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News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Contact: HHS Press Office
(202) 690-6343

HHS Announces Innovative Partnership with Universities to Make Courses Available Through "HHS U"

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced agreements with five universities to provide in-state priced courses to HHS employees through the Department's new HHS University (HHS U), which serves all 67,000 employees of the Department and its agencies.

The institutions agreeing to offer their courses through HHS U are American Graduate University, the University of Maryland University College, Boise State University, Bethune-Cookman College, and Penn State. All of these institutions offer a large amount of E-learning coursework available on the web to allow availability online, anytime, anywhere.

"These academic partnerships are a new tool and benefit for our employees, to help them access the latest in their fields of interest as well as the latest in education and training technology," Secretary Thompson said.

The academic partnerships with the five universities are important to the growth and development of the HHS U, Secretary Thompson said. All of the universities involved are committed to innovative learning technologies that will enable HHS employees to take courses online at their convenience.

Today's innovative agreements come one year after Secretary Thompson announced the establishment of HHS University as a cornerstone of human capital initiatives at the Department of Health and Human Services to implement the President's Management Agenda. The goal of HHS U is to foster a continuous learning environment aligned with the Department's strategic goals by providing quality services, competency based learning and career development activities and innovative training solutions with a Web emphasis.

Through the agreements with outside universities, as well as existing training available at HHS and its agencies, thousands of courses will be available to all HHS employees at both the graduate and undergraduate levels for credit and non-credit programs. Employees can access information on these partnerships including registration procedures and links to school catalogues to choose their courses at http://learning.hhs.gov beginning this summer. Direct links and access to registration methods will be available at http://learning.hhs.gov beginning this summer.

Courses will cover a wide range to fit the needs of HHS employees. Each school offers a wide variety of programs and course topics from business administration and management to nutrition, computer science and health care. The HHS open enrollment curriculum includes classes on administrative business skills, financial and procurement management, communication skills and computer applications.

"We want all our employees to have access to the education they need to perform their jobs, and to look ahead in their careers as well. With the amount of online learning opportunities available, employees all over the country will be able to take advantage of this initiative," Secretary Thompson said.

HHS U will send broadcast email messages to all employees about the availability of open enrollment classes as well as college/graduate school courses available from academic partners.

More information about HHS U is available to HHS employees on the Departmental intranet Web site.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Last Revised: June 23, 2004

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