Under an agreement signed earlier this month, Madison Area Technical College students can now enroll in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program at the University of Wisconsin while still pursuing their studies at their base college.

Capt. Jesse Somann, unit admissions officer for Air Force ROTC Detachment 925 at UW, said he has already received more calls and interest in the program since the partnership was signed and announced Jan. 6.

As the person in charge of recruiting to the UW ROTC program, Somann said throughout the course of the past couple of years, he had been receiving a few calls each semester from MATC students expressing interest in such a program.

“We did have an interest – we have for the past couple of years – but we just weren’t really able to do anything with it until now,” Somann said. “It is already producing some leads for us and some extra interest, so that’s been great.”

The partnership came to fruition after he began working with administrators at MATC and other cadres at UW before the fall semester started, Somann said. He said a main reason for the partnership is making it easier for MATC students transferring to UW to complete the program on time.

Somann said MATC students looking at transferring to UW down the line to enroll in ROTC courses – especially those transferring during their junior year – were often at a disadvantage and behind in the program because it requires at least three years to complete at UW.

Todd Stebbins, Dean of Arts and Sciences at MATC, said Somann contacted him last summer about the program, and he thought it would be beneficial to accommodate the interest of MATC students looking to take ROTC courses at UW.

“What’s in it for our students is the opportunity to get involved for those interested in in the ROTC program, so when they transfer to UW they can finish it on time,” Stebbins said.

Stebbins said MATC sends the largest number of transfer students to UW of any school, with about 300 transferring each academic year and about 800 on campus right now.

Somann also said although the partnership likely will not change anything about the program itself, it could allow for more collaboration with MATC in future years. He said this could include sharing more facilities or resources within the program.

“It won’t change us as a detachment, but what it will do is allow us to do more collaboration with MATC in the future,” he said. “It opens up more doors for our program as a whole.”

In addition to the new partnership, UW ROTC has other cross-town agreements with UW-Whitewater, Edgewood College and Maranatha Baptist Bible College.

The UW detachment also was awarded the National Right of Line Award, which recognizes the best small detachment out of the 52 in the country. It is given based on training, education, recruiting and performance.