- Agreement secures National University’s participation in the Mountain Pacific Troops to Teachers Program
- National University was selected because of its long history of providing educational opportunities to military personnel
- Mountain Pacific region includes AK, CA, CO, HI, NM, NV, OR, WA, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands
San Diego, Calif. – National University, the second-largest private, nonprofit institution of higher education in California and the 12th-largest in the United States, and the Colorado Department of Education have signed a Memorandum of Agreement that will secure National University’s participation in the Mountain Pacific Troops to Teachers (MPTTT) program, an entity of the Department of Education and Department of Defense National Troops to Teachers program as authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Under terms of the agreement, National University will provide operational and fiscal oversight in support of MPTTT operations. National University was selected because of its long history of providing educational opportunities to active duty military personnel, both on-base and online, and because the University is located in a region with a large population of retired and active duty military.
The Mountain Pacific region of the Troops to Teachers program includes Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
“National University has a long and distinguished history of making educational opportunities available to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces,” said Patricia Potter, Interim President of National University. “Combined with our commitment to the military, and as the leading institution in California in preparing credentialed teachers in each of the past 11 years in a row, National University is proud to participate in the Mountain Pacific Troops to Teachers program.”
“Military Veterans have the highest unemployment rate in the nation and are in need of transition programs that assist with career development and employment for life after the military. Troops to Teachers helps to fill this need and has placed more than 16,000 Veterans into teaching positions nationwide. Mountain Pacific Troops to Teachers is the largest and one of the most successful regions in the nation. The partnership with National University will ensure that we continue to build on this success,” said Joe Morgan, Colonel (Ret) USA, Regional Director of the Mountain Pacific Troops to Teacher program.
The primary objective of the Troops to Teachers program is to assist eligible members of the Armed Forces in obtaining certification or licensing as highly-qualified elementary, secondary, or vocational/technical teachers and to facilitate the employment of such members by local education agencies or public charter schools. The program offers up to $10,000 in financial assistance for eligible military members willing to teach in low-income public schools.
The goal of the Troops to Teachers program is to enrich the quality of American education by helping to place mature, motivated, experienced, and dedicated personnel in our nation’s classrooms. Thousands of retiring military and Reserve Component personnel are discovering rewarding careers in teaching and helping to build and sustain our nation’s communities through education.
The program continues to be successful in producing quality teachers, a high percentage of whom are men and minorities. In addition, they have experience beneficial to successfully teach in high-demand fields such as mathematics, science, and special education, and they are teaching high-demand areas such as inner cities and outlying rural areas.
For more information about National University, contact David Neville at (858) 642-8163 or visit www.nu.edu. For more information about the Mountain Pacific Troops to Teachers program, contact Meghan Stidd at mstidd@mpttt.org or visit http://www.mpttt.org/.
ABOUT NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Founded in 1971, National University is the second-largest private, nonprofit institution of higher education in California and the 12th-largest in the United States. With 22,000 full-time students and 240,000 alumni, National University is the flagship institution of the National University System. National University is dedicated to making lifelong learning opportunities accessible, challenging, and relevant to a diverse population of students. Five schools and one college – the College of Letters and Sciences; the School of Business and Management; the School of Education; the School of Engineering, Technology and Media; the School of Health and Human Services, and the School of Professional Studies – offer 75 graduate and undergraduate degrees and 22 teacher credentials at more than 45 locations throughout California and across the nation. A leader in online education, National University offers more than 70 degree programs via the Internet. National University is headquartered in La Jolla, California. To learn more, visit www.nu.edu.