‘Cowboy’ heads new Security program at Pellissippi State

‘Cowboy’ heads new security program at Pellissippi State

The large cowboy hat that John A. Sterling wears sort of gives him a sheriff-looking appearance. And his new job makes him a sort of sheriff type of guy.

Sterling, a one-time cowboy in the Rocky Mountains and law enforcement officer in the Midwest, coordinates the newest academic program at Pellissippi State.

The Security Engineering and Administration Technology program will help train some of the highly educated specialists needed to administer the latest advances in corporate and government security.

“The SEAT program is designed to provide a comprehensive education for professionals in the field of security,” said Sterling, who joined the College this summer after serving as East Tennessee regional coordinator in the governor’s Office of Homeland Security.

“With terrorists and criminals becoming ever more technologically sophisticated, security professionals must proactively plan to detect and deter those threats.”

The SEAT program has been planned with the assistance of local security administrators from such agencies as the TVA, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Knoxville Police Department. Students interested in the program can begin taking general courses now.

“Of the many advanced technology programs now offered at the community college, this is one of the most advanced,” said James Bruns, vice president of Academic and Student Affairs. “It deals with such things as digital asset management, electronic access controls, bioterrorism and biometrics.”

Pellissippi State received a $1.7 million Title III strengthening and development grant nearly two years ago from the U.S. Department of Education to develop and implement two new Career/Technical programs at the College, Security Engineering and Administration Technology and Media Technologies.

The grant is supporting equipment purchases and upgrades and providing training for faculty in the use of new program technologies. The Tennessee Board of Regents and Tennessee Higher Education Commission have approved the startup of the programs. The SEAT program officially starts in January. Media Technologies begins today.

The SEAT program, blends a cross-disciplinary array of new courses with existing ones in Electrical Engineering Technology and High Performance Computing. Both Electrical Engineering Technology and High Performance Computing remain separate degree programs.

The new courses address specific needs of the local security industry and include such topics as emergency planning, security systems, security management, intrusion detection and countermeasures, and investigation techniques.

The program will have two concentrations: Security Administrator and Security Technician.

“Both government and private employers face many security challenges,” Sterling said. “In addition to fraud, employee theft, industrial espionage and the like, they must now consider the ramifications of possible terrorist attacks, relating to both the safety of their employees and their ability to provide goods and services that the public expects and demands.

“Technology and trained specialists will give those employers what they need to develop effective countermeasures.”

Sterling brings a broad background in law enforcement and security to the new position, not to mention time spent being a modern-day cowboy.

A native of Washington state, Sterling grew up in Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado and at one time trained horses, worked cattle, built fences, put up hay and did “all of the chores that make being a cowboy so much fun.”

He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Regis University in Denver and both a master’s in public policy and a law degree from Regent University in Virginia Beach.

Long before entering college, however, Sterling worked in sheriff’s and police departments in Kansas, as a security inspector for Martin Marietta Aerospace in Denver and as a postsecondary instructor in Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina.

In 2003, before relocating to East Tennessee, he served as an instructor for the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety’s Academy of Counter-Terrorism.

Sterling, 52, says now is the right time to start a college program of this kind.

“It is my belief that terrorism is a threat that will be with us for a long time. By its nature, it will ‘morph’ into whatever form will suit the evil purposes of its adherents,” Sterling said.

“We cannot afford to wait until something happens and then hope that we have what it takes to respond. Every person in leadership must be proactive in planning, training and exercising security plans, so that ‘hope’ is not a plan.”

"Inside Pellissippi" is a bi-monthly electronic publication produced by the Community Relations Office for the faculty and staff of Pellissippi State Technical Community College, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, P.O. Box 22990, Knoxville, Tennessee 37933-0990. All suggestions and comments should be sent to Julia Wood (jwood@pstcc.edu).

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