Sergeants Major Academy fellows complete yearlong master’s degree program

The Army has honored twelve recent Penn State World Campus graduates for completing a special fellowship program that allowed them each to earn a master’s degree to be able to teach the next generation of military leaders.

The graduates are Army Sergeants Major who were stationed at the Sergeants Major Academy in Fort Bliss, Texas, for the past year and working toward master’s degrees in education.

Through the Sergeants Major Fellowship Program, they each completed the Master of Education in Lifelong Learning and Adult Education earlier this month and were recognized at Fort Bliss on Tuesday, August 23.

Representatives from Penn State traveled to Fort Bliss to attend the celebration: Renata Engel, the vice provost for Online Education at Penn State, and William Diehl, the academic adviser for the fellowship program and an associate teaching professor of education.

After completing their master’s degrees in one year, fellows teach for three years in the Sergeants Major Course, which prepares the military’s next generation of leaders with the skills they need on and off the battlefield.

Since its inception, the Sergeants Major Fellowship Program has graduated seven cohorts and 110 Sergeants Major. The eighth cohort arrives this week.

The program is possible through a partnership between the academy, Penn State World Campus, and the Penn State College of Education.