AFCEA Hawaii Receives Award from Western Governors University

For their exceptional work helping individuals develop career-ready IT skills, strengthening the local workforce, and encouraging innovation, Western Governors University presented AFCEA Hawaii with the WGU Elevate Award.

The online, nonprofit university presents the WGU Elevate Award to people and organizations committed to creating pathways to opportunity to others. AFCEA Hawaii’s director and president Linda Newton accepted the award during the C5 Forum Hawaii event at Fort Shafter.

“It was such an honor to present the WGU Elevate Award to Linda and AFCEA Hawaii,” said Angie Condon, strategic partnerships manager for WGU. “They recognize key workforce needs in cybersecurity and IT – and help connect military personnel to great careers in those fields. AFCEA does tremendous work, and WGU is proud to be among a small number of universities working with them to help guide service members toward family-wage jobs in tech.”

AFCEA Hawaii is the local chapter of AFCEA International. Based in Honolulu, it is a nonprofit membership association providing career development and networking support to military and professionals in both industry and government, as well as students and academic faculty. Its purpose is to align various sectors to help meet the tech and cybersecurity needs in defense, security, intelligence, and other key areas.

“This award reflects our commitment to working with the community at large to increase the investment in STEM education for Hawaii students of all ages,” said Newton. “AFCEA Hawaii is delighted to receive the WGU Elevate Award and that the university recognizes the importance of our mission.”

“AFCEA Hawaii exists to build strong communities and help others succeed,” said Tonya Drake, vice president of WGU’s Northwest Region. “They’ve been making an impact in Hawaii and around the world for 70 years – helping people get jobs in cybersecurity and related fields. We are happy to recognize AFCEA Hawaii in this way.”