Boosting Work Force Professionalism
Written by Marty Kauchak
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DAU’S STRATEGIC PAR TNERSHIPS WITH ACADEMIA SUPPORT
ACQUISITION COMMUNITY’S ADVANCED EDUCATION GOALS.
Innovative and increasingly accessible acquisition education programs are available to help new and more experienced AT&L work force members gain competencies and confidence to perform their jobs in this ever-challenging environment. Many of these opportunities are made possible through strategic partnerships between Defense Acquisition University (DAU) and about 60 academic institutions.
CONGRESSIONAL MANDATE
Congress enacted a series of laws in the early 1990s to bolster the professionalism of the DoD acquisition work force.
The Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act was part of Public Law 101-510 of November 5, 1990. The act was envisioned to improve the effectiveness of personnel who manage and implement defense acquisition programs. As part of the Fiscal Year 1991 National Defense Authorization Act, an Acquisition Corps was established with the intent of professionalizing (certifying to levels I, II, and III) the acquisition work force through education, training and work experience. Formal education was required to be part of the certification and career development process. A work force member may, as an example, need to attain a coded contracting position through the completion of 24 semester credit hours of accounting and other business disciplines, and other requirements.
To support the earlier enacted legislation, Defense Acquisition University (DAU) (http://www.dau.mil) was established in 1992. The university’s broad mission is to provide practitioner training, career management and services to enable the AT&L community to make smart business decisions and deliver timely and affordable capabilities to the warfighter.
“The university coordinates education and training programs to meet the careerlong training requirements of more than 128,000 DoD AT&L personnel,” explained Dr. Christopher Hardy, director, Plans, Policy and Leadership Support. “DAU provides a full range of basic, intermediate and advanced curriculum training as well as assignment-specific and continuous learning courses to support the career goals and professional development of the DoD AT&L work force. But DAU’s role does not end when a student leaves the classroom. The university also fosters professional development through performance support, rapid deployment training on emerging acquisition initiatives, online knowledge-sharing tools and continuous learning modules,” he added.
DAU’s strategic partnering with other academic institutions has become an everimportant enabler for the community’s professional academic development.
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS
Over the years, DAU has entered into strategic partnerships with 60 universities and colleges, defense-sector companies, professional associations, other government agencies and international organizations. It is DAU’s collaboration with the academic institutions that has, in particular, supported its evolving mission—to assist acquisition professionals complete academic requirements and gain community professional certification levels.
The strategic partnerships articulated through memoranda of understanding enables the AT&L work force to more easily complete its professional education and remain close to home or the workplace while completing their program of study. “Partnerships with academic institutions have been established so that DoD AT&L work force members can transfer DAU course work toward college and university degrees and certificates,” clarified Hardy.
More information about these partnerships may be obtained at www.dau. mil/about-dau/partnerships.aspx.
REPRESENTATIVE ACADEMIC PARTNERS
There is an eclectic mix of colleges and universities from across the nation (and Internet) that provide programs of study for the acquisition work force.
Central Michigan University (CMU) accepts up to nine DAU credits towards a Master of Science in Administration in Acquisitions Administration.
The university has supplied education to service men and women on military facilities for 36 years. CMU offers military friendly formats of eight-week terms, yeararound classes at seven diverse locations including the Pentagon, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Clinton Township, Mich., and online. Classes in 2008 will be taught at a new site—Richmond, Va.
One CMU master’s program concentration that caught MAE’s attention is vehicle design and manufacturing administration. This area of study should address the need for acquisition professionals to help manage the thousands of MRAP and combat support and combat service support vehicles, expected to be fielded over the next decade to replace those legacy force units that have been destroyed or worn out during Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.
One perspective on the CMU-DAU strategic agreement was provided by Dr. Merodie Hancock, vice president and executive director, off-campus programs. “Offering DAU transfer credits ties in with my goals of adding to and enhancing the learning environment for non-traditional learners, whether it be in the military or corporate setting,” she said.
In Huntsville, Ala., another defense industry hub, more than 12 graduate students in the University of Alabama- Huntsville (UAH)’s Master of Science in Management of Technology’s program have participated in the DAU partnership program. “These have all been government employees,” explained Dr. Dan Sherman, associate dean, College of Administrative Science.
