Syracuse University and Le Moyne are in the process of developing initiatives that allow students to benefit from each institution after recently reaffirming their academic relationship.

SU announced in late March a curriculum partnership between its School of Information Studies and Le Moyne’s Madden School of Business, along with an extension of the current relationship between Le Moyne and the College of Law.

The institutions are playing off each other’s strengths, said Sue Corieri, assistant dean for enrollment management and special academic initiatives at the iSchool. New opportunities are being developed within pre-existing programs that linked the iSchool with Le Moyne’s Madden School.

Using a “plug and play” module of curriculum, students from SU and Le Moyne will be able to customize their degrees and incorporate a selected specialty Certificate of Advanced Study from the partner school into their home school’s master’s program. SU students will be able to take courses at Le Moyne and vice versa.

CAS components from SU are in the subject areas of information and security management and data science, and those from Le Moyne include enterprise systems and health information systems — subject areas not offered in the iSchool or SU’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management, Corieri said.

“We thought it would be wise to leverage the strengths of the other institutions and accept those courses into our master’s program,” Corieri said.

This program is not yet complete, but could begin as early as next fall, Corieri said. Students will be able to choose to just take courses or to earn a CAS.

“It gives our students and Le Moyne’s students more breadth of courses without having to hire new faculty,” Corieri said. “… We really bring two different cultures together that makes the learning environment much stronger.”

The two schools have been collaborating since 2012 via the Fast Track program, which allows students from both institutions to start taking graduate-level courses during their senior year. SU facilitates the fast track program with Mercyhurst University and Stonehill College as well.

SU and Le Moyne also reaffirmed their relationship involving SU’s College of Law.

Students from Le Moyne can complete their undergraduate degree in three years, then transition to SU’s law school and get their J.D. degree in three years, shaving one year off what is usually a seven-year process, said Grant Keener, interim assistant dean for enrollment management at the College of Law.

Known as the 3 + 3 program, it enables students to “double dip” on their credits during their first year of law school, Keener said, by simultaneously starting the J.D. program and completing the three elective requirements from the undergraduate program. The program began in fall 2013, but was recently reaffirmed by both institutions.

The 3 + 3 program provides an opportunity for Le Moyne to recruit high-ability students who are interested in a legal profession, and serves as a steady pipeline of high-achieving students for SU’s College of Law, Keener said.

Other programs in development include an initiative that would lead to a master’s degree in international relations from SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, in which students from Le Moyne and other Jesuit universities would study at Le Moyne, then move on to Maxwell’s program, said Joe Marina, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Le Moyne.

They are also exploring a direct entry program that would allow SU students to join Le Moyne’s master’s program in occupational therapy that operates out of downtown Syracuse.

SU and Le Moyne have had a relationship for at least 20 years, Marina said, and by having both colleges in the same city, it only seems natural that they would find ways to work together, he added.

But it is only in recent months that the partnership has really begun to take off, he said, due to the collaboration between SU Chancellor Kent Syverud and Le Moyne President Linda LeMura.

The educational connection between the institutions makes sense because of the nature of education itself, Marina said. Teaching and learning are human experiences not meant to be seen in isolation, he said.

“What we’re doing here is taking a large complex university like SU, compared to a small liberal arts Jesuit college like Le Moyne, and sharing the best both have to offer with each other,” Marina said.

Published on April 5, 2017 at 12:24 am

Contact Taylor: tnwatson@syr.edu