On March 25, 2019, SUA signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with Claremont Graduate University (CGU), to enable SUA students to have preferred access to their Accelerated Degree programs in four tracks, Education (with an MA or MA + teaching credential), Management (with an MBA from the CGU Drucker School of Management), and International Studies (with an MA in International Studies). Present at the signing at CGU were Ed Feasel, VPAA, Bryan Penprase, Dean of Faculty, Esther Chang, SBS Concentration Director and Ian Read, International Studies Concentration Director.
In all of the CGU MA degree tracks, SUA students will be eligible to apply in their junior year at SUA, and CGU will give our SUA students preferential access to these excellent MA programs. This arrangement is only available to students at the Claremont Colleges and SUA, and provides a great opportunity for students to complete a MA degree in less time and cost. As part of the arrangement, CGU has agreed to waive the GRE requirement and application fees. Once admitted, SUA students can then transfer some of their SUA coursework to their CGU MA degree and are also eligible to take CGU courses for their MA degree while enrolled as a senior at SUA. In addition, CGU will be providing $10,000 fellowships to SUA students, and SUA will provide five $10,000 scholarships based on merit, for the CGU programs.
The CGU accelerated MA degree programs available to SUA students include a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Drucker School of Management, an MA in Education (with a teaching credential or without), and an MA in International Studies. In the coming years we look forward to offering SUA students this exciting new opportunity. The Soka University news story on this signing is below, along with some of the photos from the event.
From SUA website story at https://www.soka.edu/news-events/news/soka-and-claremont-graduate-university-will-provide-accelerated-graduate-school
Vice President for Academic Affairs & Chief Academic Officer Ed Feasel, signed an agreement with Claremont Graduate University to provide accelerated bachelor’s to master’s programs for Soka students in international studies, education/teaching credential, and master’s of business administration. This unique partnership creates an opportunity for students to begin work on their master’s program while completing their undergraduate degrees and using credits earned to complete their CGU MA degrees in shorter time.
In addition to the signing with CGU’s Provost Patricia Easton (seated, right), Dean of Faculty Bryan Penprase also signed agreements with three CGU deans: DeLacy Ganley (School of Educational Studies), Michelle Bligh (School of Social Science, Policy & Evaluation), and Jenny Darroch (Peter F. Drucker & Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management). Also in attendance were Soka concentration directors Esther S. Chang (Social and Behavioral Sciences), Ian Read (International Studies), and CGU Dean of Admissions Timothy Council.
Since signing the MOU, several SUA students have taken part in the program. We also have discussed with faculty and gauged student interest, which has suggested that we consider expanding the MOU to include two new fields, an MA in Psychology and an MS in Information Systems management. In Fall 2020 I will be working with the faculty and the leadership from both SUA and CGU to consider expanding this MOU, and look forward to it helping our students gain advanced degrees at CGU with less cost and faster than would otherwise be possible. The MS in Information Systems builds on SUA’s strong interest in Geographic Information Systems, and would be helpful for many students in a variety of concentrations. The MA in psychology builds on SUAs excellent psychology offerings and we look forward to both programs moving forward in the coming months.