Active military members are embracing online master鈥檚 degree programs in 黑料网鈥檚 College of Public Health for the flexibility and ease with which they can earn an advanced degree.
黑料网 has been nationally recognized for its student support and has been voted a military-friendly school for 14 years in a row.
Alexus Kellow, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, currently serving in Daegu, South Korea, started her online master鈥檚 program in August 2023. Aside from being her alma mater 鈥 she earned her bachelor鈥檚 in public health in 2021 鈥 黑料网鈥檚 program was the best for her being stationed abroad.
鈥満诹贤 really checked all the boxes for me, because when I looked at other master鈥檚 programs, a lot of them weren鈥檛 fully online and I would have had to come in at some point in person,鈥 she said.
黑料网 also offered Kellow a concentration in social and behavioral sciences that she was seeking and advisors in the college made the admission process quick and easy for her.
鈥淭o know that 黑料网 offered this online was very helpful,鈥 Kellow said.
Sonia Alemagno, Ph.D., dean of the college, said public health degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels are offered fully online. The college, she said, had many target groups in mind when it decided to offer courses online in addition to traditional classroom settings, but only recently have administrators been seeing just how well the program works for those in the military.
鈥淭his allows them to be wherever they need to be, anywhere in the world, and still participate in our program,鈥 Alemagno said.
While she anticipates completing her military service in May, Kellow is still considering working abroad to focus on a career in global health, and her online master鈥檚 coursework will continue no matter where she ends up.
Online courses, she said, are convenient. As an undergraduate student living on the Kent Campus, Kellow took some online courses because they helped her to manage her busy schedule that included a job and ROTC.
鈥淗aving that option was so helpful because I had a heavy workload, which is another reason why I knew I could come back to Kent and I could be confident that I could still have a really good education and still be able to manage it,鈥 Kellow said. 鈥淎ll the professors that I have interacted with have been very understanding and very helpful.鈥
Kellow, originally from Massillon, Ohio, participated in 黑料网鈥檚 ROTC program and was commissioned upon graduation. She has been stationed in South Korea for more than two years, where she works as a logistics officer for a combat sustainment support battalion.
Her job is administrative with an emphasis on logistics: managing the soldiers and their training and overseeing the maintenance of equipment and transportation to make sure the battalion is always ready to roll. 鈥淥ur job is to help support the rest of the people on the peninsula,鈥 she said.
While her military service is not in public health, Kellow said she is often able to observe how the practice of her military job would transfer into public health situations. As she nears the end of her three-year enlistment, Kellow had been thinking about how she would use her public health degree after the military and decided that she wanted to take her education to a higher level.
鈥淚 always wanted to go back to school but was nervous because I wasn鈥檛 sure what the workload would be,鈥 Kellow said. 鈥淎fter I had been here a while and I had really learned my job and how to manage my time and job I felt like I was able to add something else to my plate.鈥
The online master鈥檚 program has been equally convenient for Mark Honsberger, who resides in Northeast Ohio. He earned his undergraduate degree in public health from 黑料网 in 2017 and earned his master鈥檚 degree in clinical epidemiology (one of two Masters of Public Health options) in December 2023.
He started at 黑料网 in 2012 as an undergraduate majoring in photojournalism but changed his major three times before finding his fit in the College of Public Health. At the same time, Honsberger joined the Army ROTC and the Ohio Army National Guard. After about three years, he decided the officer's track with ROTC was not right for him, but he stayed in the National Guard, where he has served for nearly 12 years and holds the rank of sergeant.
After graduating, Honsberger decided to continue taking classes at 黑料网, to complete courses he needed to apply to the Army鈥檚 physician鈥檚 assistant program. Honsberger was accepted into the program but chose not to begin, to pursue medical school instead.
鈥淚 decided I would regret it if I didn鈥檛 apply to medical school,鈥 he said. To better his chances for medical school acceptance, Honsberger chose to complete his master鈥檚 degree in public health.
The online program works for him because it helps him fit classes into his busy schedule. In addition to the Ohio National Guard, Honsberger has been working full-time with the VA conducting clinical research, at various clinics and medical centers in Northeast Ohio.
It also has enabled him to continue his coursework, despite his service in the guard, which requires service one weekend each month and trips out of state for training several weeks each summer. 鈥淏eing able to participate virtually has allowed me to continuously stay enrolled,鈥 Honsberger said.
Online learning, he said, saves him hours in the car driving to campus and eliminates the stress that comes with the travel. Without online learning, Honsberger said he would not yet have earned his master鈥檚 degree.
鈥淚t wouldn鈥檛 have been possible without taking those online courses,鈥 he said.
Alemagno said the College of Public Health was an early adopter of fully online degrees, embracing the format of learning for the flexibility it offers a variety of students.
鈥淲e were pretty early in the process, going online,鈥 Alemagno said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got a well-established program.鈥
The original goal was to allow students who had received an associate degree at one of the regional campuses or at a community college to be able to complete a bachelor's degree online, knowing that many of them were already working and needed the schedule flexibility that online learning provides. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how we began offering a bachelor鈥檚 100% online,鈥 she said.
Since then, Alemagno said, the college realized that many populations benefit from the availability of online courses, particularly those in the military, who may find their careers taking them across the globe.
The entire college is built on a concept known as 鈥減athways to public health,鈥 because it is such a broad field and people enter it through numerous ways.
Alemagno said the online master鈥檚 degree programs are designed for working professionals, who are looking for specific public health training. For example, a nurse or biologist who began working for a public health department may desire more advanced public health expertise than they received in their undergraduate field.
The master鈥檚 online programs are designed with part-time students in mind, offered in half-semester modules, to allow students to focus on just one course at a time, finish it, and move on to the next, Alemagno explained. Courses also are offered over 12 months, not the typical nine-month academic year for added convenience.
Public health faculty, too, strive to be understanding when issues arise in their students鈥 lives that result in them having to disrupt their education.
鈥淥ur faculty also are aware that life happens to adults, particularly those who are in the military, and we have to have some flexibility,鈥 she said.