A regional cybersecurity pathway in East Alabama is scaling quickly: high schools and community colleges in the East Alabama Regional Cybersecurity Alliance (EARCA) are aligning K‑12 curriculum, internships and postsecondary pathways to fill thousands of open cybersecurity roles in the state. Local leaders say the program offers a replicable model for rural talent development and keeps graduates in the regional economy. At the same time, Dartmouth College confirmed a major data breach tied to a wider compromise of Oracle E‑Business Suite software that exposed personal and financial data for more than 35,000 people across multiple states. College officials patched affected systems, notified regulators and offered identity protection services to those impacted. The concurrent stories underline two sides of campus cybersecurity: severe workforce shortages that programs like EARCA aim to remedy, and continuing vulnerabilities in vendor platforms that put student and staff records at risk. Universities are increasing investment in staffing, vendor oversight and incident response protocols, but experts say the pace of attacks outstrips talent supply. Regulators, campus CIOs and boards are reviewing risk assessments, third‑party contract clauses and hiring incentives as institutions balance prevention, detection and workforce development.