Ms. Bliss is the Director of Cybersecurity Programs at UCCS and has been involved in cybersecurity (and all it was called along the way) for over 25 years. At UCCS she is working to provide additional depth and breadth to the existing UCCS cybersecurity programs by expanding hands on experiences for students, bringing cybersecurity across the campus in academic programs and campus practices, increasing industry involvement, and meeting workforce demand.
Most recently, she was at PPCC for 5 years and is leading the college Cybersecurity efforts through increasing the PPCC profile and footprint in cybersecurity. She has developed Monthly Cyber Capture the Flag events with partner Secure Set; obtained for PPCC, through a Department of Defense Grant, the Center of Academic Excellence for 2 year schools (CAE2Y) designation by NSA; brought to PPCC, a DHS Champion, highly engaged members of industry, academia and K-12 for Annual DHS National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) events for 2 years; developed a High School Summer Cybersecurity Internship Program “Cyber Prep” funded by the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Regional Area Multistake Partnerships (RAMPS) Grant. Before coming to PPCC she worked for 25 years in the intelligence community, as the NORAD Deputy Senior Analyst and Chief of Plans, supporting the government’s efforts in understanding the evolution of cyber since the early 1990s on cyber, information operations and warfare, and computer network defense/attack.