University of Wisconsin Stout | Wisconsin's Polytechnic University

Title 1: University of Wisconsin Stout, Wisconsin's Polytechnic University

Title 2: Master of Science Degree in Training and Development

Caption: Dr. Kat Lui, Program Director, M.S. in Training and Development

Kat Lui: My name is Kat Lui and I am the program director for the Training and Development master's of science degree here at UW-Stout.

Kat Lui: We are, we're unique. We're unique in the University of Wisconsin system in that we're the only master's of science level program in training and development. Now, there are other training and development master's programs at other private universities, but in the UW-System, we're it.

Kat Lui: So, I think that bodes very well for us. Students can... we have thirty credits required for the program, so in essence a full-time student could complete their graduate degree within a calendar year, taking summer courses as well as taking courses during the winterm. So that's somewhat unique as well. Our faculty-to-student ratio is pretty low and that makes for pretty amazing learning environments. and I think that that also is unique about our program.

Caption: Mandy Wolbert, Graduate Student, M.S. in Training and Development

Mandy Wolbert: The background I had was about ten years in supervision-slash-training functions and I feel that worked well for me, however, for most students coming into the program work because this program prepares you to work with individuals; to train individuals, so even though my background was in supervision, that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to have that type of background to come into the program.

Kat Lui: It's really kind of a blended delivery model, so we have some on-campus courses that typically meet in the evenings or on weekends. Many of our students are working full-time already so this is something that they do in the other part of the time that they have. We have courses that are offered on the weekends, we also have some courses that are offered online. In addition to that, we run cohort learning groups in either the Milwaukee area or the Appleton area for learners in that part of the state, and htose courses are offered primarily on the weekends mostly face to face, with some online.

Mandy Wolbert: Going through a job transition the types of jobs I wanted, I might have had certain skill sets for, however I didn't have a master's of science degree that was needed to pursue those jobs so the MSTD degree was a nice transition from work for me to going on to pursue what I want to do for a job. And I think it's a nice well-rounded degree because it's going to give me the skill set that I need to work with people to work with them in a training capacity, to go into an organization and find out where the gaps are. Is it training related? Can I fix them? How do I fix them? So I think it's a nice degree to have for anybody who plans to work with people in any type of supervisory, management or training capacity. It's a degree, basically, that you can't go wrong with because it's going to give you skills that you will use either directly or indirectly no matter what you do if you're working with people.

Kat Lui: I love it. I love the students, I love the curriculum. I think that we... the graduates of this program do phenomonal work for the organizations they choose to work for.

Title 3: Interested in learning more? Click the Testimonials link to read what faculty and graduates of MSTD have to say.