SUNY Empire State College’s School for Graduate Studies announced in February the launch of “Credit Where Credit is Due: Veteran and Service Member Pathway to the MBA.”
Supported by the GMAC Management Education for Tomorrow (MET) Fund’s Ideas to Innovation (i2i) Challenge, the program’s overall goal is to ease veterans’ transition into civilian business leadership.
Credit Where Credit is Due offers a specialized MBA course specifically designed to serve veterans transitioning to civilian life and business leadership.
“Access to Empire State College’s outstanding MBA program is not enough for our veteran and service member students. The new Credit Where Credit is Due program does two things: It provides course work to help veterans and service members translate their leadership and management skills to civilian life and awards graduate credit for what they have already learned,” said Acting President Meg Benke.
She said the program “strengthens SUNY’s education pipeline by saving veterans time and money and by enhancing their job and career prospects. At the same time New York capitalizes on the investment made in service members and veterans and gets a better educated workforce sooner.”
As part of the program, the college also awards graduate-level credit toward an MBA for relevant military training based on American Council on Education credit recommendations for military training and occupational specialties that are relevant to civilian business leadership.
“With our expertise in evaluating work and life experience for college credit, adding more graduate-level options for earning credit for what our students already know is a logical next step for the college. Doing so on behalf of our deserving veterans and service members is an added bonus,” said Tai Arnold, acting dean for the college’s School for Graduate Studies.
“Empire State College continues to provide the very best programming possible for veteran students and by adding their new Credit Where Credit is Due initiative for MBA candidates, the college has once again set a higher standard for educating America’s warriors,” said Col. (Retired) Jim McDonough, senior fellow for veterans affairs at the New York State Health Foundation and past director of the state Division of Veterans Affairs.
Through its Office of Veteran and Military Education, the college assists veterans, service members and their families gain access to all of the education benefits, including tuition and financial aid, they have earned as part of their service to the country.
The college’s OVME has partnerships with all branches of the military dating back to 2000 and has been named a military friendly institution by leading publications year after year.
The college also hosts a counselor from the state Division of Veterans’ Affairs at its office in Saratoga Springs bringing the college’s and the state’s services together.
The college’s new program expands the college’s offerings specifically tailored for the military. In November of 2011, the college began offering a new Graduate Certificate in Veterans Services , which is designed to provide professionals with additional education and skills to meet the needs of veterans in accessing available social services such as health care, education, employment and housing.
The college’s School for Graduate Studies offers master’s degree programs in business, education, policy and liberal studies as well as several advanced certificates. Graduate students take courses online and in some programs students work with faculty and other students face to face in study groups or weekend residencies, which are similar to conferences and seminars.