Utah State University Collaborates with Academic Partnerships to Offer a New Master of Science in Human Resources (MSHR) Program Online

DALLAS, Dec. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Utah State University has selected Academic Partnerships to launch The Jon M. Huntsman School of Business Master of Science in Human Resources (MSHR) degree program online.

Academic Partnerships, which offers comprehensive support to universities in the development and marketing of their online courses and degree programs, will boost enrollment of qualified students and expand the reach of Utah State's faculty instruction. The partnership will enable students located in more rural areas to advance their careers in human resources through a flexible, fully online master's degree. The program is expected to launch in January 2013.

"Utah State University has offered distance education for more than 25 years," said Douglas D. Anderson, dean of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. "By first utilizing a broadcast network and now through online platforms, USU is meeting the needs of Utah's students who are unable to attend an on-campus program. With the rapid advances in online instruction, we are now able to extend our reach even further to offer our MSHR degree to more students throughout Utah and beyond."

Anderson said the school selected Academic Partnerships because of its track record, commenting that "Academic Partnerships has worked with leading public universities to significantly drive student enrollments and most importantly, to ensure that enrolled students remain engaged and successfully graduate from these online degree programs. Academic Partnerships' online education expertise combined with USU's leading human resource curriculum, means we'll be able to give exponentially more students an innovative learning experience."

The new online MSHR program will offer 12, seven-week courses that can be completed in as little as one year. Additional program details may be found here.

Students enrolled in the new MS in Human Resources will receive their course materials via the learning management system (LMS), Canvas. Canvas is widely lauded as the industry's most innovative learning platform because of its intuitive design, flexible pedagogy, integrated multimedia, deep social network integration and more. 

Utah State's Master of Science in Human Resources is championing the next generation of strategic human resource executives, according to Jim Davis, professor and chair of the department of management at the Huntsman School of Business.  "Our Master of Science in HR provides students with competence in talent management, recruitment, employee and organization development, employee training and learning and critical strategic leadership skills," Davis said.

"Academic Partnerships is honored that USU has selected it to expand its presence and reach," said Randy Best, founder and chairman of Academic Partnerships. "Online education is the perfect solution for states with large rural areas like Utah -- students don't have to move, because knowledge will come to them. We look forward to helping Utah State remain at the forefront of online learning."

Academic Partnerships has a successful track record of helping institutions of higher education expand their access and deliver quality and scalable online degree programs. The company's efforts have helped more than 600 professors convert more than 1,000 traditional courses into an electronic delivery format and recruited more than 100,000 students into online degree programs with U.S. and international partners. 

About Utah State University
The Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University seeks to inspire and equip students to become innovative, ethical leaders with refined analytical skills that will help them understand and succeed in the global marketplace. The Huntsman School of Business is one of eight colleges at USU, located in northern Utah. More information on the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business may be found on the web -- www.huntsman.usu.edu.

About Academic Partnerships
Dallas-based Academic Partnerships works with public universities to deliver students full degree programs online. The company was founded by social entrepreneur, Randy Best, an 18-year veteran of developing innovative learning experiences to improve education. Academic Partnerships helps universities increase access by taking quality of a public university to scale. It provides the technology, marketing, student recruitment and faculty support necessary to serve online students. Academic Partnerships is guided by the principle that the opportunities presented through distance learning make higher education more accessible and achievable for students in the U.S. and globally. For more information, please visit http://www.academicpartnerships.com.

SOURCE Academic Partnerships