The University of North Georgia (UNG) will host its fourth annual National Intelligence Summer Academy (NISA) from July 14-18. Spots are available for 50 students and for 10 teachers to audit the course. As in previous years, the academy will be at UNG's Cumming Campus with the final day including a motor coach trip to the Dahlonega Campus to learn about UNG's academic programs and Corps of Cadets.

Cadet Staff Sgt. James Pierce, a sophomore from Johns Creek, Georgia, pursuing a degree in strategic and security studies, attended the first NISA in 2022. It made an impact on his college destination.

"When you get there, it helps you figure out what you want to do in your career," Pierce said. "NISA helped me find my passion and figure out what I wanted to study once I got to college."

Students at the academy have a chance to hear from current and former officials at the CIA, FBI, National Security Agency, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, and military intelligence, as well as a former Soviet Union KGB officer. The academy will:

• Lift the veil of secrecy on the hidden world of intelligence, exploring the history, challenges and controversies.
• Provide a context for understanding the important role intelligence has played in our nation's history and continues to play today.
• Provide foundational knowledge of intelligence, setting the stage for possible careers in the field.

UNG has a strategic big bet to get in the national security game, and the academy also fits into the university's strategic big bet to supercharge workforce development.

"As a nation, we face multifaceted threats, and in order to undermine those threats, we need people who can think across disciplines and think outside of the box. Agencies are very keen to expose the intelligence world to high school students," Dr. Edward Mienie, executive director of UNG's strategic and security studies bachelor's degree program and partnerships and professor of strategic and security studies, said. "These are high-performing high school students, and they get an opportunity to hear from practitioners who have applied academics to real-world situations. They make the world of intelligence more realistic to students."

Nathan Elder, a sophomore from Alpharetta, Georgia, pursuing a degree in strategic and security studies, attended NISA in 2023, about a month before he enrolled at UNG.

"I had no idea how U.S. national security worked," Elder said. "The academy helped me understand that before I even took any classes at UNG."

The $250 fee for NISA defrays the expenses of all on-campus meals, course materials and the motor coach travel on the last day of the program. UNG awards a limited number of scholarships to students who would otherwise be unable to attend due to financial limitations. Students are responsible for the cost of daily travel to and from the Cumming Campus and any incidental purchases of snacks and beverages.

Priority consideration will be given to students with a weighted cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher, as well as to students who have studied a strategic language (such as Arabic, Farsi, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) in school or elsewhere.

Teachers auditing the academy may attend for free.