Forge Institute Strikes Strategic Partnership with CareerScore
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Forge Institute Strikes Strategic Partnership with CareerScore

Forge Institute announced today a strategic partnership with Quotanda’s CareerScore. The alliance was created to enhance job placement opportunities for graduates of the Forge Institute Training Academy.

“Our academy is committed to not only providing valuable cyber professional development skills, but to also provide a capability to streamline and assess candidates’ job search and application efforts. This enables our team to focus on high-impact engagements and better positions our graduates to succeed,” said Lee Watson, Founder and CEO of Forge Institute.

“Our academy is committed to not only providing valuable cyber professional development skills, but to also provide a capability to streamline and assess candidates’ job search and application efforts. This enables our team to focus on high-impact engagements and better positions our graduates to succeed,” said Lee Watson, Founder and CEO of Forge Institute.

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Lee Watson Leads the Charge on Cybersecurity in Arkansas
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Lee Watson Leads the Charge on Cybersecurity in Arkansas

Amid a world rife with threats to cybersecurity, Lee Watson has positioned himself as a key leader in ensuring that both the public and private sector stay ahead of the dangers that affect everything from the nation’s supply chains to the safety of private health-care information. As the founder and CEO of the Little Rock-based Forge Institute, which creates private-public collaborations that support economic and national security initiatives, the 35-year-old native Arkansan has a unique vantage point to address these ever-growing concerns.

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Forge Institute And University Of Arkansas Little Rock Expand Partnership To Grow Skilled Cybersecurity Workforce
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Forge Institute And University Of Arkansas Little Rock Expand Partnership To Grow Skilled Cybersecurity Workforce

UA Little Rock will recognize certain Forge Institute professional development courses and provide academic credit hours towards a Computer Science and Cybersecurity Bachelor's degrees at UA Little Rock for those who successfully complete the training. Each institution has thoroughly reviewed curriculum and mapped academic requirements to corresponding aspects of Forge Institute’s professional development program.

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AR Division Of Workforce Services (ADWS) & Forge Institute Complete First Cycle Of IT/Cyber Fundamentals Course, Trained Under Or Unemployed Arkansans For A Future Career In Technology
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AR Division Of Workforce Services (ADWS) & Forge Institute Complete First Cycle Of IT/Cyber Fundamentals Course, Trained Under Or Unemployed Arkansans For A Future Career In Technology

Forge Institute and the Arkansas Department of Commerce, Division of Workforce Services, recently partnered to provide eligible Arkansans in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program with the opportunity to participate in workforce-readiness training, designed to help them move towards a higher-paying job in information technology.

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Forge Institute and The University Of Arkansas Announce Partnership To Advance Applied Research In Cybersecurity To Support National Defense
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Forge Institute and The University Of Arkansas Announce Partnership To Advance Applied Research In Cybersecurity To Support National Defense

Today the Forge Institute, along with the University of Arkansas Fayetteville (UA-Fayetteville) and University of Arkansas Little Rock (UA-Little Rock), jointly announce a partnership to advance applied research in areas that support our national defense, including cybersecurity. This collaboration brings together the best resources, research and capabilities of UA-Fayetteville and UA-Little Rock, along with the unique capabilities & relationships of the Forge Institute.

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Video: Kickoff to National Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week
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Video: Kickoff to National Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week

Event to Kickoff National Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week (November 9-14) Featured discussions: The important role cybersecurity professionals have in organizations and what a career in cybersecurity entails. Cybersecurity career opportunities and the pathways into these high-paying jobs!

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Forge Institute joins UA Little Rock Coalition to Launch Health Care Cybersecurity Curriculum and Pilot Focused on Veterans and First Responders
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Forge Institute joins UA Little Rock Coalition to Launch Health Care Cybersecurity Curriculum and Pilot Focused on Veterans and First Responders

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is part of a coalition of universities and industry partners that are developing a curriculum to increase cybersecurity talent focused on health care with $6.3 million in funding from the National Security Agency.

