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Faculty Profiles
Meet the Director, Gary Kessler
A faculty member at Champlain College since 2000, Associate Professor Gary Kessler is thoughtful, articulate, and passionate about his work. His primary areas of professional interest in Information Technology (IT) include computer and network forensics, computer and network security, TCP/IP and the Internet, LAN and WAN technologies and communications standards. Gary is also experienced in -- and enjoys -- online education to adult students.
Many things excite him about teaching at Champlain, he says, particularly the students. "The quality of the students is key," he says. "I really enjoy seeing the growth and transition in the students over their years in college. I like the spirit at the school that allows everyone-students, faculty and staff-to pursue good ideas merely because they are good ideas!"
Gary joined Champlain College as the program director of the Computer Networking program. He later started and directed the Computer & Digital Forensics undergraduate program, both on-campus and online, and later the Information Security program. These related, but different, courses of study reflect Gary's own eclectic background. "They say that people in tech industries in the modern era will have at least four separate careers-not jobs, but careers-in their lifetime," he says. "That is certainly true for me. My career started in computer programming in the 1970s, [and migrated] to computer networking in the 1980s, information security in the 1990s and digital forensics in the current decade. While these all appear different, they are actually all part of a continuum and deal with information as an asset -- and have become particularly relevant since the events of 9/11 and its aftermath."
Digital Investigation Management
Gary spearheaded the development of the MSDIM based upon his experiences as a member of the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, where he is the outreach coordinator and lead mobile phone forensic examiner. His observations, confirmed by his colleagues, were that many good examiners were promoted to supervise other examiners without sufficient management training. In addition, many individuals who might make execllent supervisors were limited in their professional growth due to the lack of an advanced degree.
Thus was born the MSDIM concept. Working with colleagues and advisers from the public and private sector around the country, the curriculum was developed. "The central idea is to train the next generation of computer forensics and digital investigation managers," Gary says. "It's relatively easy to examine one or two computers. The challenge is to handle a case where there are dozens or hundreds of computers. For evidence to be acceptable in courts of law, we need to development processes to handle he increasingly large cases and management of personnel, equipment, evidence, and other materials is key to our ability to do this job with integrity and veracity."
Background
Prior to coming to Champlain College in June 2000, Gary was a senior network security analyst at SymQuest Group, a network integration consulting company in South Burlington, Vermont. Previously, he was the director of Information Technology and a senior member of technical staff at Hill Associates, a telecommunications education and training firm in Colchester, Vermont. He has been providing telecommunications course development, education and consulting services since 1984.
Gary has a BA in Mathematics from Humboldt State University in Arcata, California; an MS in Computer Science from the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont; and an Ed.S. in Computing Technology in Education from Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. He is also a Certified Computer Examiner (CCE) and Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP). Gary is the associate editor of the Journal of Digital Forensic Practice, and is on the editorial board of Digital Investigation and the Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law. Gary is a member of the High Technology Crime Investigation Association (HTCIA) and a frequent speaker at industry events.
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