Pioneer University of Bridgeport Program leads the way


    There's a quiet revolution in the business world. The traditional notion of "every man for himself" has been replaced by a new mission statement to the effect that, "people are our most important resource." Motivated employees have been found to be the best guarantee of corporate success, and those with expertise in this field -- the human resource professionals -- are seeing their importance elevated from paper pushers to proactive leaders. And education is following suit. Responding to the growing need for human resources professionals with advanced management skills, universities have designed master's programs to fill this demand, among them the University of Bridgeport's Division of Counseling and Human Resources' Master of Science Degree, celebrating its 15th anniversary this fall. This flexible Stamford-based program for working adults meets one weekend a month over a period of 22 months.

    John E. Lewison, who teaches the program's basic management course, is typical of the faculty in that he lives what he teaches. In his long career Lewison has held the position of human resources director at several companies, including Exxon, and is currently the executive director of New York State's Society for Human Resource Management.

    "We are seeing human resources play a very important role in all aspects of a company as we move from the autocratic, tightly structured, slow-to-react business culture of the past to a collaborative culture where the collective wisdom of everyone is used to develop a corporate culture," Lewison said.

    Large companies like Clairol and Pitney Bowes encourage employees already in the human resources field to enhance their communication, organizational and management skills by taking an advanced degree in human resources. Smaller companies, like K2, an executive search company in Greenwich, are also following this trend.

    The UB Human Resources Development program was recommended to Carol Kramer by her employer, K2 owner Kelly Gallagher, herself a graduate of the program. Kramer is now a third of the way through, and loves the program . "It's very thorough and well-taught," she said. She especially welcomes the emphasis on public speaking. "Students get used to giving presentations, which is essential in the business world."

    For Gallagher, the course gave her the confidence to start her own business. She had been employed as a human resources professional for 10 years, working up to the position of director of human resources with responsibility for 575 people. "Much of what I did was recruiting," she said, "Now I specialize in that."

    Following completion of the basic core requirements of the Human Resources Development course, students complete a supervised field placement. This internship unit is collaboratively taught by Joseph Onofrio II and Mary Matera. Onofrio's professional background is counseling, while Matera is the HR representative at JobLink Inc. in Stamford.

    "Our role is coaching and facilitating," Matera said. "A major part of the syllabus is practicing and polishing presentation skills. However, the meat of the course is the synergy the students bring to it. They can bring any and all aspects of their internships and jobs to the classes and discuss them. Over two semesters this has a real growth effect. They listen to each other, share their thoughts, processes, experiences, in an open facilitative mode."

    That the Human Resources Development program is closely identified with the needs of the workplace is critical, according to Lewison. There is a new bifurcation of the areas of management and finance in master's programs, so that professionals going into management are no longer expected to sit though hours of finance and accounting. Lewison commented that in the new corporate model the chief human resources person is as much at the top of the management team as the head of finance.

    "Human resources sets the culture of an organization. It's about tapping into all employees," Lewison said, adding that this can be hard for old-line companies.

    "Some habits die hard," he said. "The culture for the last 20 years has been to claw your way to the top, stepping on people to get there. Now the message is that you have to share, teach others, be a mentor. And those who cannot adapt to the new ways are increasingly being asked to make way for those that can."



By Diana Chamberlain