By TINA REED, Staff Writer
Capital Gazette Communications
12/14/11
To meet demand for cyber security training, Anne Arundel Community College is branching out near Arundel Mills mall.
The college’s new training location, 7556 Teague Road, will house computer labs, including secure space for cyber security exercises, as well as provide additional classroom space starting next fall.
“There really is nothing more important related to our vision,” said President Martha A. Smith.
The college would begin a 10-year lease starting next year.
Already, the community college has a satellite location off Arundel Mills Circle across from the mall. But those classrooms get full at peak times, officials said.
The new location would be across Arundel Mills Boulevard in a three-story building that already houses offices and retail, including The Greene Turtle Sports Bar & Grille.
The cyber security industry has been growing internationally. But with Anne Arundel County’s proximity to the National Security Administration and Fort George G. Meade, among other national security organizations, the regional demand has exploded.
This fall, AACC added five new certificates and one new associate degree in cyber security and has seen enrollment jump quickly, said AACC’s Vice President for Learning Andrew L. Meyer.
The new center would have 22,575 square feet of finished space and about 7,000 feet of additional unfinished space.
In 2007, the college’s board of trustees endorsed the need for a regional Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, center and earned the support of the county executive and County Council at the time. Officials said they began looking for space in 2009.
They considered the classroom space AACC has at the Glen Burnie Town Center, but ruled out the location because it would not meet program needs, Smith said.
