Stanford Advanced Project Management Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary
The Stanford Advanced Project Management certificate program, founded in 1999 at Stanford University, celebrates 10 years educating more than 2,500 experienced project, program, and portfolio managers from a broad range of companies, non-profits, and government entities.
Stanford, CA (PRWEB) December 8, 2009
If you want to see where a business is headed, don't check its bottom line -- look at where it is investing its resources. Since its founding in 1999, the Stanford Advanced Project Management (http://apm. stanford. edu/) curriculum has stressed the importance of aligning project portfolios -- where financial and human capital are allocated-- to an organization's strategic goals. Today, more than 2,500 experienced project, program, and portfolio managers from a broad range of companies, non-profits, and government entities have completed the program requirements and earned the credential of Stanford Certified Project Manager.
"We are pleased to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this award-winning program," said Dr. Andy DiPaolo, executive director of the Stanford Center for Professional Development. "We are proud to have educated thousands of project managers at organizations worldwide. This anniversary also represents special recognition for Professor Ray Levitt, the visionary creator of Stanford's most successful professional education program."
The Evolution of Project Management
In the early days, companies invested their resources in project plans that were essentially fixed, to the smallest detail. "This strategy worked effectively for a long time, but in an increasingly dynamic world, organizations just could not justify the expenses -- change occurs too quickly," says Raymond Levitt (http://apm. stanford. edu/faculty. htm#levitt), Stanford University professor of civil and environmental engineering, and co-founder and academic director of Stanford Advanced Project Management. "By the 1990s, project management was emerging as a distinct discipline, with a growing impact on the success or failure of very large corporations. In creating this program, we introduced a new educational model positioned between the MBA and existing project management training."
The Stanford Advanced Project Management curriculum (http://apm. stanford. edu/certificateProgram. htm) consists of three required and twelve elective courses and provides practical instruction on the processes, organizational structure, and tools to complete projects that yield the desired business results. "Program participants are high potential managers with ten to fifteen years experience as project leaders and are often running complex programs with investments up to $100 million," says Tim Wasserman, chief learning officer for IP Solutions and Stanford Advanced Project Management program director. "They are learning to lead, in a rapidly changing environment, with short product cycles and scarce resources."
Executives from leading-practice companies share proven strategies and participants are provided with a global perspective throughout the instruction. "Other programs may have a course or two on international topics," says program graduate Maryann Kelly, "but because these program instructors all have real world experience internationally, they offer examples that they've lived and breathed themselves -- an international perspective is integrated into every course."
Kelly, is a vice president in the Enterprise Project Office at PHH Corporation, and adds "The people who take courses in this program don't have time to waste; our employers need to know that the time we take from work will have an impact on the business, and we need to know it will have an impact on our careers. It's the only program where I have had an immediate ROI from the first course I took."
The Future of Project Management
Building upon Web 2.0 innovations, the future of project, program and portfolio management is not just about giving managers the right tools, but teaching them how to adapt, be nimble, and lead. "No one really knows what things will look like in two years, let alone ten," says Wasserman. "The Stanford Advanced Project Management program is about developing leaders; we teach successful project managers new ways to approach problems-- we teach them new ways to think."
Delivered by the Stanford Center for Professional Development, (http://scpd. stanford. edu) Stanford Advanced Project Management combines Stanford's research and education in strategy, organization theory, and project management with the project management executive education capabilities of IP Solutions, LLC.
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