Ashland University Establishes Residency Program with Intelligence Center

7/10/13 ASHLAND, Ohio – A new partnership between Ashland University and the Advanced Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) will allow AU students to participate in a residency program at the Intelligence Center located in Dayton, Ohio.

The partnership was announced at a news conference held at Ashland University on July 10. The news conference featured an agreement signing between Dr. Frank Pettigrew, provost at Ashland University; and Tim Shaw, vice president of Strategic Development and director of education at ATIC.

“This program is designed to provide college juniors and seniors with the necessary tools to be successful analysts in the intelligence community,” said Dr. Dawn Weber, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Ashland University. “Students can sign up for a 15-week residency during fall or spring semester or 10 weeks in the summer.”

Weber said one Ashland University student, Frank Whitaker, a criminal justice and accounting double major, is attending ATIC this summer.  

The residency program involves a semester of classroom training, analysis and research experiences as well as hands-on opportunities with intelligence experts or senior level intelligence analysts.

“Through agreements with government customers, and due to the classified content that students may be exposed to during the course, students who participate in the program will be submitted for a top secret U.S. security clearance,” Weber said. 

“If the government grants the clearance, the students are even more marketable and better prepared to enter the intelligence community, private industry, academia and other government organizations,” she added.

Weber said students from a variety of majors are needed in the intelligence community, including those students majoring in math, computer science, any of the natural sciences, psychology, criminal justice, communication studies, foreign languages, history/political science, philosophy, accounting and others. 

According to the ATIC, 85 percent of students with bachelor’s degrees who complete this program are able to find jobs in the intelligence community.

Ashland University, ranked in the top 200 colleges and universities in U.S. News and World Report’s National Universities category for 2013, is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong, applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students. ###