The College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University has been ranked No. 8 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in its Best Online Graduate Business Programs for Veterans. WVU’s business school has achieved a top 10 ranking in this listing for two consecutive years.

The online graduate nursing program in the School of Nursing earned a No. 16 ranking.

B&E’s online Executive MBA program has been in existence a little more than three years, and has been recognized by U.S. News on two of its rankings listings. The program was also ranked No. 23 in the 2014 Best Online Programs Rankings that came out in January, moving up six spots from 2013. Additionally, B&E’s graduate level business degrees were ranked No. 12 by Military Times magazine in March for the second consecutive year.

“We are both honored and excited that we continue to be highly ranked in the U.S. News listing for veterans programs,” said Jose Zito Sartarelli, B&E Milan Puskar Dean. “Our commitment to offering programs to service members and their families and looking for ways to continually improve those programs is stronger than ever. This goes well beyond our land-grant mission, but also to the commitment we have to the men and women who protect this country.”

B&E emphasizes providing as many opportunities as possible for students to interact with instructors and fellow classmates, teaching with knowledgeable and engaged Ph.D.-level faculty, and maintaining favorable student-professor ratios.

“Being ranked No. 8 for Best Online Graduate Business Programs for Veterans is a testament to all faculty and staff in the College of Business and Economics who work with our student veterans,” said Jerry McCarthy, director of WVU Veterans Affairs. “This is a high quality, online program that gives veterans the tools they need to be highly successful in the business world.”

Methodology criteria included being numerically ranked in the U.S. News 2014 Best Online Programs rankings. This means each distance education program is housed in a regionally accredited institution and performed well enough on a multitude of factors — including program reputation, faculty credentials, high student graduation rates and low graduate debt loads — to earn a numeric Best Online Programs rank. Criteria also included:

• offering at least one credit-granting course listed in the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES) Catalog of Nationally Accredited Distance Learning Programs;
• belonging to an institution that is a member of the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC) Consortium;
• belonging to an institution certified for the GI Bill; and
• belonging to an institution participating in the Yellow Ribbon Program or a public institution that charges in-state tuition, which can be fully covered by the GI Bill, to all veterans applying from out of state. This allowance for public institutions is a change from the 2013 Best Online Programs for Veterans ranking methodology.

“Our continued high ranking is great, but we are also held to the expectations of our students,” Sartarelli said. “Our goal is to provide students with the skills they need in the global marketplace, to provide them upward mobility in their places of employment and to help them be highly successful in every way possible. Our student veterans are very happy with the quality of this program, and that is a critical factor, too.”

For further information on the College of Business and Economics, please visit be.wvu.edu.

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