Another Philadelphia First: Project Management for Year Up Young Professionals

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 8:45 a.m. through noon, 20 students ages 18 to 24 are hard at work at Peirce College learning the intricacies of Project Management from international speaker Dawn Mahan.

Mahan, who was formerly a spokesperson on WHYY for Select Greater Philadelphia, is teaching "Practical Project Management for Young Professionals," until Dec. 19.

Mahan's class is part of Year Up Greater Philadelphia's intensive, one-year program for young adults that combines professional coaching, hands-on skill development, and internships at some of America's top companies. It represents the first time Philadelphia has offered project management education to its students.

Mahan says organizations only do two things: projects and operations and project management is "the art and science of getting results." By the end of the course, students will have the skills they need to land a job with a large corporation after graduation.

Mahan says, "When I was in college, I had no idea that project management could be a career track. It's important for young adults to realize that project management can offer them great opportunities across a range of industries."

Student Syann McClure has gotten the message. She says, "I became interested in project management once I realized the complexities and nuances of the project manager role. In the past, my perception of a project manager was a strict dictator who ruled the project with an iron fist. In reality, this course helped me understand that the project manager is someone who helps the team."

The course is based on PMOtraining's "Practical Project Management for Everyone" curriculum, which has received great feedback from top-tier professionals around the world. Mahan has also been sharing stories of project management success and failures that will appear in her upcoming book, Accomplish More, Stress Less: The Practical Guide to Driving Successful Projects. The curriculum includes sessions in "Projectland Soft Skills" by Fanny Korman, and "The Agile Alternative" with Jared Rakes, in addition to such guests as Jessica Battle, director, project management at Prudential Financial; international motivational speaker, author and "hugs and high-five guy" David Hale Sylvester; Jonathan Kine of the Project General Company and entrepreneur Kim Ramirez, CEO of Philadelphia-based FactSumo, the digital learning player. Ramirez says, "We are always proud to partner with PMOtraining and are particularly excited to serve these young, ambitious Philadelphians, to build their skills and confidence through practice."

Other partners include Independence Blue Cross, JPMorgan Chase Corporation and Merck & Co. "Before adding project management to the program, we reached out to our corporate partners for feedback, and they confirmed the need for our students to arrive prepared with these essential skills," says Melinda Brown, Year Up Greater Philadelphia site director. "When I met Dawn, I knew that our students would not only benefit from her course, but also her extensive experience working with corporations."

Students are also pursuing PMOtraining's Decoding Project Management Micro-certification, which includes key elements of the ProjectFlo® Process Learning System, which has been used at organizations such as Time Warner Cable and The Project Management Institute Southern New England Chapter. Mahan created ProjectFlo® to make learning what is arguably the most complex project management process standard in the world fun and easy thanks to a unique combination of gamification, design thinking and storytelling.

Mahan founded PMOtraining, LLC, a consulting and talent development company focused on partnering with executives and their teams to accomplish more and stress less. Before founding the firm, she led global transformation projects for the C-suite.

Contact: Dawn Mahan, [email protected]; 877.PMO.7070; PMOtraining.com     

SOURCE Dawn Mahan