Through the Guild and Team USA Learning Network, eCornell will be the preferred provider of professional education for Team USA over the next five years. The collaboration is designed to connect Team USA athletes—including Olympic and Paralympic athletes and hopefuls—with eCornell’s professional certificate programs that can help them build new skills off the field and propel their careers beyond athletics.

eCornell’s flexible, online certificate programs are uniquely suited to support Team USA athletes. 43% of Team USA athletes report working full or part-time jobs while training and the average age at which a Team USA athlete ends their Olympic or Paralympic career is 28.

"eCornell is proud to collaborate with Guild to support Team USA athletes,” said Paul Krause, vice provost of external education and executive director of eCornell. “Our professional certificate programs blend Cornell's impactful education with online flexibility, empowering athletes to forge new career paths and transition seamlessly to what’s next.”

eCornell has maintained a long-running engagement with Guild over the past several years to provide premium professional development opportunities to many of the world’s leading organizations. Through Guild’s learning network, companies provide their employees with the opportunity to enroll in small-cohort online courses and certificate programs from eCornell. Now, thousands of eligible Team USA athletes who have represented the U.S. globally in the last decade will be able to access eCornell certificate programs through Guild’s learning network.

“As an athlete, I’ve dedicated the majority of my life to reach this moment in my career and my education has remained a key pillar and priority throughout my training,” said Daniella Ramirez, Paris-bound Team USA Artistic Swimmer. “It’s incredible that through this program, Guild will make opportunities available to current and future Team USA athletes who are also driven by their educational pursuits and might otherwise have to sacrifice one or the other.”

Bijal Shah, CEO of Guild shared that the partnership was a perfect fit for all the parties involved. “Team USA athletes are dedicated to their sports and maintain hectic competition schedules. eCornell’s programs can be completed online, between training sessions, and athletes can choose from over 200 different certificate programs designed by Cornell’s renowned faculty.”

Learn more about this collaboration on the eCornell website.