Victor Berlin is an American educator specializing in

information security Information security is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthorized or inappropriate access to data ...

who has founded and led several accredited

post secondary Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational school ...

institutions, including the University of the Potomac and the

University of Fairfax The University of Fairfax is an institution of higher education headquartered in Salem, Virginia. It offers online graduate degrees (Masters and Doctorates) in cybersecurity, cloud computing, computer science and engineering, and business as we ...

. He was president of the

until 2010.

Education

Berlin earned his bachelor's degree from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, serving on the business board of Cornell's

Daily Sun The '' Daily Sun'' is the largest daily newspaper in South Africa. ''Daily Sun'' may also refer to the following newspapers: United States * ''Arizona Daily Sun'', Flagstaff, Arizona * '' Bowdoin Daily Sun'', Connecticut, published by Bowdoin Coll ...

in 1966 and 1967. In 1975, he was awarded a PhD by

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science The McCormick School of Engineering (branded as Northwestern Engineering) is the engineering school of Northwestern University, a private university in Evanston, Illinois. History The trustees of Northwestern University founded a College of T ...

. An article based upon Berlin's 1974 dissertation, "Organizational Structure and Effectiveness: An Administrative Experiment in an Urban Health Department," was published in the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

's ''Transactions on Engineering Management''.

Career

Early career

From 1973 to 1975, Berlin was an Assistant Professor of Management (Administrative Sciences) at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

Carroll School of Management The Boston College Carroll School of Management (CSOM) is the business school of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Established in 1938, the Carroll School offers Bachelor of Science, Master of Business Administration (MBA), and Doc ...

. He then served as Chief of Experimental Methods for the

National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into Outline of p ...

's, then known as the

National Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sc ...

, Experimental Technologies Incentives Program. In 1979, he became a vice president of General Communications, Inc. (GCI,) a

Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, and is part of the Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fourth ...

-based

career college A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary education#List of tech ed skills, secondary or post-secondar ...

offering vocational training, serving in that capacity until 1991.

Potomac College

In 1991, Berlin left GCI and became president of

Potomac College University of the Potomac (formerly Potomac College) is a private for-profit university with campuses in Washington, DC; Falls Church, Virginia; and Chicago, Illinois. It offers Associate of Science, Bachelor of Science, Graduate, and advanced ...

, now University of the Potomac, in

.Panel to Consider New College in Md.; Montgomery Trade School May Be Converted
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', February 12, 1991. Retrieved from highbeam.com, March 30, 2011.Potomac College Avoids Shutdown; State Officials Suspend Efforts to Close Troubled School in Rockville
''

'', June 15, 1995. Retrieved from highbeam.com, June 3, 2014. The college was operated by the Potomac Education Foundation and offered working adults the opportunity to complete bachelor's degrees in management or microcomputer systems management while working full-time and completing projects on the job. In December 1994, Potomac College received accreditation. Potomac was acquired by private investors in 1995 and reorganized as a for-profit university headquartered in the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. Prior to its accreditation, Maryland regulators had temporarily suspended college operations after alleging several violations of state standards at Potomac, including inadequate library, curriculum and faculty resources; poor recordkeeping; and admission of students who lacked the required two years of college education. The executive director of the Accrediting Council called Maryland's restrictions on Potomac "asinine," and characterized its actions as "more the result of a personal vendetta than any legitimate concerns for the institution."

Anteon International Corporation and Rockwell University

In 1996, Berlin headed the training division at Anteon International Corporation in

Fairfax, Virginia Fairfax ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia and the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 24,146. Fairfax is pa ...

, providing courses in

Oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

and

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...

for technical professionals. In 2000 he persuaded Anteon executives to establish Rockwell University to offer master's degrees in

. Rockwell was approved to enroll students in November 2000, at a time when Anteon was preparing for a public offering. In June 2001, the university was acquired by Pinnacle Software Solutions, a technology training company. Berlin stayed on as president of Rockwell until December 2001.

University of Fairfax

In 2002, Berlin founded the

Salem, Virginia Salem is an independent city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,346. It is the county seat of Roanoke County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combine ...

, accredited by DEAC. which offers online instruction and issues graduate degrees (Master of Science, D.Sc. and DIA) and graduate certificates in Information Systems Security. In November 2007, Fairfax announced a collaboration with Jones International University's School of Business to offer a dual degree program leading to both a master's or doctoral degree from Fairfax and a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

in Information Security Management from Jones International. Berlin served as president of the university until 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlin, Victor Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Cornell University alumni Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people)