SAN ANGELO, Texas -- Angelo State University and Goodfellow Air Force Base came together to sign in an agreement that will allow members of the 17th Communications Squadron, and military member sharing similar types of credits or training, to transfer their technical course work towards a baccalaureate degree at ASU’s Houston Harte University Center, June 15.
Major David Coté, 17th CS commander, the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs of ASU Donald Topliff, and the Dean of Science and Engineering of ASU Paul Swets, signed the document among other ASU members who helped bring this agreement into actuality.
“We started this about two years ago,” said Coté. “We wanted to find opportunities for our cyber Airmen, not only allowing them to work on their higher education, but we wanted them to have local opportunities. So, we partnered with the Computer Science department since it is the most in line with our cyber Airmen. It has been a phenomenal opportunity working with Angelo State University and the doctors who are leading the way in computer science.”
With the signing of this agreement the online degree specialization will allow Airmen with an Associate’s degree to receive credit for all of their academic coursework, as well as credit for up to 60 credit hours of technical course work. Any student may be able to benefit from this, but Community College of the Air Force graduates and military personnel with communications specifications can get more out of this opportunity.
“What we are doing here today, where we are providing an opportunity for cyber Airmen to get a bachelor’s degree,” said Topliff. “We have come up with a way to take their credits and add them to our Computer Science program.”
This agreement will make continuing higher education more efficient for individuals, by reducing the time required for earning this 120-hour Bachelor of Applied Arts and Science by 50% or more.
“This isn’t really just for cyber Airmen either,” said Coté. “Goodfellow has about 15,000 Airmen coming through annually, so with this partnership and opportunity, our reach will continue to grow.”
There are many partnerships shared between ASU and Goodfellow, but this agreement will aid members of 17th CS to work on their career growth too.
“We appreciate Major Coté being here and signing this,” said Topliff. “We look forward to having Airmen in our Computer Science program get their BAAS, and then be able to help the cyber security of our nation.”