The DoD only makes its Information Assurance Scholarship available to students of schools that have this designation. Capella is one of just 86 higher education institutions in the United States that have received the designation, and one of only a handful of online universities who have achieved it.