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Cybersecurity Endowment Will Help Columbus State University Prepare Students for Careers

The endowment will help the university research cybersecurity in financial and technology programs.

TNS — Columbus-based credit card and payment processor TSYS donated $5 million to Columbus State University to help prepare students for careers in cybersecurity, the school announced Monday.

The gift is the largest ever for Turner College of Business at the the four-year institution on Georgia's western border.

Through a partnership with the school, $2.5 million of the funds will fund the TSYS Cybersecurity Center for Financial Services to be housed in the business college's school of computer science. A cybersecurity endowment will supplement salaries to attract top national faculty, fund new research assistantships and scholarships, fund faculty and student travel and finance special projects.

A $2 million TSYS Endowment for Excellence in the Turner College will support information systems and technology programs offered by the school of computer science. The remaining $500,000 will be used for other campus programs.

Columbus State was one of seven institutions selected in January to develop the University System of Georgia's information technology and cybersecurity capabilities, and increase graduates in those areas.

TSYS' gift brings the institution's $100 million fundraising goal to more than $65 million in gifts and commitments, campus officials said. 

© 2015 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, Ga.), distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.