U.S. Senator Adam Schiff will be speaking at the Miramar College commencement; San Diego City College, which holds its commencement on May 21, will graduate the inaugural cohort of its Bachelor of Science in Cyber Defense and Analysis – a first for the California Community Colleges system.
Of the thousands of graduates expected this year, 31 will be earning the only cyber defense and analysis bachelor’s degree offered at any of the 116 California community colleges. In the San Diego metro region, information security analysts are earning salaries of well into the six figures per year, with the highest-paid employees being paid well above $200,000 annually. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of information security analysts to grow about 29% from 2024 to 2034, far above the average for all occupations.
Also earning bachelor’s degrees this year are an additional 16 students from Mesa College’s Health Information Management baccalaureate program, which in 2016 became among the first bachelor’s degree programs offered at a California community college. Both programs, as well as a new Miramar College baccalaureate program in Public Safety Management, were developed in close consultation with industry experts.
Venkateswar Rao Vadlamudi, secretary of City College’s Cyber Club and a member of the Cyber Defense and Analysis program’s first graduating cohort, lauded the hands-on nature of the curriculum. “Cyber defense isn’t abstract here. I work with real risks and real tools, learning to think like a defender in a world full of digital threats.”
Here is the schedule for SDCCD commencements, listed in chronological order:
- San Diego Miramar College commencement is scheduled to begin 10 a.m. Friday, May 15, at Compass Point on the Miramar College campus, 10440 Black Mountain Road, 92126
- San Diego City College commencement is scheduled to begin 5 p.m. Thursday, May 21, at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park, 2125 Pan American E Road, 92101
- San Diego Mesa College commencement is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Friday, May 29, at Merrill Douglas Stadium on the Mesa College campus, 7250 Mesa College Drive
- San Diego College of Continuing Education commencement is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Tuesday June 2 at the Town & Country Resort, 500 Hotel Circle North, 92108
“The San Diego Community College District remains the region’s primary provider of higher education and workforce training, and one in four of our graduates is a first-generation college student – evidence of our continued commitment to expanding access and creating clear, affordable pathways to economic mobility,” said SDCCD Chancellor Gregory Smith.