SOU ROTC Program Tops Nation in Guard Scholarships

(Ashland, Ore.) –National Guard Officer Strength Management in Washington, DC has named the ROTC GOLD program at Southern Oregon University top program for Guard and Reserve scholarship awards.  ROTC programs at more than 140 colleges and universities offer Guard and Reserve scholarships- SOU has surpassed all in “Citizen Soldier” scholarship offers.
SOU has eleven cadets with scholarship awards in the year 2013 group, the most of any college participating.
“I would like to thank President Mary Cullinan and SOU for making this possible,” says Lt. Col. Keith Ensley, the head of SOU’s ROTC program. “This is a tremendous achievement and will increase our national visibility.” As a result of the award, the SOU cadre will be featured in an upcoming issue of Guard Experience, the National Guard magazine.
A year ago Army ROTC awarded three SOU students the first ROTC scholarships at SOU in more than 20 years. ROTC was discontinued at SOU in the early 1990s due to the Army’s reduction in forces.
SOU now has the only ROTC program between Sacramento and Eugene.
Most ROTC scholarships available at SOU are full tuition, three-year scholarships worth more than $18,000 per year.
ROTC is the U.S. Army officer program available through the Military Science program at SOU. Enrollment requires a military service obligation – in the active Army, National Guard, or Army Reserve. ROTC is not an undergraduate degree program; it is a program that runs parallel to a student’s academic major.  Every student enrolled in ROTC receives a minimum college scholarship starting at $5,000 per year.
ROTC students training to become Army officers also take courses in other subjects such as political science, history, and philosophy. These courses help to broaden their understanding and prepare them to be better officers.