NAVY NUCLEAR OFFICERS TO RECEIVE ADVANCED CREDIT TOWARD ENGINEERING MASTER'S DEGREE

In a move that could put hundreds of Navy officers one step closer to a master's degree, Old Dominion University is offering advanced standing toward a master's degree in engineering for graduates of the Navy's Officer Nuclear Power School.

Under the initiative, Navy officers who have completed the Officer Nuclear Power School, including prototype, will receive 12 credits toward all 13 master's degree programs in Old Dominion's College of Engineering and Technology. Additionally, the standard requirement for the completion of the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is waived for these officers.

"We recognize the instruction that officers receive at the Nuclear Power School is some of the most rigorous technical preparation anywhere," said William Swart, dean of the College of Engineering and Technology. "Having these officers in our classes will bring highly talented individuals to Old Dominion University and recognition to our programs and the college."

The new master's degree program is based on another highly successful university program for the Navy's enlisted nuclear power community, which started in 1996. In this older program, graduates of the Navy's Enlisted Nuclear Power School receive 42 credit hours of advanced standing toward bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering. The program is accredited by the Technology Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.

"This new master's degree option for Navy nuclear officers is simply the latest Old Dominion endeavor to support the military worldwide," remarked Dick Whalen, the university's director of military activities. "The nuclear officer incentive is specifically aimed at facilitating advanced degree participation for a select group of highly intelligent and specially trained service personnel whose military duties, at sea and ashore, might otherwise limit postgraduate education. Old Dominion now has the solution for those interested in pursuing engineering-related master's programs."

The master's degree programs are available throughout Virginia and in Bremerton, Wash., via Old Dominion's TELETECHNET distance learning network. The program may expand to areas of nuclear power personnel concentration in the future.

The 30-credit-hour master's degree programs include: engineering management; electrical, mechanical, civil, environmental and aerospace engineering; modeling and simulation; experimental methods; engineering mechanics; operations research/systems analysis; design and manufacturing; and material science and engineering. A 31-credit-hour master's degree is available in computer engineering.

"I'm really pleased with the opportunity this initiative provides for our submarine and nuclear-trained officers," said Vice Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani Jr., commander of Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet Commander Submarines Allied Command Atlantic. "This is truly an incentive for them and further evidence of Old Dominion University's forward-looking approach to graduate level education."

For more information call Oktay Baysal, professor of engineering, at 757-683-3787, or Dick Whalen, director of military activities, at 757-683-3018.