Maeve Olney C’13 among cybersecurity and technology panelists
November 2021 – Drew University sociology and cybersecurity students learned from an interdisciplinary panel of cybersecurity and technology experts earlier this month.
Students taking one of three courses—Digital Sociology; Social Dimensions of Privacy and Philosophy; and Ethics of Cybersecurity—heard from Maeve Olney C’13, an associate in Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP’s privacy and security practice; Amy Gideon, president of TAG Online; and Andy Gideon, vice president and chief technical officer of TAG Online, about their educations, careers, and informed views on the world of technology and cybersecurity.
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Amy and Andy Gideon, who consulted in designing Drew’s new cybersecurity program, provided a technological focus on the issues, while Olney, who helps clients identify and manage privacy and cybersecurity risks and legal obligations, added a legal perspective.
“One thing I took from the panel is what cybersecurity looks like in the grand scheme of things and how it is dealt with in a real life setting,” said LeAnn Nguyen C’22, a biochemistry and molecular biology major and sociology minor.
“Any job or future studies of mine will feature technologies. I’m studying biochemistry and hoping to work in medicine. What might privacy look like in that field? How can I keep clients safe and not have them worry about their information being used against them? It’s so important to treat these technologies with a level of sensitivity.”
For Maeve Olney, who majored in sociology at Drew and was a Baldwin Scholar, it was a meaningful return to The Forest.
“I hope the students gained an understanding of the many ways to have a career in cybersecurity. I also hope they learned the importance of finding and cultivating relationships with mentors,” she said.
“All of the professors in the sociology department were instrumental in guiding my career choices. Through their courses, I learned how to examine an issue from all sides, which is a critical aspect of being a lawyer, especially in the ever-changing field of privacy and cybersecurity.”
Olney also serves as a perfect example of living out Drew’s mission of adding to the world’s good and addressing critical societal issues.
“In addition to my full-time privacy and cybersecurity practice, which involves a lot of cutting-edge work that directly touches social issues, I also maintain an active pro bono practice, inspired in part by what I learned as a sociology major at Drew.”
