Editor’s note: Andre Pitkowski, CRISC, CGEIT, was the Educational Excellence Award recipient as part of ISACA’s 2022 Global Achievement Awards. Pitkowski was recognized “for significant contributions to undergraduate student education in IT governance and information security and empowering future and current ISACA members and professionals.” Pitkowski recently visited with ISACA Now for a Q&A interview, reflecting on his award. The following is a transcript of the interview. Submit a nomination for the 2023 ISACA Awards here.
ISACA Now: To what do you attribute your passion for being an educator?
It is about the discovery of being present to the future of my country through my students. I have the feeling of passing on to them the responsibility that my professors passed on to me in college.
ISACA Now: What areas have you focused on teaching in recent years?
I am very lucky. I have the opportunity and freedom to share with my students’ topics such as data governance (DAMA) and information governance (COBIT) with my students. And we deal with EGIT projects in real companies throughout the course.
ISACA Now: Do some of the resources and principles from your involvement with ISACA apply to the academic environment – if so, which ones in particular?
In my discipline, the involvement with ISACA is total. ISACA is presented as the creator of the COBIT governance framework, but not only that – we talk about governance (CGEIT), auditing (CISA), information security (CISM) and the topic that generates the most attention: cybersecurity. And I invite them to become student members so that they can better enjoy all the knowledge available to them.
ISACA Now: How has the pandemic affected your teaching pursuits the past couple years?
The pandemic was a very serious challenge in teaching. I remember that suddenly, on 20 March 2020, we teachers received lockdown instructions, but without interrupting classes. No one (students, professors, the faculty and even the internet provider), that day had the resources to comply with the government’s determination on the matter. We had to learn how to use videoconferencing applications, cameras, interaction with students, recording classes and a space at home to transform into a classroom among several other challenges. And suddenly, everything started to work. Even my students’ graduations in these two years were virtual (but they received their diplomas in the mail). And now, as in a land that caught fire, we are being reborn from the ashes in person again.
ISACA Now: If you could improve one facet of how fields such as information security and IT governance are dealt with in academia, what would it be?
This is a very interesting challenge. In fact, the themes are already connected and the 2019 version of COBIT allows us to present security governance through the creation of a specific focus area for this subject. At the moment, as a classroom project, the focus area is information privacy, a current and global issue that has permeated all companies in the market.
