Charles DeSassure is a leading figure in cybersecurity education and implementation. He helped start the Tarrant County College Cybersecurity Program in Fort Worth, Texas. He also helped Rose State College in Midwest City become the first community college in Oklahoma to offer a bachelor's degree in cybersecurity. In addition, he helped Johnson & Wales University create a new three-year computer science bachelor's degree program. He has worked on projects with the Educational Testing Service and other publishing companies.  

A successful educational administrator, he currently serves as the Dean of Instruction at Lamar Institute of Technology in Beaumont, Texas.  In this high-level role, he manages educational direction, collaborates with enrollment services, workforce staff, and oversees department chairs and faculty.  His focus is on increasing student enrollment and improving student success.

Prior to his current position, he served as Dean of the Business and Information Technology (BIT) Division at Rose State College in Midwest City, Oklahoma. He was responsible for overseeing and providing strategic leadership for the BIT division and its programs, which consist of Accounting, Business Administration, Cyber Security, Computer Information Technology, Economics, Multimedia Communication, Paralegal, and Technical Supervision and Management. He introduced Project-Based Learning, increased and enhanced articulation agreements, and worked with prior learning to eliminate obstacles for students to complete graduation requirements, and helped establish the first community college in Oklahoma to offer a bachelor's degree in cybersecurity. 

Earlier, he served as STEM Dean at Thomas Nelson Community College, now Virginia Peninsula Community College in Hampton, where he managed Engineering, Sciences, Mathematics, Engineering Technologies, Information Technology, Computer Science, Automotive, HVAC, Mechatronics, Unmanned Systems, Welding, and Machining programs, and created two certificates. He helped create two certificate programs and improve the articulation agreement process. 

Before that, he served as a distinguished department chair and professor of computer science and Cybersecurity for 20 years at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, Texas. A former South Carolina public school teacher for three years, he served ten years in the private sector as an information technology (IT) professional, providing computer networking and security solutions to clients nationwide. He has had experience as an MIS manager, information and field systems analyst, LAN administrator, and microcomputer specialist/programmer. Dr. DeSassure holds adjunct professor appointments at different institutions of higher learning, where he teaches undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral courses in cybersecurity and other computer science courses.   

Dr. DeSassure holds a doctorate in computer science with a specialization in Cybersecurity and information assurance from Colorado Technical University, a master's in information and resources management from Webster University, a bachelor's in business administration management from Claflin College (now Claflin University), and an associate's in computer technology from Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College. He also received a graduate certificate in higher education, leadership and administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. DeSassure completed the Harvard University Management Development Program (MDP), Project-Based Learning Institute, Stanford University Advanced Computer Security Program, North Texas Consortium Leadership and Renewal Academy (CLARA), and the University of Central Oklahoma Educators' Leadership Academy (ELA). He is also a Certified Workforce Development Professional (CWDP).