West Virginia University’s College of Business and Economics is ranked 12th in the Military Times’ first “Best for Vets: Business Schools” list for business schools across the U.S.
“We’re very excited about the fact that Military Times lists us as one of its preferred schools,” said Dr. Jose Sartarelli, Milan Puskar Dean, WVU College of Business and Economics. “We believe that these individuals — current members of the military and veterans, too — not only represent what we have best in our society, but can and will use their leadership skills to drive businesses to success. The business school is proud to enable these individuals to achieve that goal.”
In late 2012, WVU was ranked 18th overall in the Military Times’ “Best for Vets” list for 2013. WVU has also been named to G.I.Jobs’ list of “military friendly schools” for the past four years.
“This type of recognition validates what we’re doing at WVU but, really, we’re just getting started,” interim veterans advocate Jerry McCarthy said. “There are initiatives and programs that will be in place in the near future that will significantly boost what we’re doing for the veteran community and what we’ll able to do in the future. Our goal is to become the top military friendly school in the country and, through the support of our administration and the entire WVU community, we’re on a course to do that.”
WVU was one of around 100 schools that responded to a Military Times survey, which was the basis of the rankings. The survey results demonstrated schools’ widespread efforts to accommodate vets and active-duty service members. B&E has 51 students with military ties enrolled from among its 2,250 students but that number will likely rise, thanks to a few recent developments.
WVU recently expanded its Yellow Ribbon Program to include graduate programs in the College of Business and Economics starting in May. This year, it debuted a section of its online Executive MBA program, which includes 10 representatives from the West Virginia National Guard. In the future, the aim is to create a section made up entirely of veterans.
The Yellow Ribbon program is an extension of the 9/11 GI Bill that pays all in-state tuition and fees at public colleges and universities for eligible students. WVU has taken part in the Yellow Ribbon program for undergraduate out-of-state students for years and also includes graduate programs in its School of Public Health, the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. These colleges have funded 100 percent of a student’s portion of out-of-state tuition for the 2012-13 school year. The WVU School of Nursing has funded 75 percent of out-of-state tuition as part of the program.
Another recent initiative is WVU’s adoption of formal drill guidelines that will allow students who are members of the armed forces to make up work, including tests, that were missed during the semester if they were called up for military training. WVU’s Faculty Senate approved the guidelines in January.
More than 800 veterans, military personnel or their dependents are currently studying at WVU.
To see the story, published in this month’s edition of Military Times EDGE, along with a link to the rankings, see: http://militarytimes.com/education/choosing-schools/military-best-for-vets-business-schools-031113/.
