Don Easton, a faculty member in Computer Information Systems at Lane Community College, was recently featured in an expert interview by Cybersecurity Guide, a national publication that profiles educators helping students enter the growing cybersecurity field.
Easton serves as the lead faculty member for Lane’s Associate of Applied Science in Cybersecurity. The program is structured to introduce students to the core concepts of information technology before advancing to more specialized topics in digital defense and forensics. In the interview, Easton explained that the curriculum intentionally begins with foundational courses in Windows, Linux, programming and networking.
“The AAS is a two-year program, 90 credits, so full-time students can complete it in two years,” Easton said. “The first year is a lot of generalized IT, so we’ve got some Windows courses and Linux. They take two courses in programming and two courses in networking.”
In the second year, students move into focused cybersecurity training. Courses include security operations, incident response, ethical hacking and digital forensics. According to Easton, this structure is intended to prepare students for both immediate employment and long-term adaptability in a fast-changing field.
“We get into some more specialized courses,” he said. “There’s an ethical hacking course, and courses on forensics analysis, network security and incident response.”
Easton noted that the program is open to students from a wide range of backgrounds, including those with no prior technical experience. Others enroll with previous training or employment in general IT and are looking to specialize.
“The program’s designed for people coming in with no experience,” he said. “That said, we do get people with experience that come back to fill in some holes or maybe they’re trying to move from general IT into cybersecurity.”
His own path into the industry began outside the classroom. Easton was first exposed to programming in middle and high school. After serving in the Army, he taught himself the skills needed for his first technical job and later returned to school for formal training. That experience has shaped his teaching approach and his understanding of who community college programs can serve.
“When I got out of the Army, I was self-taught and was able to get my first technical job,” Easton said.
The full interview is available at: cybersecurityguide.org/expert-interviews/don-easton
Lane Community College educates over 15,000 students annually at six locations across Lane County and online. Students and alumni from all 50 states and 79 countries create more than an $675 million dollar impact on the local economy, helping to support more than 8,900 local jobs. Lane provides affordable, quality, professional technical and college transfer programs; business development and employee training; academic, language and life skills development; and lifelong personal development and enrichment courses.