A new doctoral program in human resource development at The University of Texas at Tyler aims to gain community partners for the betterment of its students and businesses, a university assistant professor told the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce board on Tuesday.

Russell F. Korte, assistant professor of human resource development in the College of Business & Technology, said the new HRD doctoral program will be the second doctoral program at UT Tyler following the nursing program. University of Texas System regents are scheduled to consider the program on April 24.

"What that's going to do is really raise the caliber of the College of Business over at UT and get a number of graduates and a very high-caliber scholars and researchers, as well as business people coming out of the college," he said.

The UT Tyler Business Academy will be a "partnership of business leaders and university experts committed to improving the performance of organizations, teams and individuals through research, learning and development," according to information Korte provided.

"The thing that I'm especially interested in and have actually been charged with in this program is help build relationships between UT Tyler and the business community," he said. "That's what we're proposing to do, with the new doctoral program at UT, is to develop relationships where we can get students out into the community to get some real-world experience."

The opportunity for students to enter organizations throughout the community would be similar to a "high-level internship," he said. They would look at opportunities for change in the organization to help it improve.

Interested parties can obtain more information about the Business Academy by calling W. Clayton Allen, associate dean in the School of Human Resource Development and Technology, at 903-566-7328, or Korte at 903-565-5911.