Education to corporate employees

06/06/13 ks

HAYS, Kan. -- Fort Hays State University has entered into a "teaming" agreement with two organizations that will position FHSU as the higher education institution of choice for employees of several national and international corporations desiring to pursue a baccalaureate or master's degree at a distance.
Academic experts at FHSU have spent months reviewing the content of the professional training offered by several major corporations and will award college credit for the courses determined to have the appropriate course content and academic rigor equivalences.
The agreement was signed Wednesday evening on the Hays campus by Dr. Edward H. Hammond, FHSU president, by Tim N. Scoggins, CEO of both the National College Counseling Center and Counseling Connection, Inc., and by Stephen Krempl, founder of Krempl Communications International.
The agreement positions FHSU as a strategically important provider of education to the clients served by Scoggins and Krempl across the United States and abroad.
"The expertise that FHSU brings in serving international students will undoubtedly be well sought after by the international corporations," Scoggins said. "The affordable degree programs and flexible curricula offered by FHSU set it apart as one of the best options for students to consider across the United States, as well."
FHSU serves about 5,000 students online through its Virtual College. Those students are located across Kansas, in just about every other state and in various foreign nations. It has another 3,500 students enrolled in mainland China through partnerships with universities there. FHSU is frequently recognized by national rating organizations for the affordability and high quality of its distance-education programs.
"This teaming agreement will serve to bring exposure of the awesome programs of study offered by FHSU to tens of thousands of employees across the nation and around the world," President Hammond said. "This is a joint venture that will prove mutually beneficial to all."
Scoggins is the founder and CEO of both the National College Counseling Center in Pensacola, Fla., and the Counseling Connection, Inc., in Knoxville, Tenn. He has served more than two decades in higher education administration, both as an officer in the military and in the public sector. He created the U.S. Coast Guard Education Database with support from the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support, a system designed to provide students with degree plans to guide them to degree completion.
In October 1993, Tim was transferred to the USCG Institute as the first Service Chief of Education, where he led a staff that provided support to all members of the Coast Guard, the USCG Reserve and the USCG Auxiliary. He retired as a lieutenant commander in 1999 after more than two decades of service to the country and founded the National College Counseling Center. Tim designed the state-of-the-art degree exploration system, Degree Quest, in 2000, for which he was awarded 34 patented processes.
The NCCC expanded its support to major corporations across the nation and around the world in 2004, and now offers support to more than 1.4 million employees worldwide. In 2009, Scoggins founded the Counseling Connection in Knoxville, which links students to thousands of resources to help them succeed.
Stephen Krempl served for many years as the vice president of Global Learning and head of Yum! University for Yum! Brands restaurants, which include KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Wing Street. In late 2004, he engaged the support of the NCCC to serve as the Yum! University Counseling Center. A few years later, Krempl became vice president of Global Learning and Talent Development for Starbucks. He later created an executive consulting firm, Krempl Communications International, which serves major corporations in the United States, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. KCI has authored numerous courses of instruction, including Global Executive Mindset, a course designed for corporate executives in multinational businesses to enhance intercultural communications.
Krempl understands the value that furthering one's education can have on employees. He serves as a liaison between CCI & NCCC and the corporations that KCI serves overseas.
Under the new agreement, FHSU will provide education to employees of the Yum! Brands restaurants across the nation and around the world, to the Americana Group, served by its corporate university, the Integrated Learning Center, to Electronic Solution, and to Diebold, the nation's leading banking technology corporation.

FHSU signs agreement to provide education to corporate employees at home and overseas