Memphis — The University of Memphis has been selected as an education partner for Amazon’s Career Choice program, providing Amazon’s hourly employees access to many nationally ranked academic programs. Associates will be able to take courses on the Central campus, at U of M Lambuth or online through U of M Global.
“We’re delighted to welcome employees from the Amazon Career Choice program to UofM Global,” said Dr. Richard Irwin, executive dean for UofM Global & College Professional/Liberal Studies. “Amazon Career Choice provides us another opportunity to enhance the regional workforce through access to higher education.”
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 full 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 United States, 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.
The University of Memphis has a proven track record in collaborating with corporate partners to provide innovative learning opportunities for the workforce. Most notably, the University has established strong programs with FedEx (LiFE: Learning inspired by FedEx), Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare (MAAP program), the City of Memphis (COMPETE and RISE programs) and Nike (Lane Four).
The UofM has also partnered with InStride, a premier global provider of enterprise education programs, to increase both entities’ ability to reach more corporations interested in sponsoring strategic workforce education for their employees. Through these programs, eligible employees are provided the opportunity to pursue a higher education degree with potentially no out-of-pocket costs and robust student support services, including 24/7 tutoring as needed.
“We’re looking forward to UofM Global 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 cultivated a partner network of third-party educators and employers committed to providing excellent education, job placement resources and continuous improvements to the experience. Today, more than 50,000 Amazon employees around the world have already participated in Career Choice, and we’ve seen first-hand how it can transform their lives.”
Eligible Amazon associates can learn more about the Amazon Career Choice program by logging in at amazoncareerchoice.com. Learn more about the University of Memphis program at amazon.memphis.edu.
This article was first published by University of Memphis Press.
