About Us

Picatinny is located in New Jersey's Morris County approximately 35 miles west of New York City. Although it was established as an Army installation in 1880, the location's colorful history goes back to Revolutionary days, all the way to General George Washington and the Continental Army.

Picatinny is the home of the U.S. Army Armament Research and Development Engineering Center (ARDEC). The mission of ARDEC primarily involves the development and improvement of U.S. military weapon systems and ammunition.

Under agreement with the commander—ARDEC—Florida Tech provides graduate degree and certificate programs to U.S. government military personnel, dependents of the foregoing, and those individuals that may have access to Picatinny under the installation access policy and who meet admission requirements of the university. This agreement has been ongoing since 1978 when Florida Tech's graduate programs began at Picatinny. Florida Tech is dedicated to continuing its participation in the Picatinny community by providing educational programs of distinction in management and technology. Florida Tech's master's degrees are designed to achieve the following:

  1. Increase management skills among military and civilian personnel involved in planning, directing and controlling the various projects and programs assigned.
  2. Provide the latest knowledge in logistics, materiel acquisition, contract management and program management to maintain a strong technological base and promote improved weaponry.
  3. Provide the latest managerial problem-solving techniques in a variety of areas to effectively support United States armed forces.

The curriculum and prerequisites for each degree offered at this site can be found in the Extended Studies Division catalog.

Florida Tech also offers distance learning courses via the Virtual Campus. Distance learning courses conduct all class activities, including lecture, discussion, homework and report submission, over the Internet.

ARDEC Technical Library

Building 59
Hours: 0800-1630, Monday-Friday
Phone: 724-3713

Florida Tech students are encouraged to use the excellent library facilities at Picatinny. The collection includes approximately 53,400 volumes, more than 1,200 periodicals, 266,000 reports on MICROFICHE and 259,000 hard-copy reports on an immense range of subjects involving research and development and other government reports. The services of the library include:

Documents (Room 1)

Reference and online searches of Defense Technical Information Center databases (DTIC) are available. Order and circulation of the following is available:

  1. Classified and unclassified government reports.
  2. Independent Research and Development reports (ID).
  3. Government Information and Data Exchange Program (GIDEP).

Florida Tech Library

The Florida Tech Library is available to students http://www.lib.fit.edu.

Interlibrary Loans

Book loans are available from throughout the United States. Loans will also be arranged for students from Morris County Coordinating Area Council libraries.

Reserved Materials

Occasionally an instructor requires certain volumes or periodicals for his or her class. These materials will be reserved by the Technical Library at the request of the instructor and placed on a special shelf. Please ask the person at the entrance desk for such materials and/or assistance.

Bulletins

New acquisitions are announced, approximately bi-weekly via E-MAIL. Look for library at your login.

Copying Services

A copy machine is available in Room 10 for the limited reproduction of non-circulating reference material (other use must be authorized by a supervisor).

Drew University Library

Through a Memorandum of Understanding, Florida Tech graduate students are authorized to use all services of the Drew University Library in Madison, New Jersey. To withdraw books from the library, a fee of $25 annually is required, and a Florida Tech student identification card must be presented.

Special borrower privileges extended to students are valid for one calendar year, at which time they may be renewed for another calendar year. There is a five-book limit. Students can obtain ID cards from Florida Tech's Resident Office.

Naval Air Warfare Center—Lakehurst, New Jersey

Florida Tech's off-campus site in Ocean County, New Jersey (located at the Naval Air Warfare Center, Lakehurst, New Jersey) provides graduate students here and in the surrounding area opportunities for continuing their education to maintain their professional and technical competence, and to enhance their career development and progression. Florida Tech programs are available to all who meet admission requirements of the university. Classes are held on base and meet one night per week for three hours beginning at 5:00 p.m.

The Lakehurst site offers students the choice of three different management specialties, ranging from a P.M.B.A. degree to a master's-level specialist in contract management.

Our site in Ocean County offers several support resources not usually available in off-campus-type programs. This includes a 6,500 volume-150 periodical library, which has an active program of inter-library loans with other libraries throughout the country via the Online Library Center Inc. (OCLC). This system allows Florida Tech students quick access to the holdings of local libraries as well as colleges and universities offering graduate degrees in other parts of the country. Each semester, the librarian places selected books on reserve on special shelves in support of Florida Tech courses offered that semester. Students also have access to microcomputer systems in the site director's office. Classrooms are equipped with closed-circuit TV in addition to conventional audiovisual equipment. Also, all off-campus locations, in particular Lakehurst, are equipped with state-of-the-art telecommunications and data-processing equipment, which allow for speedy registration, more accurate records keeping, and state-of-the-art communications between professor and student via computer bulletin boards and other data-processing peripherals.

Several of the available programs and courses are particularly applicable to Department of Defense military and civilian personnel working at Lakehurst. For example, the Lakehurst site offers a Master of Science in Contract Management for the career-oriented acquisition specialist.