The Center for Security and Science (CSS) previously operated as the William R. Nelson Institute (WRNI) and, is based on work which was initiated by Dr. Stephen R. Bowers in 1982 as a result of a series of discussions with East European specialist Dr. Nicholas Dima who was at that time working as a broadcaster with Voice of America. This work was given a formal organizational structure in 1998 by Professor Bowers and Professor Marion T. Doss, Jr. who shaped it to support of an initiative by former JMU President Ronald E. Carrier who saw it as an instrument to support teaching, research, and service at the university level. 

 

Directed by Dr. Bowers, this organization has provided mutually beneficial professional and educational opportunities for collaboration between established and emerging professionals, domestically and abroad. It also operated independently or in conjunction with other entities, depending on consumer needs. Reflecting an expansion of its work, the WRNI was reorganized as the Center for Security and Science in June 2005. Adoption of the new name came at the suggestion by Dr. Cornelius Glen McWright, a former FBI agent who participated in this work until his death in January, 2006.