Michael E. Battig

Michael Battig serves as the director of the Senator Patrick Leahy School of Cybersecurity and Advanced Computer at Norwich University. He comes with an extensive background that includes eight years of software development work in a business setting, grant writing in his field, and over 30 years of undergraduate teaching.

In addition to his more traditional responsibilities over the years, he pursued several unique initiatives. From 2007 to 2009, he developed a budding computer science department at the American University of Afghanistan. This undertaking involved creating a sustainable curriculum for students, teaching during one summer with boots on the ground in Kabul for students who hailed from Afghanistan and neighboring countries, and recruiting faculty worldwide who were committed to moving the department forward.

Additionally, he served as the only small college representative on the national board of directors of the AITP EDSIG, the Association of Information Technology Professionals Education Special Interest Group, from 2010 to 2012.

Battig completed his B.S. in systems analysis at Miami University in 1984, his M.S. in computer science at the University of North Texas in 1991, and his Ph.D. in computer science at Mississippi State in 1998, while teaching at Belhaven College in Jackson. He returned north to teach at Norwich University for the first time from 1998 to 2000, then continued his career at St. Michael’s College for the next 20 years, chartering two NSF grants for STEM scholarships of $800,000 and creating the information systems major. After achieving professor emeritus status at St. Michaels College in 2020, Battig was inspired to bring his skills to the recently created School of Cybersecurity, Data Science and Computing at Norwich University. He returned to the place he loved so well in the early days of his teaching career.

Committed to instilling a sense of personal ownership and robust scholarship to students and faculty alike, his teaching includes software engineering, artificial intelligence, and database as well as a specialized course, Ethics in Computing & Technology, which explores many issues of conscience and culture raised in the documentary “The Social Dilemma.”