The Military Times ranked Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management as the second best business school in the country for veterans.

The rankings, which were published by the Military Times last week, were determined through surveys completed by veterans as well as statistics from the U.S. Department of Education. The survey asked questions relating to university culture, student support, academic outcomes and quality, academic policies and cost. Only the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s College of Business Administration ranked higher.

At Syracuse, 18 veterans were enrolled at Whitman at the beginning of the fall 2014 semester, according to the rankings from the Military Times. Most of these students are enrolled in an MBA program, either on campus or online.

“Historically, Whitman’s full-time MBA and online MBA programs are the most popular with veterans,” said Amy McHale, assistant dean for master’s programs at Whitman.

In January 2015, Whitman launched a new online MBA program, MBA@Syracuse, which has seen a large amount of veteran enrollment. Nearly 25 percent of all students participating in the program are veterans, said McHale.

Whitman is the only school in the Military Times’s top five that offers an online MBA program at all.

“Our new program provides flexibility for military and veteran students, with only three weekend-long themed residencies required over the course of their studies,” McHale added. “Our previous online program, the iMBA, required students to come to campus at the start of each semester.”

When designing MBA@Syracuse, Whitman faculty intended the new residency format to be attractive to veterans, McHale said.

Whitman also offers an accelerated MBA program specifically for veterans, which can be completed within 14 months.

“Veterans come to us as nontraditional students, meaning that they are likely to be older than your average SU student, and some will even come to us with families,” said Mike Haynie, vice chancellor for veterans and military affairs at SU. “Veterans benefit from focused resources that help them navigate the educational experience.”

In addition to flexible academic programming, Syracuse has a historic culture of inclusiveness that accepts veterans. That culture, Haynie said, starts with campus leadership, namely Chancellor Kent Syverud.

Syverud committed to making Syracuse the best school for veterans in his inaugural address last spring, which emphasized the importance of veterans’ issues on campus.

“Syracuse’s long-standing leadership commitment, in both words and actions, has created a veteran friendly culture,” Haynie said.

Without a campus culture that accommodates veterans, research suggests that veteran students fear they will not be welcomed on campus by faculty and staff, Haynie added.

Published on March 18, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact Rachel: rsandler@syr.edu