Dr. Berlin appointed president of Mission Critical Institute

Dr. Berlin now serves as the president of  Mission Critical Institute a cybersecurity thought leadership center.  In order to address the growing demand for experienced cybersecurity professionals, Mission Critical Institute has launched the Veterans Cybersecurity Career Transition Program (VCCTP).  The VCCTP provides veterans ready access to the growing cybersecurity field and offers employers a reliable pipeline of "job ready" cybersecurity talent.

Dr. Victor Berlin, Updated Biolgraphy

Biographical Information

Dr. Victor Berlin

Dr. Victor Berlin is an educator with over 30 years of experience. He has served in federal, non-profit and private organizations. His primary focus is serving adult learners seeking to advance their professional careers. He currently serves as the President of the University of Fairfax, He earned a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management Science from Northwestern University and a B.A. from Cornell University.

Before founding the University of Fairfax, Dr. Berlin served on the faculties of the School of Management, Boston College and the Keller Graduate School of Management. He also served as Chief of Experimental Methods of the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST), Vice President at General Communications, President of Potomac College (1), Director of the Center of IT Education at Anteon Corporation (now GDIT) (2) and President of Rockwell University.

Dr. Berlin has published in the IEEE Transaction on Engineering Management, Management Science and Decision Sciences, Compliance Spectrum and Compliance Authority. Most recently he has presented at the Technosecurity conferences, Technoforensics conference and DODIIS (DIA)

At the University of Fairfax, under Dr. Berlin’s guidance, senior IT and information security professionals have been able to advance their careers in the public and private sectors. By focusing on information security and information assurance policy level problems, the University of Fairfax senior professional students have applied field research methods to addressing issues such as:
· Identity theft prevention
· FISMA Compliance
· Sarbanes Oxley Compliance
· Certification and Accreditation of Information System
· Enterprise Risk Management
· Utilization of ISSE in the System Acquisition Process
These students have been guided by faculty who are leading practitioners in the information security field. . These practitioners hold leadership positions within the public and private sectors. They bring to the class room their expertise and knowledge of current technical, threat and regulatory/compliance trends. As a result, students can rapidly transfer what they learn to problems they must solve on their jobs.
The University of Fairfax doctoral students have benefited from an innovative dissertation process which as resulted in a 90% retention of “ABD” students. This retention level exceeds the national average by 300% as reported by the Pew Foundation.
Dr. Berlin’s 30 years of experience in the federal sector and higher education has enabled him to provide the guidance necessary for the accomplishments of the University of Fairfax. Prior to becoming president of the University of Fairfax Dr. Berlin has served on the faculty of the graduate school of management at Boston College, as Chief of Experimental Methods in the Experimental Technology Incentives Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, as Director of the Center of IT Education at Anteon Corporation (now GDIT) and on the faculty of the Keller Graduate School of Management. In addition he served in executive or academic administrative positions at General Communications, Potomac College and Rockwell University..
At the Boston College Graduate School of Management, Dr. Berlin introduced a project driven curriculum for MBA students in the Production and Operations Management course. MBA students in this course formed small consulting teams of 5 students. These teams identified and secured “client” organizations facing operations management challenges. These teams utilized the operations management tools to create proposals and ultimately solutions for their clients.
In 1996 Anteon International Corporation recruited Dr. Berlin to become the Director for the Center for IT Education. Fairfax, Virginia The Center for IT Education provided courses Oracle Software Development and JAVA Development for technical professionals. In 2000 Anteon executives decided to establish Rockwell University to offer master's degrees in e-commerce. The State of Virginia approved Rockwell University to enroll students in November 2000, but in June 2001, before any students enrolled Anteon sold Rockwell University to Pinnacle Software Solutions, a technology training company. Dr. Berlin remained with Rockwell until December 2001.
At the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the Experimental Technology Incentives Program and the, Dr. Berlin headed a unit charged with the responsibility for facilitating regulatory and procurement agencies in the federal government to undertake policy experiments to test new regulatory and procurement policies. The objective of this program was to assess potential impacts of anticipated policy developments on technological change in the private sector. Dr. Berlin recruited a staff of doctoral candidates who assisted in the development of these projects while they completed their dissertations at Northwestern University. With this group of doctoral students Dr. Berlin began to develop the dissertation model that evolved in the University of Fairfax dissertation model. These doctoral students used policy experiments for federal agencies as the topics for their dissertations. These agencies include DOC, FERC and EPA.
In 1991, the Potomac Education Foundation established Potomac College, an independent, non-profit institution (501.c.3) institution of higher education in Rockville, Maryland. Potomac College began offering working adult learners with two years of college the opportunity to complete bachelor's degrees in management or microcomputer systems management. As president of Potomac College, Dr. Berlin guided the institution to national accreditation within its first two years of operation despite conflicts over its innovative curriculum with the Maryland Higher Education Commission.[1] The College had received the support of over 250 employers.
The curriculum of Potomac College, based on a nationwide study of adult learners conducted by the College Board, enabled working adult learners to complete projects at their jobs that would immediately apply what they were learning in their college courses. These working adult students would take one course in a six week term and would complete one practicum project applying the learning acquired in their college course. These students were guided by their professor in class, a practicum faculty mentor, and a work place mentor. Employers such as General Electric Information Services, Bechtel, and Bell Atlantic supported employees attending Potomac College and reaped the benefits of the practicum projects completed on the job by their “employee students”.
In 1995, Potomac College was approved by the District of Columbia as an accredited institution of higher education and the main campus of the College was relocated to the District of Columbia because of the lack of support from the Maryland Higher Education Commission. At the time of its relocation, the College was divested and acquired by Allegro, a private group of investors and converted to a “for profit” institution. Potomac College continues to operate to this day and has obtained a second accreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. .(www.potomac.edu )
General Communications, Inc. (GCI), also located in Rockville was guided by president Florence Tate from 1985 to 1995. Dr. Berlin served in a management capacity at GCI prior to becoming president of Potomac College in 1991. GCI was an accredited technical institute offering micro-computer certificate programs. The certificate programs at GCI were articulated with associate degree programs at Montgomery College, Rockville, MD. GCI was recognized by the US Department of Education as a model school and a video depicting its accomplishments was produced by the U.S. Department of Education. In addition, the Maryland Higher Education Loan Corporation recognized and adopted the Student Loan Default Prevention Program created and implemented by GCI. The graduates of GCI were hired by employers throughout the DC metro area including NIH, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and DOD. Finally, GCI underwent standard audits by the US Department of Education and repeatedly found to be in full compliance with Title IV regulations. Montgomery College articulated with GCI and enabled its students to transfer 30 credits to Montgomery College.