OXFORD,
Miss. – The University of Mississippi is ready to help educate the
future intelligence and security agents of America through a new
national center focused on intelligence studies.
Announcement of
the Center for Intelligence and Security Studies comes less than two
weeks before the presidential candidates are to debate the issues of
national security and foreign policy in the first 2008 presidential
debate, hosted at UM Sept. 26. The debate topics shed light on the
importance of keeping up with the changing roles of homeland security,
which is the mission of the center.
The center opened this fall in the School of Applied Sciences. Students enrolled there will be able to earn a minor in intelligence and security studies. Also, the center has triggered a new intensive Arabic language program in the Department of Modern Languages, the only Arabic program in the state of Mississippi.
Directing the center is longtime FBI agent Carl Jensen, assistant professor of legal studies. Faculty members will have joint academic appointments in intelligence and security studies and in a relevant discipline, said Marie Barnard, assistant dean in applied sciences.
The new minor includes six courses, covering analysis, intelligence communications and modern security issues.
“What we’ve found is that national intelligence agencies are looking for people with core competencies,” said Jensen, who worked more than 20 years as an agent and researcher in the FBI. “So when a student graduates, he or she may have a degree in Chinese or computer science, but they are also well-versed in how intelligence organizations operate.”
Selection for the minor will be competitive among interested students based on applications submitted typically in their sophomore year, he said. All applicants also must pass a background check.
The minor will be “evolutionary,” meaning not all courses will be offered every semester and will build on each other. Students will complete an internship and a final paper or project comparable to a senior thesis.
“The kind of students we really want for this minor are the best the university has to offer,” Jensen said. “We really want to show how diverse the intelligence career can be – from investigating white-collar crime to working as a field agent. A student in this field could even find themselves advising the president on issues in a junior position.”
The center aims to work with other universities and agencies to create quality internships and to make the center a “bridge between the university and the intelligence community” by establishing public research venues such as online blogs and journals.
Long-range plans for the center include the establishment of a master’s degree and possibly a graduate certificate. The center is extremely interested in students majoring in modern languages (particularly Chinese and Arabic), computer science, business, international relations, chemistry and the physical sciences, Jensen said.
“We are fortunate to house this center with the School of Applied Sciences, but its benefits will reach across the entire university community,” said applied sciences Dean Linda Chitwood. “As the center grows, we will seek faculty fellows to develop intelligence and homeland security courses and research initiatives within their areas of expertise. This grant provides the institution an opportunity to develop a new model for interdisciplinary research and education designed to address a critical national need.”
Classes have started for 11 UM modern language students as they began their coursework in Arabic 111, taught by Allen Clark, instructional assistant professor of Arabic. A follow-up course is scheduled for the spring, and the Arabic minor should develop next year, followed by a major within four years, said Donald Dyer, modern languages chair.
Dyer, professor of Russian and linguistics, said he believes the difficulty in learning a language is determined largely by the will of the student. Even so, Arabic is what is known as a “level five” language and is often thought to be the most difficult language for English-speaking students to learn.
The new Arabic program will be modeled after the department’s four-year intensive Chinese program, which is ranked among the nation’s best. Students in the Chinese program not only go through rigorous coursework but also study abroad to develop fluency.
“This is really exciting because it takes us into another critical language,” Dyer said. “When you can do languages like Chinese and Arabic, it stokes the fire to want to do other languages.”
For more information on the School of Applied Sciences, go to http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/applied?sciences/ .