CSS Named for U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison

(L to R) State Rep. Drew Darby, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, ASU President Brian J. May and Goodfellow AFB Commander Col. Mike Downs

It was primarily through Hutchison’s efforts on ASU’s behalf that the U.S. Department of Defense in 2009 awarded ASU $6 million, spread over two years, to fund the CSS startup. That funding was mainly used to hire the center’s first administrators and to upgrade the infrastructure in ASU’s Hardeman Building with instructional media, information technology equipment and other facilities in preparation for CSS operations and classes. 

Hutchison also played a key role in the CSS being awarded an additional $3 million grant from the U.S. Air Force in 2012 to continue and expand its faculty, curriculum and facilities. 

Since it opened in April 2010, the CSS and its academic component, the Department of Security Studies and Criminal Justice, has become one of the largest and fastest-growing departments at ASU, with a current enrollment of 510 undergraduate and graduate students. 

While the CSS was initially envisioned as an education support center for Air Force intelligence and security personnel, its scope has expanded significantly to offer academic degree plans for both military and civilian students seeking careers or career advancement in military intelligence fields, law enforcement, border and homeland security, and related civilian and government agencies. All CSS degree programs are also available online and are attracting students from across the globe. 

Undergraduate students can choose from bachelor’s degrees in border security, criminal justice, homeland security, and intelligence, security studies and analysis. Graduate students can choose from totally online master’s degree programs in criminal justice, homeland security, security studies, and intelligence, security studies and analysis.

The CSS faculty is made up of recognized experts with extensive practical experience in their respective fields that include, but are not limited to, North Korean military and political issues, U.S./Mexico border security, Middle Eastern security issues, homeland security, military history and manpower, and criminal justice. They are supported by state-of-the-art equipment and facilities in the Hardeman Building and ASU’s Global Immersion Center. 

By unanimous vote of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents, the CSS will now forever be named the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Security Studies.