Navy, CSU Launching Master’s Program

CAMARILLO — In an effort to reach out to Ventura County’s military bases, Cal State Channel Islands will offer graduate courses to military and civilian personnel under an agreement set to be formalized today with the U.S. Navy.

Cal State officials will join the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey to create a master’s program in business and technology for personnel at the Port Hueneme Seabee base and Point Mugu Naval Air Station.

The outreach is part of a larger campaign by the Navy to encourage workers to pursue higher education and make graduate school more accessible.

Navy officials hope the partnership becomes a model for the military and other universities throughout the nation.

“Its new and unique and groundbreaking, but we think it’s the way of the future,” said Cmdr. Bob Anderson, spokesman for the postgraduate school. “For the Navy, it enables us to do effective programs for people at sea. It’s really taking advantage of the new technology because it really takes the classroom to the student.”

The master’s program will benefit the new university by cultivating the Navy as a potential source of students. And it will help the military by giving employees an incentive to stay in Ventura County and by producing a more educated work force.

Currently, military personnel have to move to Monterey to enroll in the Navy’s premier graduate school. Now they will be able to take the same classes at the Camarillo campus, in their homes or while they are at sea.

“They can continue their education without interruption, and that works as a great advantage in retaining people,” said retiring Capt. Stephen D. Beal, commanding officer of the Naval Air Station.

Beal plans to join other dignitaries today at the Cal State campus to finalize the agreement.

“It shows that not just Cal State, but that [we] are investing in them and going the extra mile to assist them,” Beal said.

During the three-year program, students will take computer, business, technology and management classes. They will meet on campus a few times but do most of their course work online.

After completing the requirements, students will earn a master of science degree in management either from the Naval Postgraduate School or Cal State Channel Islands.

“We’re thrilled about being able to use technology to deliver courses on the Internet to our students here or wherever they might be,” said Barbara Thorpe, head of academic planning for the Channel Islands campus.

The first group of about 25 students could begin classes as early as October, and enrollment could rise to a couple hundred students within a few years. The program is aimed at junior officers who already have a basic knowledge of computers, business and mathematics.

Cal State officials hope that the master’s program will pave the way for other agreements with the county’s Navy bases.

They are also working on a plan to lease campus housing to Navy reservists in need of short-term housing, and to military employees scheduled to arrive in the coming months.

The master’s program “is the first cooperative venture we’ll have with the Navy,” Thorpe said. “A partnership with them is something we’ve been striving for, so this is a first step.”