UMGC Wins National Award for AI-Driven Military Credit Program

Adelphi, Md. - June 17, 2026 -University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) has been recognized with a 2026 Eduventures Innovation Award for its groundbreaking Credit for Military Rank (CFMR) initiative, which recognizes the leadership and operational expertise of eligible servicemembers and veterans with college credit.

Launched in Fall 2024, the program enables eligible military learners in ranks E-5 through E-9 to receive up to 12 academic credits toward select undergraduate business, management, and leadership courses at UMGC. Since its launch, CFMR has saved nearly 20,000 learners an estimated $24.2 million in potential educational costs.

Eduventures, a research division of Encoura, presents the Innovation Awards annually to recognize individuals and organizations that embody its commitment to driving innovation and strengthening outcomes in higher education.

"Military promotion is not simply a reflection of time served, it represents increasing levels of responsibility, leadership, judgment, and demonstrated competency," said Kris McCall, UMGC's chief transformation officer, who accepted the award on the university's behalf June 16 in Chicago. "We wanted to create a model that recognizes those accomplishments in a meaningful way."

Built around American Council on Education (ACE) guidelines, CFMR was developed through a collaborative effort between multiple departments. Using AI, the team identified competencies for each rank and mapped them to outcomes validated by faculty and military experts. As a result, UMGC can now award academic credit for a broad range of professional military experience.

"As servicemembers are promoted into positions of increasing responsibility, the US military provides them with significant skill-development in leadership, management and organizational collaboration followed by real-world, hands-on application of those competencies," said Keith Hauk, vice president for stateside military operations at UMGC and one of the architects of the initiative. "CFMR empowers our military-affiliated learners with recognition of their leadership, management and organizational skills and communicates to them that those skills - gained through military experience - have value toward educational outcomes and a degree."

As part of UMGC's Innovation Forward strategy for reimagining large-scale public higher education, CFMR is a key step in the university's effort to become the nation's most transfer credit-friendly institution, building a skills architecture that can be translated between learners' educational and work experiences.

About University of Maryland Global Campus

University of Maryland Global Campus was founded more than 75 years ago specifically to serve the higher education needs of working adults and military service members. Today, UMGC is the largest provider of postsecondary education in Maryland and continues its global tradition with online and hybrid courses, more than 175 classroom and service locations worldwide and more than 100 degrees and certificates backed by the reputation of a state university and the University System of Maryland. For more information, visit https://www.umgc.edu.

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