The partnership allows students to take courses from both DAU and UAH and complete the M.S. degree. While the UAH master’s program was accredited under the category of a Master of Business Administration, the degree focuses on content relevant to professionals working in the aerospace and defense industries.
“In addition, DAU has a Senior Service Fellows Leadership program. Jerry Davis from DAU is the director of this program. Last year we had 10 Senior Service Fellows taking Dick Rhoades’s leadership course, Jim Snider’s project management course and Marty Kress’s national science and technology policy course. This year we have 10 more Senior Service Fellows scheduled to start the program in August,” Sherman added.
For its part, Capella University is one of several online universities which have strategic agreements in place with DAU. The university has 12 DAU learners enrolled, with three in bachelor’s programs, three in master’s or M.B.A. programs, and 6 in doctoral programs.
An institutional perspective on partnering agreements between DAU and academic institutions, and advice to prospective students, was provided by Jim Landerkin, federal program manager.
“In general, all students in every program offered by schools such as DAU should inquire if a partnership exists where transfer credit will be given for the work they are doing. Capella has formed educational partnerships with military Senior Service Colleges and government agencies to make certain that its learners don’t have to relearn the same competencies, or pay for the same education twice,” noted Landerkin.
Prospective students at Capella, or even those contemplating enrollment at another institution, would be well-served by reviewing Capella’s Transfer Guide for Defense Acquisition University Courses which is located at the university’s Website. The document provides an in-depth, representative overview of the equivalent of course credits for completed DAU courses in over a dozen fields.
In one case, Capella awards 3.0 quarter credits for DAU course 101 (Basic Software Acquisition Management)— which was certified equivalent to Capella course TS 3500. Likewise, Capella grants 4.5 quarter credits for completing DAU PMT 250 (Program Management Tools)— which was judged equivalent to Capella course TS 4060.
Arlington, Va-based The University of Management and Technology (UMT) is a second on-line institution of note. UMT offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees and executive and graduate certificates in areas of interest to the acquisition work force. For convenience, the university’s Website itemizes the DAU courses that will receive transfer credit toward a degree.
As financial decisions about education are important to most government employees, the institution’s military scholarship program should resonate with the learner. The program is for eligible active and Reserve component personnel, the spouse of an active duty service man or woman, and military veterans. More details about the military scholarship program are available at the university’s Website.
ONE STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE
“Professional acquisition education is important in today’s competitive environment because I feel my education outside the office is just as important as my dayto- day education is in the office,” said Jonathan Hornbuckle, a UAH candidate in two masters programs. By day, he is an engineer at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
Hornbuckle reflected on the value and relevance of his completed coursework at UAH. “The experiences during open discussions provide real-world examples of specific situations. Each situation can be at least generally related to situations within my day-to-day work. Each decision that is made has a cause and effect, and the discussion of these decisions in a classroom environment can lead to valuable lessons learned for all involved. I feel having specialized knowledge is needed, but knowledge across multiple disciplines is the most valuable in the systems engineering environment in which I work,” he added.
Hornbuckle was able to use two completed, acquisition professional education courses toward his UAH graduate coursework— which will be a stepping-off point for other acquisition work force requirements. “When I complete my graduate school work, I plan to begin working on my Level 3 Certification in program management,” he concluded.
The acquisition community has given some thought on how to educate Hornbuckle and his colleagues from the future work force.
NEW EDUCATION CONSTRUCTS
From DAU’s perspective, acquisition education must evolve to benefit the learning audience by being relevant and, when necessary, insert the appropriate amount of technology into course designs. This bodes well for the future learning audience.
“Given the rapid pace of change with new learning concepts, demographic challenges, and enabling technologies, we must constantly improve ways we can help the AT&L work force be successful on the job with the right knowledge and skills delivered at the point of need,” said Hardy.
DAU’s vision is to fully engage its work force both in the classroom and on the job. He added, “We believe this is dependent on an interactive learning environment using more simulations and action learning techniques embedded within all our new learning products in our resident courses, in distance learning, and within our knowledge sharing systems. With the right learning architecture and infrastructure, our work force will be able to know and-or access everything about their jobs, on the job-all learning assets at our students’ fingertips,” he concluded. ♦