Workforce Development and Education

Mission Statement

The Masters of Arts degree seeks to prepare future advanced practitioners and leaders who have an interest in employee development, organizational development, career development. The degree focus is also appropriate for individuals who have an interest in seeking instructional or managerial roles in adult learning situations, workforce development agencies, and higher education settings. Graduates will use their knowledge and skills to help develop, implement, evaluate, and manage systems to improve performance and individual learning in a wide range of organizational settings, including companies, post secondary educational institutions and adult career centers. Entry to the degree requires a desire to using best practices to address organizational performance and individual learning issues.

Vision

Workforce Development and Education will be recognized globally as an exemplary program of choice for professionals and prospective professionals who are seeking to study the changing nature of learning and the workplace. We have an intellectual vision to conduct research in and for schools and organizations and carry out professional development and training to improve professional practice.

We seek to conduct our scholarship with concern for how the individual learns from the overlapping context of training for professional and ethical standards, the environment or climate that facilitates learning, the organizational structure to support learning, and the workplace policies that impact the work/life balance.

We will be responsive to a workforce future and its use of evolving forms of technology, the needs of changing demographics of those we serve, the shifting educational delivery system, and the new demands on employees and their families in the workplace. In order to meet the demand of the new workforce we will prepare researchers and educators as professionals with a considerable knowledge base, a supportive global network, and capacity to promote themselves in workforce development and education.

Values

The following values guide the Workforce Development and Education mission and vision.