Staff Report
UNM signed a deal with the U.S. Air Force this week to help the military branch's officers and civilian relatives earn college degrees by combining credits from the University and the Air Force's educational system.
The agreement will provide a framework for UNM and Air Force's Institute of Technology to offer part-time graduate programs. According to a University news release, the two institutions will share distance education offerings and encourage joint research applications.
The program will focus on science, technology and management, three of the most sought after degrees by military personnel, according to the news release.
UNM will benefit from the deal by allowing its students access to advanced courses and research opportunities, previously available only to Air Force personnel.
"This collaborative program will allow students in UNM's School of Engineering to access high-quality systems engineering courses from the Air Force," said Charles Fleddermann, School of Engineering professor and associate dean for Academic Affairs. "It will allow military and civilian employees at Kirtland Air Force base to easily transfer UNM courses to the institute, or vice versa."
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The signing of the agreement, which ensures the program's livelihood for at least the next three years, took place Monday in Scholes Hall.
UNM has provided graduate level education to Air Force officers and personnel for many years. For more than 50 years, the Air Force's Institute of Technolgy, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, has been the Air Force's primary source of graduate education.
Air Force military personnel typically have three-year assignments, making it difficult to complete a part-time graduate program, which usually requires four or more years, adding to the need for the program.
Beginning fall semester of 2004, four college courses will be taught at Kirtland Air Force Base through a distance education program, teleconferenced from the institute's headquarters.
Additional classes toward an advanced degree will be available at UNM, no longer requiring Air Force personnel to travel to Ohio.
