Baldwin
Wallace
University
students
give
their
professors
high
marks
for
teaching
and
mentoring,
and
that
excellence
is
frequently
confirmed
by
outside
recognition.
In late August, Kenneth Atchinson, associate professor of computer science, was named IT Educator of the Year at the annual Greater Cleveland Partnership Best of Tech Awards.
BW
students
have
benefited
from
Atchinson's
dedication
for
more
than
20
years.
Atchinson
heads
up
BW's
cybersecurity
degree
program,
as
well
as
the
Center
for
Cyber
Security
and
Research,
and
coaches
BW's
winning
"CyberSec"
team.
Under his expert leadership, BW cybersecurity teams have achieved repeated success in local, regional and national competitions, including first place in the 2019 Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) Midwest Regionals and a strong showing in the nationals.
"I am honored and humbled to receive this award," says Atchinson. "It is really a reflection of the passion I have for teaching information technology (IT) and cybersecurity to students."
"Keeping
IT
relevant
takes
hard
work
because
the
field
literally
changes
on
a
weekly
basis,"
Atchinson
adds.
BW's cybersecurity program will soon have a new academic home with cutting edge lab space to help keep pace in the changing field.
The Austin E. Knowlton Center is scheduled to open in January 2021, bringing together data science, artificial intelligence, mathematical modeling, cybersecurity, engineering and physics in an impressive 55,000 square-foot building.