Robert Doyle has participated with the SkillsUSA competition for many years as a full-time faculty member at Doña Ana Community College and most recently as a faculty advisor. This year, he will take on a new role in the next State Leadership Skills Conference (SLSC).
Doyle, who serves as New Mexico State University’s chief privacy officer as well as a DACC faculty member, was named tech chair for this year’s cybersecurity event at the New Mexico SLSC in Albuquerque this April.
“Only recently has the cybersecurity category become an event,” Doyle said. “Now it is a recognized category for state, national and world competitions. It is an honor to be named for this position to allow me to represent NMSU and DACC. More importantly, it’s an honor to be given this opportunity to help such a diverse group of students to prepare or their future careers in cybersecurity. At this time, there is a huge demand for cybersecurity professionals.”
Nationally, SkillsUSA includes nearly 340,000 student and teacher members from 50 states and three U.S. territories. Through the program, students learn the personal, workplace and technical skills grounded in academics that help them succeed at work and in life. The 2023 event is the first national in-person conference since 2019.
“I’m proud to say that over the years, NMSU and DACC have had numerous national medalists,” Doyle said. “Students have choices to demonstrate a variety of skills within their disciplines. As they explore the events locally, they refine their skills to determine the single category in which they want to compete at state level. As they dive deeper in the various competitions, they learn about themselves, their talents and their interests. Students can also compete in leadership areas such as public speaking, informative presentation and job interviewing. After students win a gold medal at the state level, they will continue to the national competition, where they will compete against other state winners.”
The competitions are all created and judged by industry partners, so students are working to meet standards set by their future employers. State champions will go on to compete at SkillsUSA’s National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta this June.
“Our state event is a taste of what to expect on an even larger scale nationally, where state champions from across the country will take part in more than 100 career competitions,” said Doyle. “Through SkillsUSA, our students have the opportunity to develop career readiness that industry demands while achieving a sense of accomplishment and belonging.”
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