The Chief Information Officer (CIO) Certificate Program, sponsored by the DOD CIO, is the recognized source of graduate education for Federal CIO leaders to develop themselves and their agency personnel for leveraging the information component of national power for strategic advantage. The program addresses requirements in the Clinger-Cohen Act (1996), the Government Performance Result Act (1993), the Paperwork Reduction Act (1995), the Federal Information Security Management Act (1996), and the President’s Management Agenda (2001). At the end of their program, CIO graduates will be able to:
CIO Program graduates earn a certificate signed by the DOD CIO and the Director of the IRM College that recognizes they have earned an education in the Federal CIO competencies. The CIO Certificate Program is organized around 12 subject areas directly related to CIO competencies identified by the Federal CIO Council (see Figure 2). Selected courses allow students to tailor their CIO program of study to meet their organization’s needs and priorities (see Table 1). Additionally, the CIO Certificate is a specialty in the Government Strategic Leader Master of Science Degree.
Students may apply their certificates, equivalent to at least 15 graduate-level credit hours, toward selected master’s or doctoral degree programs at several partner institutions of higher education.
Certificate Requirements
Courses in each competency are designated as “core” because of their breadth and necessary links to the CIO competency or “specialty” because of their depth in a particular competency. Students work with their supervisors and academic advisors to tailor their program to fit their professional and/or organizational needs within the guidelines set by the CIO Council. Students earn the CIO Certificate by successfully completing eight (8) courses that satisfy the following:
Six core courses in six different competency areas, three of which are required:
1. Changing World of the CIO (CWC)
2. Measuring Results of Organizational Performance (MOP)
3. Information Assurance and Critical Infrastructure Protection (AII)
Two other courses of their choice from the College catalog.
Students may opt to complete the CIO Certificate with an Information Assurance (IA) concentration that leads to the Information Assurance Certificate (NSTISSI No. 4011) by selecting three IA courses as part of their CIO program. Three of the following four courses may be applied toward requirements for the CIO Certificate Program. Students who wish to complete both the CIO and IA Certificates must complete a total of nine courses to include the four that are mandatory for the IA program.
1. Information Assurance and Critical Infrastructure Protection (AII)
2. Global Enterprise Networking and Telecommunications (GEN)
3. Managing Information Security in a Networked Environment (SEC)
4. Developing Enterprise Security Strategies, Guidelines, and Policies (ESS)
All courses, independently of the format in which they are offered, provide students academic content and intellectual rigor resulting in three graduate credit hours. Students have four years from the date of their acceptance into the CIO Certificate Program to complete the requirements and must successfully complete at least one course every 18 months to maintain active status in the program.
| CIO Certificate Requirements | ||
| Required Core Courses (3 courses) | ||
| Key Competency Area | Course (Catalog Number) | |
| Policy | CWC (6317) | Changing World of the CIO |
| Performance- and Results-Based Management | MOP (6316) | Measuring Results of Organizational Performance |
| Security and Information Assurance | AII (6203) | Information Assurance & Critical Infrastructure Protection |
| Additional Core Courses (3 courses from 3 different competency areas) | ||
| Key Competency Area | Course (Catalog Number) | |
| Acquisition | ITA (6415) | Strategic Information Technology Acquisition |
| Architectures and Infrastructures | ARC (6409) | Enterprise Architectures for Leaders |
| DMS (6414) | Data Management Strategies and Technologies: A Managerial Perspective | |
| Capital Planning and Investment | BBC (6430) | Building an IT Business Case |
| PFM (6315) | Capital Planning and Portfolio Management | |
| eGovernment / eBusiness | IAG (6525) | Information Age Government |
| Leadership | LDC (6301) | Leadership for the Information Age |
| Process Improvement | PRI (6333) | Strategies for Process Improvement |
| Strategic Planning | IMP (6318) | Information Management Planning |
| ESP (6320) | Enterprise Strategic Planning | |
| IWS (6202) | Information, Warfare, and Military Strategy (Secret clearance required) | |
| Technology Assessment | CST (6510) | Critical Information System Technologies |
| Additional Specialty Courses (2 courses) | ||
| Any course from the College catalog | ||