Athens State University has been selected as an education partner for Amazon’s Career Choice program, providing Amazon’s hourly employees access to Athens State’s wide selection of bachelor’s degree programs and undergraduate certificates. Athens State is the fifth university in the state of Alabama to be selected for this partnership.
“For over 200 years, Athens State University has served the workforce needs of North Alabama and the Tennessee Valley,” stated Dr. Keith Ferguson, Vice President of University Advancement at Athens State. “We are honored to partner with Amazon and their Career Choice Program in building better futures for their employees through education.”
Athens State is an upper-division university that serves junior-level, senior-level, and graduate students in their pursuit of a degree. This makes us uniquely positioned to help transfer students or students who have paused their education to finish or advance their degrees. Many of Athens State’s students are working adults who are in need of a flexible degree completion program, and we meet students where they are today and help them envision a bright tomorrow.
Amazon’s Career Choice program is an education benefit that empowers employees to learn new skills for career success at Amazon or elsewhere. The program meets individual learners where they are on their education journey through a variety of education and upskilling opportunities including pre-paid college tuition, industry certifications designed to lead to in-demand jobs, and foundational skills such as English language proficiency, high school diplomas, and GEDs. In the U.S., the company is investing $1.2 billion to upskill more than 300,000 employees by 2025 to help move them into higher-paying, in-demand jobs.
Amazon’s Career Choice program has a rigorous selection process for third-party partner educators, choosing partners that are focused on helping employees through their education programs, assisting them with job placements, and overall offering education that leads to career success.
“We’re looking forward to Athens State coming on board as an education partner for Career Choice, adding to the hundreds of best-in-class offerings available to our employees,” said Tammy Thieman, Global Program Lead of Amazon’s Career Choice program. “We’re committed to empowering our employees by providing them access to the education and training they need to grow their careers, whether that’s with us or elsewhere. We have intentionally created a partner network of third-party educators and employers committed to providing excellent education, job placement resources, and continuous improvements to the experience. Today, over 130,000 Amazon employees around the world have participated in Career Choice and we’ve seen first-hand how it can transform their lives.”
For more information on Amazon’s Career Choice, visit: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/career-choice
For more information about Athens State’s partnership with Amazon and their Career Choice program, visit: www.athens.edu/admissions/amazon-career-choice/