QUANTICO, Va. — The U.S. Naval Community College, in partnership with Alexandria Technical and Community College, began its first classes for the Associate of Science in Nuclear Engineering Technology June 13, 2022.

This marks the first classes to start in the USNCC consortium in a fully-developed associate degree program.

“We have proven the model of partnership last year,” said USNCC’s President Randi R. Cosentino, Ed.D. “We proved the model of teaching our own courses starting in January of this year. Now, we are putting the two pieces together to provide a fully-developed associate degree in our consortium model.”

The USNCC’s consortium model of education means that the USNCC teaches the five Naval Studies Certificate courses and the partner institution teaches the other courses that make up the associate degree. This allows the naval services to have a flexible, scalable model of education to meet the needs of the services while providing a quality education to the Sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen who earn their degree through the consortium.

“We are proud to continue our partnership with USNCC to offer valuable degrees to naval service members,” said Alexandria College’s President Michael Seymour. “With the consortium model fully implemented, the work between Alexandria College and USNCC has the potential to serve future collaborations to streamline degrees for active military and veterans.”

The Associate of Science in Nuclear Engineering Technology has the Naval Studies Certificate embedded into the program, along with the Fundamentals of Nuclear Engineering Undergraduate Certificate.

“These embedded certificates create milestone completions for the students who go through this program,” said the USNCC’s command senior enlisted leader, Sgt. Maj. Mike Hensley. “When students complete these milestone certificates, they are more likely to continue on with their education. This helps build a foundation of lifelong learning for our Marines, Sailors, and Coast Guardsmen.”

The United States Naval Community College is the official community college for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. To get more information about the USNCC, go to www.usncc.edu. Click on the Inquire Now link to learn how to be a part of the USNCC Pilot II program.