Applied Experience
One of the strengths of the I/O Program is that students have a variety of opportunities to gain real work experience while in school. Students are required to complete an internship, and while students are free to look for their own opportunities, the department is often contacted by companies who are looking for student interns. Some of the places where our students have completed their practica/internships include Pillsbury, Nissan, General Electric, First Tennessee Bank, Bridgestone/Firestone, Army Research Institute, and State Farm Insurance.
In addition to a required practicum, several classes consist of applied projects to help students gain real world work experience while in the classroom. Job Analysis and Performance Appraisal, Research Methods, Organizational Change and Development, and Advanced Training and Development are among the classes that often have semester-long applied projects. Typically, the students operate as an actual professional consulting team working working for a real world client on these projects.
The Center for Organizational and Human Resource Effectiveness (COHRE) is a unique resource for expanding students' opportunities to work on consulting projects beyond the classroom. COHRE was formed in 2004 by many of the I/O faculty to serve as a professional consulting firm and provides a high-profile avenue for creating consulting partnerships between the business world and the students and faculty of our program. COHRE was born of our commitment to stay out front as preeminent among I/O Master's programs. This is truly an unparalleled resource unique to our I/O Master's program.
Even before COHRE, many of our students have gained experience working with faculty members on various consulting projects. One example, with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), was spotlighted on a local television show. Click here to see TDOT's Ken Becker explain why they chose MTSU's I/O Program for consulting expertise. Joining this discussion is I/O faculty member Dr. Rick Moffett and graduate student Faydra Hanchey (who has since completed her degree). You will need QuickTime in order to watch the video clip. If you don't have a recent version of QuickTime, a free version can be downloaded at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/qt/.
The experience
our students get through these opportunities helps them to land successful jobs
after graduation. Students have left MTSU to start careers in places such as
Microsoft, Dell Computers, Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce
Development, Employment Learning Innovations Inc., Bridgestone/Firestone, Towers
Perrin Consulting, Management Science Associates, WorldCom, First Tennessee
Bank, and Verizon.