A new partnership between Emerald Group Publishing and the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities will provide online resources to assist veteran students looking to develop their entrepreneurial and management skills.

Emerald Group Publishing has agreed to provide over $100,000 worth of e-journals, e-books and other online content to EBV students at SU and the seven additional participating colleges in the program, according to an SU News release.

The resources made available through the partnership include access to Emerald’s Management e-journals, Emerging Markets Case Studies and hundreds of e-books on the topics of business, management, economics and the social sciences, according to the release.

Emerald’s newly available content gives EBV students the ability to access content previously unavailable to students in the program. Michael Haynie, SU’s vice chancellor for Military and Veterans Affairs, said the partnership is “more of a practical solution” for EBV participants, allowing those in the program to acquire access to these resources rather than receiving special permission or paying to view them. The EBV program offers post-9/11 veterans with disabilities training in small business and management skills.

Haynie said that the main benefit of student access to these materials is the “competitive advantage” this information will provide them with.

“Information is power, and this partnership will make it more likely for success when these veterans enter the marketplace,” he said.

SU has an extensive history with the education of veterans, dating back to post-World War II with then-Chancellor William Tolley accepting over 10,000 war veterans to the college. Haynie, a veteran and SU alumnus himself, intends to “tell the history of the university with veterans, and to show and speak to this generation of veterans.”

K. Matthew Dames, SU’s interim dean of Libraries and a key supporter of the partnership, said Emerald has been “the most proactive and progressive” in working with the University Library and EBV on digital content.

Dames said the partnership fits in line with the promise Chancellor Kent Syverud made at his inauguration in April, when he declared his intention to allow SU to “once again become the best (college) for veterans.”

Emerald Group Publishing was made aware of the EBV program through a May 2013 feature on the CBS news program “60 Minutes.”

Eric Schwartz, Emerald’s marketing manager, called the partnership “a no-brainer.”

“It seemed apparent from the report that the design and goals of the EBV program coincided with Emerald’s mission to link research and practice to the benefit of society,” he said. “The research that Emerald publishes very much links in with the program … and it certainly is a nice fit.”

Published on September 15, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Brett: bweisers@syr.edu