User:Wflaschka/CISS

The University of Mississippi's Center for Intelligence and Security Studies (or CISS), located on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Mississippi, was created in 2008 and is housed in the university's School of Applied Sciences. CISS's primary mission is to deliver academic programming to prepare outstanding students for careers in intelligence analysis in both the public and private sectors. In addition, CISS personnel engage in applied research and consortium building with government, private and academic partners.

The Center offers a minor in Intelligence and Security Studies (ISS) that is designed to complement a major course of study in areas of highly desirable core competencies such as foreign languages, engineering, and international studies. Unlike other minors at the University of Mississippi, students must apply for and be accepted into the minor once they have become students at the university. Criteria for acceptance include an excellent GPA, strong communication skills and exceptional motivation for a career in analytics.

The minor consists of the following six mandatory courses; students generally complete upper level courses in their junior and senior years :
 * ISS 125 Introduction to Intelligence Studies
 * ISS 350 Fundamentals of Analysis
 * ISS 375 Intelligence Communications
 * ISS 480 National Security Issues of the 21st Century
 * ISS 490 Internship
 * ISS 499 Capstone Project

Students
In March 2009, CISS selected its first cohort of students. The average GPA of cohort members was 3.69 and represented majors included Arabic, biology, chemical engineering, chemistry, Chinese, criminal justice, economics, English, French, history, international studies, political science, and religious studies.