2021 was a year of tremendous growth for Noodle with new partners and programs, new initiatives, new funding, new recognition, and new Noodlers – 149 to be exact!
As we look back on the past 12 months, we celebrate the following highlights:
Partner, Program and Student Growth and Successes
- We signed four new university partners, bringing our total to 22. New partners include Butler University, Columbia Business School, New England College of Optometry, and San Diego State University (see a complete list of all Noodle partners and programs)
- We signed 10 new programs with existing university partners (Tulane University, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Stevens Institute of Technology, and The University of Pittsburgh), bringing our total to 73
- We entered the healthcare education space, launching a Doctor of Physical Therapy with The University of Pittsburgh and announcing a Doctor of Optometry with the New England College of Optometry (we will announce a third program later this month)
- We launched 20 new programs and enrolled 3,325 students across all Noodle-supported programs
- We had 425 students graduate from our programs
Corporate Growth and Successes
- We launched The Noodle Learning Platform to help universities compete in the lifelong learning market, announcing Case Western Reserve University, Columbia Business School, and University of Michigan as our first partners
- We raised $50 million in Series C funding, which will allow us to invest in acquisitions and innovation that help our university partners in both the degree and lifelong learning markets
- We Launched the Most Interesting People in Higher Ed podcast, in which Chief Strategy Officer Lee Bradshaw speaks with leaders from every facet of higher education. Guests so far have included Dr. Sevin YelteKin, Dean of the Simon Business School, University of Rochester, Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis, President, Benedict College, and Dr. Howard Purcell, President, New England College of Optometry
- Our subsidiary CCA was honored with 16 Educational Advertising Awards
Culture
- We were named one of the Best Places to Work in NYC by both Crain’s New York Business and Built-In
- We earned a prestigious B Corp™Certification, which recognizes for-profit companies who utilize business as a force for good through exacting standards for social and environmental performance
- We onboarded 149 new employees, bringing our headcount to 381 (meet the team)
- We created a company-wide DEI strategy and made major strides in its implementation, including hiring a full-time DEI Specialist to support education, strategic goals, employee resource groups, and talent recruitment and marketing; initiating collaboration with an HBCU and three HSIs to develop a pipeline for our summer internship program; and launching our Profile in Diversity blog series, in which we profile Noodlers as part of heritage and history month celebrations (read our profiles here)
- And finally, we heard this from our employees: “Noodle seems to specialize in hiring genuinely pleasant and very funny people,” “Noodle is a company that cares deeply about its people and the world at large through its drive to increase education access for all,” “Noodle is an incredibly welcoming place to work with brilliant people who are very approachable and always willing to share their knowledge”
That’s a wrap for 2021. We can’t wait to see what 2022 brings as we continue to increase our network of universities, partners, and employees, educate thousands of degree-seeking students and lifelong learners and raise the bar on what a great company can do.
