Applications Open Monday for One Degree by Nine Universities

Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership will be Louisiana’s First
100% Online Collaborative Degree

BATON ROUGE – On Monday, Feb. 18, University of Louisiana System institutions will begin accepting applications for the Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership, a 100% online degree offered jointly by nine public universities.  The accelerated degree completion program is designed for adults who stopped out of college.

According to the 2009 American Community Survey there are over 600,000 adults in Louisiana with some college credit and no degree.

“Having been a non-traditional undergraduate student, I know first-hand that life can get in the way of college completion goals,” said UL System President Sandra Woodley.  “With the flexibility of this degree and the wide variety of specialization options, we have tried to remove all barriers to earning that diploma.”

Students who enroll in the organizational leadership degree can choose from nine distinctive concentrations that enhance their career goals:

• Cultural and Arts Institutions at the University of New Orleans;
• Disaster Relief Management at Southeastern Louisiana University;
• Financial Services at the University of Louisiana at Monroe;
• Foodservice Strategies and Operations at Nicholls State University;
• Health and Wellness at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette;
• Human Relations at Grambling State University;
• Project Team Leadership at Louisiana Tech University;
• Public Safety Administration at Northwestern State University; and
• Strategic Global Communication at McNeese State University.

The degree will consist of 30 hours of courses offered jointly by faculty at the nine universities and 30 hours of concentration and elective courses offered by each institution.  The online platform will be seamless and the cost will be uniform across concentrations and universities.

To enter the program, students must be at least 25 years old and have completed 60 hours of college credit including general education courses.  However, students with less than 60 hours will have opportunities to earn credit online or through prior learning assessment that gauges skills learned on the job.

Offered in five, eight-week terms each year, and charging a flat per credit hour rate of $325, the program can be completed in two years well below the cost of other online degree programs.  The first classes will begin at the end of May.

The UL System has been working with the Center for Adult Learning in Louisiana (CALL), sponsored by the Board of Regents, to structure and market the program.  In January, over 22,000 postcards were mailed to former UL System students inviting them to finish their degree with the power of nine universities.

For more information and links to online applications go to www.YourCALLla.org/OL or www.ulsystem.edu/OL.

-ULS-

ABOUT THE UL SYSTEM: The University of Louisiana System is the largest higher education system in Louisiana enrolling over 92,000 students at Grambling State University, Louisiana Tech University, McNeese State University, Nicholls State University, Northwestern State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, and the University of New Orleans.