How Belmont Abbey Added 11 New Programs and Expanded Their Mission

The Context
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Founded in 1876 and approaching its 150th anniversary, Belmont Abbey College has long been a beacon of liberal arts education in North Carolina. As a small Catholic institution with approximately 1,700 students, the college prides itself on maintaining an intimate, values-driven educational experience. Dr. Brad Frazier, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate and Professional Studies, emphasizes the institution's commitment to its identity: 
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“The board of trustees in particular is very brand conscious, and rightly so. We have to protect it because we do have a brand and we have a certain place in the market.”

This commitment to preserving institutional identity while meeting modern student needs has been at the heart of Belmont Abbey's recent evolution. Athletics plays a central role in the college's culture, with the administration recognizing that athletic programs provide significant value by building and developing organizational skills, management capabilities, and leadership qualities rather than serving as distractions from academic pursuits. This philosophy extends to the college's approach to education - fostering students’ development in mind, body, and spirit and creating well-rounded individuals prepared for both professional success and personal fulfillment.

The Challenge
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Following the retirement of one of only two Computer Science faculty members, Belmont Abbey faced a critical staffing challenge. Gireesh Gupta, Associate Professor of Computer Science, found himself as the sole full-time faculty member in a department experiencing growing demand from current and prospective students. "There were two of us in the department. When he retired, we offered minors only; we did not have a major. I was the only one, and we had some adjuncts who filled those courses, and we were okay, but we could not offer a major with just one full-time faculty."
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The financial reality of expanding the program presented additional obstacles. Hiring full-time faculty mid-year is problematic, and developing new programs can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars - a significant investment for a small institution like Belmont Abbey. 
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The Solution
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Professor Gupta, who had been independently researching online program options, was pleased with what he discovered: "When our Dean introduced me to Rize, and I read about Rize, I was very happy. I read about Rize’s course quality and looked at some syllabi and I was very pleased."
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After board and faculty approval, Belmont Abbey relaunched their Computer Science Minor as a Hybrid Department Program with Rize for the Fall 2023 semester. Professor Gupta would continue to teach his share of Computer Science courses on campus, like Files and Database Systems and Introduction to Computing, with students taking Rize-powered courses for the remainder of the Minor. 

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Following the initial success of the Computer Science Minor, Belmont Abbey added three new pathway programs in 2024; a full Computer Science Major, a Cybersecurity Major and Minor and a Digital Marketing Major and Minor. Since 2023, with an initial 3 registrations, Computer Science has totaled 152 students taking Rize-powered courses, peaking at 70 registered students in Fall 2024. Additionally, Digital Marketing and Cybersecurity had a combined 68 students from Fall 2025 to Spring 2025. 

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These new programs have proven transformative for Belmont Abbey College, benefiting not only current students and institutional growth but also attracting prospective applicants. According to Dr. Frazier, "The partnership has attracted new students to Belmont Abbey. We're now seeing 118 applications that identified Cybersecurity as their program of interest. Rize programs are not just serving the students that we already have. That's a significant impact for us."

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As for Professor Gupta’s Computer Science department, he’s seeing interest from across the entire student body.

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"Enrollment is increasing in both minors and majors. For example, CS 201 Programming for Everyone tends to get filled every semester. Students who are not majoring are also taking that course."

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Turning Skeptics Into Supporters
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Initially, faculty resistance was significant, but the key to gaining their support proved to be transparency and quality assurance of the Rize programs. "We looked at the syllabi, we looked at the credentials of the faculty that were gonna be teaching. We had the departments that were gonna be housing these review it and make sure it's a sound program and it is good."
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According to Dr. Frazier, the turning point came when faculty witnessed firsthand the positive student responses to the new programs. "Once they started getting the feedback from the students like, hey, the students really love this and we didn't compromise our mission and we didn't compromise who we are. And that was the biggest thing at this college that everybody is hyper-focused on."
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Beyond maintaining the college's core mission, Dr. Frazier notes that the partnership has strategically allowed faculty to focus on their strengths and optimize limited resources. "What it's allowed us to do is better utilize our limited resources by focusing on key areas. For example, we previously had faculty members teaching across three or four different disciplines within business or computer science - teaching basic courses and similar foundational material. These new courses allow us to concentrate on our core business functions: advising and teaching students."
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As the partnership has matured, faculty have not only embraced the model but begun incorporating its innovations into their own teaching practices. "We've now seen faculty kind of embracing it and trying to even mimic some of that technology," Dr. Frazier observes. "It has just given us a lot of bandwidth and a lot of opportunities that we didn't have before."

Student Success Stories
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"It was probably out of my whole entire college experience, the most beneficial thing I've ever had." -- Daniel, Computer Science Student

The impact on students has been transformative. Daniel, a junior on the basketball team, found that Rize courses perfectly complemented his athletic and extracurricular commitments: "It allowed me to work at my own pace because I play basketball as well. And also I was in a church program on campus too. So it allowed me to be ahead of my assignments that way if I was traveling or if I was meeting with people and doing Bible study, my schoolwork was already done."
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Gavin's story is perhaps even more compelling - the addition of the Cybersecurity major prevented him from transferring: "My freshman and sophomore year, I was studying data analytics. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I enjoy cybersecurity, which Belmont Abbey ended up offering my junior year. Having the actual major is probably one of the reasons I didn't transfer."
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Both students emphasized the real-world applicability of their coursework as reasons for enjoying the new programs. Gavin notes: "A lot of my projects actually are showcased in my resume or on my GitHub. They give you really good projects that honestly I've seen in some of my certification courses that I've taken outside of school." His internship as a systems analyst at Commercial Bank directly benefited from his Rize courses: "A lot of the keywords allow me to communicate with my boss better... You need to know what a framework means or what a SIM tool is."
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The online component also prepares students for modern workplace realities. As Daniel notes: "The world we're living in, it's trending towards a lot of remote work and especially in the field that I want to work in, computer science and engineering. It helped me build discipline to do my own work."

The Future of BAC x Rize
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What initially started as a way to affordably and reliably sustain a program following faculty retirement has evolved into the successful addition of new, high-demand majors like Cybersecurity and Digital Marketing. For Belmont Abbey, the ability to seamlessly expand academic offerings while preserving their mission and brand was a strategic advantage. 
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For students like Daniel and Gavin, the partnership has meant the difference between staying and transferring, between settling for an available major and pursuing their passion. As Gavin reflects: "When I found out that Rize was offering cybersecurity, I instantly jumped on that because it perfectly aligned with what I wanted to do. And that's honestly one of the main reasons that I didn't go out looking elsewhere."
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Starting Fall 2025, Belmont Abbey will be offering Rize-powered MBA specializations in Finance, AI, Business Analytics, Cybersecurity, and Healthcare Administration to further the growth of their graduate program that was created from the ground up by Dr. Frazier. 

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When asked about what the partnership with Rize has been like, Dr. Frazier is emphatic in his response.

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“This enhances who we are. It doesn't dilute who we are. Don't be afraid to thoughtfully, carefully choose partners to be able to deliver programs that you can't deliver. And Rize has done a great job with that."

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The partnership demonstrates how smaller institutions can support existing programs and expand their academic portfolio while maintaining their distinctive mission and identity.

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Download Belmont Abbey's story here. If you’re interested in learning more about Belmont Abbey’s story or how you can partner with Rize, request a call with our Academic Partnerships Team.