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In 2002 Towson University was designated by the National Security Agency as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Security and Assurance Education. In 2004 Towson University was also recognized as a Center of Academic Excellence by the Department of Homeland Security.

Only a handful of universities in the country have been given this designation. Among those are Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech, Norwich, Perdue, University of California-Davis, Idaho State University, the United States Military Academy, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the National Defense University, to name a few.

In 2004 Towson University's Office of Homeland Security was selected to serve as the administrative home for the (international) Colloquium for Information System Security Education (CISSE) http://www.ncisse.org/

Towson University was informed by the Presidential appointed Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) in 2004 that the Committee has evaluated Towson's information assurance curriculum and that it meets all five federal requirements in information assurance education.

The Committee on National Security Systems, which evaluated the curriculum, is composed of members from 21 U.S. government executive branch departments and is chaired by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for National Information Infrastructure. This inter-governmental organization sets policy for the security of national security systems for the federal government and assesses current courses to ensure compliance with the national standards for information assurance education and training throughout the nation.

Students completing the information security curriculum at Towson University, whether as a Certificate in Information Assurance or as part of their undergraduate or graduate studies, will also receive a certificate, approved by the CNSS, attesting that the student meets all federal requirements in information assurance education.