The Quarterly News and Information Bulletin of the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges Degree Network System
April 2017
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Horatio Alger National
Career & Technical
Scholarship Program
The Horatio Alger Association,
along with support from the
Association for Career & Technical
Education, and the American
Association of Community
Colleges, will be awarding 1,020
scholararships of up to $2,500
each to qualified individuals
to put toward the pursuit of a
technical certificate or degree. In
order to qualify for a scholarship,
individuals must:
• Have completed high school
(or earned a GED)
• Exhibit a strong commitment
to pursue and complete a
career or technical program at
an accredited non-profit postsecondary institution in the
United States
Horatio Alger Scholarship Program........ 1
SOC Presentations at the
2017 CCME Conference...................... 1
SOC Presentations at the 2017 CCME Conference
Three members of the SOC team
were on hand to give presentations
at the 2017 CCME Professional
Development Symposium in Atlanta,
Georgia, which was held between
March 6−10. SOC Director Dr.
John Ballard, Assistant Director for
the SOC Degree Network System
Gerard Walsh, and SOC DNS
Project Director Patrice Hamilton
kicked things off with a two-hour,
pre-conference workshop—SOC
DNS 101. The SOC staff then led
attendees through two concurrent
The next iteration of degree
program submissions will take place
from 1 April through 15 May. The
call for programs will be limited to:
• Demonstrated perseverance in
overcoming adversity
• Electronics Technology (2-year)
• Be a United States citizen
Applications may be submitted
beginning March 15, and can be
submitted online at application.
horatioalger.org.
sessions—SOC DNS Rebooted,
and SOC CTE Program, Pathway
to Technical Education Careers.
Additionally, Patrice Hamilton
participated in the concurrent
session Maximizing Your School’s
GoArmyEd Experience.
The powerpoint slide sets for SOC
DNS Rebooted, as well as the preconference workshop, are available
for download under the Workshops
and Webinars section of the SOC
website.
SOC DNS Call for New Programs
• Demonstrated critical financial
need (must be eligible to
receive the Federal Pell grant
as determined by completion
of the FAFSA)
• Be under the age of 30
SOC DNS Call for New Programs.......... 1
SOC Staff Updates................................ 2
SOC at Florida ACME............................ 2
• Automotive Maintenance (2-year)
• Accounting (4-year)
The following items must be
Included in your submission:
• Degree program requirements
• Curriculum
• Course descriptions for all major
and major-related courses
• Human Resources (4-year)
• A specific point of contact for
these programs
• Information Systems
Management (4-year)
Submit program information to
[email protected]
• Marketing (4-year)
• Technical Management (2- &
4-year)
Additional information can be found
on the SOC DNS Membership
page of the SOC website.
SOC DNS Staff Updates
Dr. John Ballard
has assumed the duties of SOC Director. Dr. Ballard served
30 years in the Marine Corps and was most recently the dean
of the National Defense College in the United Arab Emirates.
He began his career as a Marine infantry officer and has
commanded at the company, battalion and group levels in both
the active and reserve components. He has served in faculty
and academic leadership positions at various higher education
institutions around the world, including service as a dean in three different
institutions. He is the author of numerous journal articles and six books. The full
press release announcing his appointment is posted on the AASCU web site.
Tanya Ang
is the new SOC Degree Network System Project Director (Sea
Services). Tanya has worked in higher education for over 16
years in a variety of roles including Administrative Analyst for
the Vice President of Student Affairs Office at California State
University, Fullerton and Associate Registrar at Vanguard
University where the majority of her work focused on the nontraditional student including military and veteran students.
Prior to coming to AASCU, Tanya worked at the American Council on Education
(ACE) where she was most recently the director of ACE’s Veterans’ Programs
department. Tanya also served on the Veterans’ Advisory Committee on
Education, and was a Senior Program Manager in ACE’s Military Programs
working with evaluation teams to provide credit recommendations on the Joint
Services Transcript.
Brianna Phillips
joined the SOC GoArmyEd team as Academic Liaison in
December 2016. Before coming to SOC, Brianna was
the Associate Director of Academic Programs at NAFSA:
Association of International Educators. She also previously
worked as a Program Coordinator for Duke University’s Asian/
Pacific Studies Institute where her duties included advising
ROTC cadets and midshipmen pursuing study abroad in
China through the Project GO (Global Officer) program. Brianna has a Master’s
degree in Security Studies from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
at Georgetown University. She’s originally from the Mississippi Gulf Coast,
and has been back in DC since 2014. As the daughter of a Marine and the
granddaughter of an Army Ranger, Brianna is excited to use her experience in
higher education to benefit servicemembers.
Erin Sorensen
also joined SOC as a GoArmyEd Academic Liaison in March
2017. Prior to moving to the national capitol region, Erin served
as an Education Services Specialist with Army Continuing
Education System on a U.S. Army installation in Germany.
She brings knowledge of GoArmyEd functions and Tuition
Assistance policies gained during her experience providing
academic counseling services to soldiers. Erin has a Master’s
degree in Education and Human Resource Studies with a concentration in
Counseling and Career Development from Colorado State University. She is
native to southern California, spouse to an Army servicemember, and mother of a
puppy she has nicknamed “Meatball”. Erin looks forward to continuing to support
postsecondary education opportunities for Servicemembers worldwide.
2
SOC To Make Remote
Presentation at Florida
ACME
Members of the SOC
DNS team will deliver a
presentation at Florida
ACME on Thursday, 6 April.
The presentation will cover
SOC updates & recent
initiatives, and presentation
slides will subsequently
be made available in the
Workshops and Webinars
section of the SOC website.
For comments, please contact:
[email protected]
800-667-0079
For further information,
please visit the SOC website:
http://www.soc.aascu.org/
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