ISSUED: 2 August 2018
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University is starting a new program that will allow project managers and others needing to earn and maintain professional certifications the opportunity to complete the training in Martinsburg. On September 10, Shepherd and the Australia-based company Mindavation are launching a Project Professional Toolkit Certificate Workshop series at Shepherd’s Martinsburg Center.
“We are partnering to bring reasonably-priced but well-done professional development,” said Dr. Jimmie West, adjunct business faculty at Shepherd. “The focus will be on project managers. Our vision is that, as we grow, we will offer other certificate programs such as business analyst, leadership, and problem solving.”
Project management professionals and others who have earned similar certifications are required to take a certain number of continuing education courses to maintain their certificates. In addition, West said continued training is important for all employees in today’s economic environment because it’s rare for someone to work an entire career for one company.
“That means companies need to think about talent development and ensuring employees are prepared for where the company needs to be in five years,” West said.
“It’s cheaper to grow them than to wait five years and have to hire them because you’re paying a premium to get the people you need instead of growing them all along,” added Dr. Ben Martz, dean of Shepherd’s College of Business.
The training sessions will take place on five Mondays starting September 10 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. The cost is $500 per class, and they can be taken as a group or individually. Eight professional development units or three continuing education units per class are available. The classes offered are:
- September 10—Business Analysis Overview will examine the role of the business analyst and how it fits into the development lifecycle, from business case development to testing the final product.
- September 24—Agile Project Management will help students understand what an agile project is and learn techniques to understand how agile projects are different. Best techniques to manage agile projects effectively and successfully and understanding how to avoid common pitfalls will be examined.
- October 1—Project Management Overview will review the 10 Project Management Institute knowledge areas and will teach industry-standard, practical skills needed by anyone performing an internal consultant role.
- October 8—Organizational Change Management will examine effective methods for asking good questions, objectively analyzing issues, and gathering supporting data to understand business problems and improvement areas. Many practical and engaging exercises help students walk through the concepts presented and afford ample practice with the techniques learned.
- October 15—The Consultant’s Way will teach participants effective methods to understand business problems and improvement areas. This course presents approaches to thinking critically and understanding root causes of problems.
Rachel Dillman, Mindavation director of business development and operations, said the topics are all designed to help participants become better professionals.
“The workshops will cover the skills that will help professionals be more productive and deliver better outcomes in any kind of role they’re working in,” Dillman said.
The registration deadline is Monday, September 3. To learn more about the classes and to register, visit https://www.eventbrite.com.au/o/mindavation-14781640216.
For more information, contact Karen Rice, Shepherd’s director of continuing education and lifelong learning, at krice@shepherd.edu or 304-876-5135.
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