PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 29, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- The University of Pennsylvania announced that it is offering a graduate degree program for learning leaders through a partnership between the Wharton School and the Graduate School of Education. The Executive Program in Work-Based Learning Leadership, the first top-tier university program of its kind, provides a formalized education in business, leadership, technology, and strategy within the context of work-related learning. The goal is to enable the learning leader, often called the chief learning officer (CLO) or head of talent development, to function at the same strategic level as the rest of the senior executives in their organizations. The program welcomes its first class in January, 2007.
Research shows that organizations that encourage and facilitate a culture of learning among employees often outperform those that do not. Designing and maintaining a successful talent development program - the responsibility of the learning leader - is a delicate act that balances the financial implications of providing employee education and the more intangible benefits of investing in the development of the workforce.
Both in the number of students and in the amount of money spent, workplace learning now dwarfs higher education. "Most adults learn on the job rather than in a formal educational setting," said Doug Lynch, vice dean at the Graduate School of Education. "The average Fortune 1000 company spends 2.5 percent of its operating budget on learning. For many of these companies, that amounts to tens of millions of dollars. With this as our call to action, we developed the Executive Program in Work-Based Learning Leadership to help elevate the status and competence of the organizational learning leader."
Because many employees never return to school, workplace education often represents the only opportunity for employees to develop new skills and gain new knowledge that can have an impact on their careers.
"Developing talent is one of the most important initiatives for an organization to undertake," said Jon Spector, Wharton School vice dean of Executive Education. "By joining with Penn's Graduate School of Education, we are able to formalize the educational training of those in, or in line to assume, a learning leader position. The program will help learning officers speak the same language as the rest of the C-suite, allowing them to take a 'seat at the table' and bring strategic value to their organizations."
Two trends have emerged in recent years that support the establishment of a formalized approach to work-based learning leadership:
- The emergence of corporate universities and the effort to coordinate and leverage learning as a strategic, organizational effort is increasing.
- The idea of a dean of a corporate university or a CLO has resonated within many organizations.
Learning officers are now leaders in organizations, and the need for learning leaders exists across all industries. Penn advocates that learning leaders play a key role in strategy development and implementation, working closely with CEOs and C-level teams to improve individual, team, and organizational effectiveness. Consequently, they need to gain a deeper understanding of strategy, build leadership skills, and better communicate the importance of learning to other leaders.
The University sought the expert opinions and insights of a prestigious group of organizational learning leaders. Serving as advisors to this program are the following individuals:
Mike Barger, CLO and vice president, JetBlue University
Ed Betof, vice president, CLO, and talent management, BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company)
Dan Blair, director, Learning Executives Network, ASTD
Joe Bonito, vice president and CLO, Pfizer
Skip Brand, senior executive director, business development, Yahoo!
Maude DiVittis, senior vice president of learning and organizational development, MTV Networks
Robert P. Gimbl, director, Citigroup Finance Learning & Development
Victor Herbert, CLO, New York City Fire Department
Leslie W. Joyce, vice president and CLO, Home Depot
Steve Kerr, CLO and managing director, Goldman Sachs
Stephen B. King, CLO, Constellation
Nancy Lewis, vice president, On-Demand Learning, IBM
Elliott Masie, founder, The Learning CONSORTIUM
Donna McNamara, president-global education and training, Colgate-Palmolive Company
Jeanne Meister, author, speaker,and consultant on corporate universities
Mark Milliron, vice president of education, SAS
Alfred Moye, director of university affairs, Hewlett Packard (retired); former deputy assistant for higher and continuing education, U.S. Department of Education
Nigel Paine, former head of people development, BBC
Rebecca Ray, senior vice president, global learning & organizational development, MasterCard Worldwide
Jim Sheehy, senior director, human resources, Freddie Mac Luther Tai, senior vice president, Con Edison
The program begins Jan. 28, 2007.
About Wharton Executive Education
Each year, Wharton Executive Education works with more than 8,000 business leaders on its campus in Philadelphia, at Wharton West in San Francisco, and at sites around the world. The Wharton Learning Continuum is Wharton Executive Education's model for delivering Impact Through Education(tm)--supporting companies and individuals in a 9- to 12-month learning process that is designed collaboratively with clients, delivered by Wharton faculty, and monitored to produce specific outcomes.
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania logo is available at http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2130
About the Graduate School of Education
The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education is one of three Ivy League graduate schools of education. Its alumni include path-finding teachers, heads of school boards, leading advocates for public education, scholars, school counselors, CLOs, and heads of government agencies. A pioneer in instructional theory, assessment, psychology of learning, and classroom training, GSE is distinguished by its "inquiry" approach, which motivates and prepares students to think like educators. The Inquiry Stance obliges teachers to continuously re-evaluate their classroom practices and professional perspectives in order to satisfy pupils' needs more thoroughly. Support for students includes access to case histories, classroom oversight, and courses to meet the special needs of new teachers. Among the several research institutes affiliated with GSE are the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, the Literacy Research Center, and the Center for Research and Evaluation in Social Policy. The university's library system contains 5,500 volumes on education, one of the largest such collections.