Partner Relations hosts ISO seminar for grad students, party for CSBS cybersecurity superstars

ISO staff give cyberseminar for graduate students

UIT Partner Relations and ISO staff hosted a “cyberseminar” on March 20, 2025, for about 30 David Eccles School of Business master’s degree students aspiring for careers in the IT security field.

“Shout out to the UIT team for visiting our class and sharing details about how cybersecurity works at the University of Utah,” said Chris Dansie, academic director for cybersecurity management programs in the business school’s Department of Operations and Information Systems and instructor for a graduate course in cybersecurity management. “It was a great presentation that provided interesting details to help our students understand the challenges and complexity of dealing with such a large network with thousands of endpoint devices.”

A list of presenters is below. Access slides of the full presentation in Box (login required).

• Jesse Adams, associate director for the ISO Security Operations Center
• Dean Keyek-Franssen, associate director for UIT Partner Relations
• Laurent Lecointre, data security analyst for the ISO Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) team
• Dave Packham, director for ISO Identity & Access Management
• Ben Poster, associate director for ISO Security Engineering
• Dustin Udy, associate director for ISO Security Assurance

“We thought it would be beneficial to bring in a team of cybersecurity professionals to lead a discussion emphasizing cybersecurity, the differences between higher education and the broader IT security industry, what it takes to do the things our information security staff do, and encourage them to apply for open UIT positions,” Keyek-Franssen said.

The seminar was attended by students pursuing Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS) and Master of Science in Cybersecurity Management (MSCM) degrees.

Ian Johanson, a computer assistant in the College of Social Work and MSIS student, said attendees “engaged with thoughtful questions concerning how the university safeguards its extensive infrastructure,” adding that UIT staff “offered tangible insights, particularly since each student is part of the IT security ecosystem through our student devices and UIDs.”

“Walking away, we gained a deeper understanding of the evolving cybersecurity landscape and the university’s efforts to protect all types of data,” Johanson said. “On a personal level, this seminar ignited my interest in the cybersecurity focus of the MSIS program, underscoring the abundant career opportunities in this critical field and the tangible impact individuals can have with cybersecurity expertise.”

Dansie said he appreciates UIT’s efforts around cybersecurity and has invited the presenters back at a future date.

“Managing cybersecurity at this scale is indeed challenging and the team is doing a great job,” he said. “The perspective they shared with the class helps students appreciate the importance of cybersecurity, as well as the many opportunities available to them to help make a difference in fighting back against cybercriminals.”

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CSBS celebrates Cybersecurity Program milestone with Pi Day pizza party

The College of Social and Behavioral Science (CSBS) had two reasons to celebrate on March 14, 2025: Pi Day and recently becoming the sixth University of Utah organization to successfully implement a suite of cybersecurity tools.

The latter fulfills a primary requirement of the University of Utah Cybersecurity Programcommissioned by President Taylor Randall in 2023 (memo in Box; login required) and led by the Information Security Office (ISO) and UIT Partner Relations teams. The former was a good excuse to get pizza for the party recognizing the milestone and CSBS Computing staff’s hard work.

Partner Relations hosted the event, which included CSBS Dean Michelle Camacho, Senior Associate Dean Rebecca Utz, Director for Computing Demian Hanks, and Computing staff members Andrew Ballard, Joseph Deviny, Steven Jeffs, David Nelson, Josh Shupe, and Nikole Widdison.

Dean Keyek-Franssen, associate director for Partner Relations, congratulated the Computing team on the implementation.

“CSBS has 1,700 or so endpoints. ... So, it’s been a big effort to deploy the cybersecurity tools — six of them to this school — ahead of schedule,” he said, adding that they knew their inventory and did a good job with personally owned devices. “It was a big uplift. We appreciate it.”

Utz told the Computing staff that they’re an invaluable part of the CSBS team.

“You rocked it. You’re doing awesome work,” she said. “We want to continue supporting what you're doing. Let’s be innovative, let’s be creative. And most importantly, let’s have fun while we do this important work around cybersecurity.”

Camacho, who arrived while Partner Relations was handing out “cybersecurity superstar” T-shirts, enthusiastically agreed, telling the Computing staff that she boasts about them to other deans all the time.

“Congratulations to our outstanding CSBS IT team for their exceptional work in managing our cybersecurity,” she said. “Your vigilance, expertise, and commitment have kept our systems secure and our data protected — an achievement that reflects true excellence behind the scenes. We’re grateful for your dedication to safeguarding the backbone of our organization.”

If you’d like to learn more about the U of U Cybersecurity Program, please review the website. If you have questions or need cybersecurity assistance, please email the UIT Partner Relations team at uit_partner_relations@utah.edu.

IT staff can request to join the Unified Security Toolset Microsoft Teams channel and opt in to attend weekly online community meetings via Teams held each Thursday, from 3:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. To request a recurring cybersecurity meeting invitation, please email uit_partner_relations@utah.edu. University units that complete new cybersecurity tool implementations and trainings are recognized in Partner Relations weekly Friday Wrap-Up emails and Teams posts.

 

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