Now in its second year, LER’s online program has grown to over 40 students as it welcomes 22 students this fall. Students in the second cohort have an average of 7.5 years of experience in human resources and related business functions. Continuing LER’s commitment to extending access to graduate education to a broad audience of HR professional and future leaders, the second cohort includes veterans and diverse professionals working in corporate and civic institutions, including corporate partners like BP and PepsiCo.
Through our collaboration with the Illinois Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, LER faculty continue to transform the classes they teach in the classroom and deliver them to a global audience. Development of core courses for the online program will continue through the end of this academic year.
In our first cohort, students are applying their coursework to their careers. Kari Testory, Director of Academic Sales at Human Kinetics, is transforming her workplace after a class project completed in change management. “… my project focused on the implementation of custom publishing initiatives and the benefits this initiative would bring to my organization. After sharing the final project with the VP of Sales and Marketing, I received approval to move forward with implementing Phase I of the initiative. I am pleased to state that this fall we released a new loose-leaf product format for several major titles that was identified in my project as a stepping stone to custom publishing. In addition, we are now aggressively pursuing custom e-book publishing opportunities as well as holding initial discovery meetings on moving forward with true custom publishing options for faculty in print and digital formats. Professor Schultz’s course helped me to thoroughly identify, evaluate, and design a change management initiative that thus far, has proven to be successful within my organization.” We congratulate Kari on her successful initiative and academic excellence.
Prospective students are welcomed to apply Fall 2017 admissions. Apply by July 1, 2017, to start the program in Fall 2017.The online program provides an additional benefit to LER alumni through continuing education and professional development opportunities. Alumni are invited to enroll in LER online courses. For more information, visit go.illinois.edu/LERonline or reach out to Katherine Eriksen, Assistant Director of our online programs.