Jun 01, 2017 09:23 AM EDT By Khaleb Skye A. Cruz, UniversityHerald Reporter

Illinois State University gets a whopping $3 million donation from State Farm. Apparently, the money will be used to boost the school's cyber security program.

According to the Illinois State University News, the new cybersecurity major will launch this fall. The donation creates an endowed chair position that will provide "leadership" for the new course in the School of Information Technology. It will also serve as funding for program enhancements and renovation of existing buildings to provide a better learning environment for the students.

Meanwhile, the State Farm Chair in Cyber Security will lead in overseeing the curriculum, setting all of the personal and team research agendas, and securing grants. The Chair is also responsible for maintaining the reputation of the Illinois State University as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education. Well, other duties include organizing of events like the Central Illinois High School Cyber Defense Competition and collegiate cyber security contests.

The Illinois State University is the first university in the said area to provide a cybersecurity major. It will have programs on defensive and offensive security as well as the combination of both. Event management with forensics is also one of the courses to be offered.

University President Larry Dietz said that the new cyber security program will focus on a topic of "critical importance to society." He noted that they are thankful to State Farm for recognizing the importance of this program. The support is truly a blessing for them. 

On the other hand, per ChicagoInno, cyber security is now a growing concern as hackers are recently making headlines. Last year, there were over 209,000 open cyber security positions in the US. That being said, the demand is expected to grow by 53 percent by 2018.

The City Colleges of Chicago also announced earlier that a six-month pilot cyber security "boot camp" will be held at the Wright Junior College. It is based on training prototyped with military personnel. For the record, this project is in partnership with the DoD.

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