HILL AIR FORCE BASE — A unique educational opportunity will soon be available on Hill Air Force Base.

This week, a press release from Weber State University detailed a Monday signing ceremony at which officials laid out plans to bring WSU classes and graduate programming to the base.

“The university has worked collaboratively with Hill Air Force Base to identify and offer degrees that are in high demand for both enlisted and civilian employees, including a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Health Administration (MHA),” the release said. “Additionally, WSU will offer a non-credit certificate in project management, which helps prepare students to take a project management certification exam.”

The release adds that these services will be available to the wide array of groups that serve Hill Air Force Base.

“Classes will be held in Hill Air Force Base’s Education & Training Office building and will be open to anyone with base access, which includes active duty military personnel, dependents, retirees and approximately 40,000 civilians employed throughout the base,” the release said.

The release quotes Col. Jeffrey Holland, 75th Air Base Wing and installation commander at Hill, as saying the partnership will be a huge boost to base personnel.

“We need every airman to be able to fulfill their personal and professional potential,” he said. “It’s partnerships with our educational institutions like Weber State that make that possible.”

Cori Horne, WSU registrar, told the Standard-Examiner the number of classes held on base will depend on demand.

“To start with, we’ll have our first MBA course this fall on base,” she said. “There will be a new cohort for the MBA of students who are based at Hill Air Force Base. We are anticipating offering our first MHA class in spring and then we’ll keep adding from there. We’ll start with a handful of classes and we will increase as demand requires. We’ll also be offering coursework online — a lot of our graduate students are interested in online coursework. We’ll have a presence on base with advising and with our Military-Affiliated Student Center, which helps with tuition benefits through the GI Bill and through VA tuition assistance programs.”

Julie Snowball, WSU assistant vice president for strategic regional partnerships, told the Standard-Examiner that Weber State isn’t copying other educational opportunities that exist on the base.

“We also are partners with Park University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, who are the other educational partners in that space, and we have all agreed not to duplicate what each other does,” she said. “Both of those institutions do a majority general education courses and undergraduates.”

She added that WSU is the only public university looking to offer on-base education opportunities in the state — and potentially the only public university to offer such programming on any American air base.

“There are other private schools like Embry-Riddle and Park that have a presence on bases,” she said. “We are the only state institution that is offering courses that we can find so far in our research.”

Horne said the addition of on-base eduction programming is in line with WSU’s commitment to area communities.

“We are a community-minded institution,” she said. “We care deeply about the students in our community, and that does include Hill Air Force Base. They are very close to us. We know that there are many folks, both active-duty veterans as well as defendants who are interested in furthering their education. We feel that Weber State is just a perfect partner.”