UA Little Rock will work with the University of Louisville, the University of North Florida, Bluegrass Technical and Owensboro Technical, the Forge Institute, and a coalition of industry partners to develop a training curriculum focused on health care cybersecurity. UA Little Rock will receive $640,000 for the three-year grant.

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Forge Institute To Bring Cyber Leaders Together To Discuss Career Opportunities And Workforce Needs In Arkansas As Part Of National Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week
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Forge Institute To Bring Cyber Leaders Together To Discuss Career Opportunities And Workforce Needs In Arkansas As Part Of National Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week

Forge Institute in collaboration with the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, announces that it will host a virtual event on November 9th, to kick off National Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week (NCCAW). During the week individuals(educators, employers and members of the community) are encouraged to get involved in national recognition of how cybersecurity plays a vital role in the lives of Americans and how building a national cybersecurity workforce enhances America’s national security and promotes economic prosperity.

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Two-day Cybersecurity Course To Help It Professionals Increase Security & Operational Resiliency During Covid-19
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Two-day Cybersecurity Course To Help It Professionals Increase Security & Operational Resiliency During Covid-19

Today Forge Institute announced it will be offering a two-day training course “Cybersecurity for IT Professionals” to provide IT professionals with the cybersecurity fundamentals they need to better protect the technology they manage. Participants will understand how their decision impacts the security and operational resiliency of the organization.

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Cybersecurity Training Program Expands To Prepare Arkansans For High-demand, High-paying Jobs
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Cybersecurity Training Program Expands To Prepare Arkansans For High-demand, High-paying Jobs

Today Forge Institute has announced the start dates of its next two ACA Cybersecurity Training Bootcamps. The Fall 2020 program starts on 10/19/20 and the Spring 2021 cycle begins on 01/20/21. Each bootcamp will provide the perfect on-ramp from an IT generalist position to a Cybersecurity Defense Analyst or SOC Analyst I position. This program is a fantastic way to on-board a new employee or upskill existing team members. Those interested in participating but don’t have an IT background may be eligible for the pre-bootcamp training “IT FUNDAMENTALS.”

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Forge Institute partners with the Arkansas Department of Education to provide Statewide Virtual Cybersecurity Training for All District and School Technology Staff
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Forge Institute partners with the Arkansas Department of Education to provide Statewide Virtual Cybersecurity Training for All District and School Technology Staff

Today Forge Institute announced a partnership with the Arkansas Department Education to provide virtual cybersecurity training to district and school technology staff across Arkansas. With the increase in cyber-criminal activity and a portion of instruction being taught online, there was not a better time for these two organizations to come together and provide the necessary training to help upskill the professionals that defend education systems from disruptive cyber-attacks.

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Scott A. Anderson selected to serve on the Cybersecurity Apprenticeship Sub-Working Group of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education
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Scott A. Anderson selected to serve on the Cybersecurity Apprenticeship Sub-Working Group of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education

Today the American Cyber Alliance (ACA) powered by Forge Institute, announced that Scott Anderson, Executive Director, has joined the Sub Working Group for Cybersecurity Apprenticeships of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) within the United States Department of Commerce. He will bring his decades-long experience in cybersecurity education and professional development to assist in addressing the Nation’s dire need for skilled cybersecurity professionals.

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ACDS's Jim Morgan Interviews Forge Institute CEO, Lee Watson
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ACDS's Jim Morgan Interviews Forge Institute CEO, Lee Watson

LEE WATSON’S LINKED-IN page lists his occupation as “serial entrepreneur/innovator,” and indeed he has tended to be wherever the action is, be it as CEO of his own software company, Founding Champion of Startup Arkansas, co-founder, director, and former head of the Venture Center, or as a member of Governor Hutchinson’s State Computer Science and Cybersecurity Task Force. With cybersecurity such a hot topic—and cybersecurity expertise such an in-demand skill—it’s no surprise that Watson’s Forge Institute is partnering with ACDS to conduct cybersecurity apprenticeship programs in both Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas. We asked Watson to tell us about the apprenticeship classes, starting with cybersecurity in general.

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