Allison (Schug) Battle, HR Communications Representative
"I am currently a HR Communications Representative at the Bristol, TN Antibiotics plant of GlaxoSmithKline. Some of my major responsibilities are directly related to experience I earned working as a graduate assistant for the program, including editing the plant’s newsletter and designing/maintaining the local intranet site. I am also responsible for public relations (i.e., the press, charitable donations, and community involvement) as well as internal communications. I am also involved in various other responsibilities including some pieces of their recruiting puzzle.
"I have no doubt that my I/O degree helped me secure my current position, and I see it offering nothing but advantages in my future endeavors. At this point, the two most important skills I developed in graduate school were how to communicate effectively in writing and how to work well in small groups. There are many other facets of the I/O program that have helped me in my position, but these two are the ones I use most frequently.
"If I were describing the program to someone, I would say it is rigorously designed, has great hands-on projects, and excellent professors. In my opinion, one of the biggest strengths of the I/O program is that was rigorous. The classes were (for the most part) challenging and the program required both a thesis and a comprehensive final. This not only made the degree a good use of time, but it also offers me an advantage over Master’s level graduates of other programs—if I ever decide to return for my Ph.D. I thoroughly enjoyed the 'hands on' projects. They helped me understand how I/O systems can be applied in the working world. The professors in the program were nothing less than exceptional and I attribute much of my growth and development during this period to the type of team projects they assigned."