HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WOWK)- Construction on the new Marshall University Institute of Cyber Security is expected to start soon.
This $45 million facility will give Marshall students the opportunity to work with industry-standard software and state-of-the-art technology, giving them an upper hand over other students entering the workforce. Neighborgall Construction Company submitted the winning bid for construction.
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“That is the goal, that is always the goal. You know, I’ve heard students from other places say they feel like they’re not ready for the outside world. When they leave here, we want them to feel like they’re ready. When they sit down here, go, ‘okay, I’ve seen this before, I’ve seen this program before, I’ve seen this attack before, I know how to deal with that.’ That’s always our goal,” said James Lanham, the Director of Operations for Marshall’s Institute for Cyber Security.
This facility won’t just be for academics. The Executive Director for the ICS said that they want the building to be a cybersecurity hub that businesses and municipalities can turn to for help.
“We want to help everyone protect their systems or protect their data with that security-first mindset. But then when they may not have the resources or ability to do so, we want to have a student led S.O.C’s (Security Operation Centers), to where we can provide them security operation center services, and protect their data for them, provide training, do table top exercises, help train them, we want to be a resource for the region,” said Alexandria Donathan.
The cybersecurity school’s students are already partnering with businesses to help them better protect their data. Lanham said they’ve developed training that has been customized for businesses that can be used to train their employees.
“Here at Marshall, we’ve developed in our systems micro-credentialing. Some of those micro-credentialing are not just for our students here, but the external. So if a hospital needs training for their staff in cybersecurity, we can develop for that specific hospital. A micro-credential is just an online course they can take externally and get that training they need,” said Lanham.
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The Institute for Cyber Security will also offer courses for anybody who’s interested.
“Lifelong learners can do it, Marshall students can learn, but also members that are already within the workforce. It can be a student of Marshall, it can also be people that are working, that want to just take a course, they can also do that as well. So we can help educate people that are currently working in the workforce but never got cybersecurity training; those micro-credentials can also do that,” said Donathan.
Donathan said that the facility was designed with growth in mind, as technology and threats evolve, the Institute for Cyber Security will be able to meet the ever-changing demands.
“The intent of the building was to not pigeon-hole us into just very niche portions, but to have the building be able to grow. We have raised floors, we have a lot of the other high-tech options. We’re making sure that this building and the lab spaces, especially, are able to grow with the needs of cyber,” said Donathan.
Construction on the new Institute for Cyber Security is expected to begin in the coming weeks and will be ready to welcome in students and community members alike for the 2027 Fall semester.
