Addressing The Career Development Needs Of Experienced Project Professionals

This paper presents a new non-degree graduate program in technical project management (TPM) that employs innovative teaching strategies to meet the needs of adult learners. As a result of constituent involvement and input from industry professionals, the TPM program consists of four graduate courses that address the professional and career development challenges of experienced project and program managers. This interdisciplinary program provides a professional learning environment for adult students (with and without technical backgrounds) to acquire advanced project management knowledge, skills, and abilities. Innovative learning strategies include student-selected capstone projects, course content supplemented by subject matter expert (SME) presentations, as well as advanced assignments and site visits to projects that provide material for case studies. Collectively, the TPM program provides a unique, flexible, and self-directed learning experience to its students.