The U.S. Army's Signal Center of Excellence (SIGCOE) formalized a new academic partnership with Syracuse University Oct. 30 in New York.
The agreement between the SIGCOE's School of Information Technology and Syracuse University's School of Information Studies (also known as the iSchool) will afford the opportunity for officers enrolled in courses at Fort Gordon to earn academic credits towards a graduate degree from the iSchool. At the signing ceremony, the SIGCOE was represented by Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Foley, commanding general, U.S. Army Signal Center of Excellence and Fort Gordon and Lt. Col. Jon Fox, the director of the School of Information Technology. Syracuse University was represented by Eric Spina, the university's Vice Chancellor and Provost, and Elizabeth Liddy, the Dean of the iSchool.
"We in the Army are committed to world class education," remarked Foley during the ceremony. "How wonderful it is that (the iSchool) is willing to extend the intellectual capital to help make us better," he said.
This new program provides an opportunity for officers who complete the SIT's Information Systems Managers course or the Telecommunications Systems Engineer Course to receive transfer credits towards one of three Master's programs offered by the iSchool: a Master's of Science in Information Management; a Master's of Science in Telecommunications & Network Management; and an Executive Master of Science in Information Management. ISM and TSEC graduates will receive between 9 and 15 credits from the iSchool, and will be able to complete the remaining Master's degree requirements online. Qualified students are also eligible to have some credits waived depending on their plan of study, and related experience and education. Additional details regarding the program can be found at http://ischool.syr.edu/landing/signalcenter.aspx.
US News & World Report currently ranks the iSchool No. 1 in the nation among graduate schools for information systems, second in digital libraries, and third in library and information studies.
According to the SIT director, it is an absolute honor for the SIGCOE and the SIT to have the iSchool recognize transfer credits from our courses. More importantly, the fact that this program will encourage our officers to pursue a Master's degrees from the iSchool will provide the Army with leaders who can better serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.
The SIGCOE's newest academic partnership is just one more step in a long-term strategy to create graduate-level education opportunities for our 25s, FA24s, FA53s, and Warrant Officers. When combined with our existing partnerships with Augusta State University, University of Colorado - Boulder, Webster University, and the University of Maryland, we now afford our Soldiers more paths to a Master's Degree than ever before.
Syracuse University played a historic role in educating post-World War II veterans under the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (the GI Bill), and the university has sustained this proud legacy with support to thePost-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, and their new Yellow Ribbon Enhancement Program. This cooperative degree program is just the latest chapter in Syracuse University's long-standing tradition of support to our nation's service members. The SIGCOE is very proud to partner with a university that has such a distinguished history of support to our citizen Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors, and Marines.
During the visit, Foley visited state-of-the-art information systems learning labs at the iSchool, and learned about existing and future research efforts at Syracuse that directly support Army warfighting efforts and protection of critical infrastructure. Senior leaders from Syracuse Research Corporation and its subsidiary SRCTec also provided briefings on the Counter Remote Control Improvised Explosive Devices Electronic Warfare Duke system. The CREW Duke counters radio-controlled roadside bombs, or IEDs, and is currently the U.S. Army's most widely fielded CREW system.
The U.S. Army's Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command (CECOM-LCMC) recently awarded SRCTec a five-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract with an approximate value of $700M for CREW Duke system upgrades. Additionally, researchers from Syracuse's Center for Information and Systems Assurance and Trust and the JP Morgan Chase research center provided an overview of current cyber training and information assurance research initiatives.
At the signing ceremony, Dean Liddy said that the SIGCOE's visit was "a great day of discovery." We look forward to even greater discoveries as we forge ahead with our newest partner.
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