UT Tyler Looking Abroad As It Begins HRD Doctoral Program
By Betty Waters / Tyler Morning Telegraph
March 16, 2007

In working to establish the state's second doctoral program in human resource development, University of Texas at Tyler officials expect international students to contribute invaluably to the fledging enterprise.

Everyone agrees the majority of students will come from East Texas. They will be a mainstay and fairly easy to attract. But the university will also recruit students from the rest of the state, across the United States and abroad.

Drawing international students will create "something that is very rich for the people who are in the program - rich for the culture of the university and the reputation of the university throughout the United States and beyond," said Dr. Richard A. Swanson, a distinguished research professor in UT Tyler's Department of Human Resource Development and Technology.

"It's very important in a doctoral program to have people who come with different points of view. Having students from other nations and other parts of our nation creates a kind of energy and stimulus and diversity of thinking that's critical to creating scholars," he said.

Another reason for recruiting abroad is that some of the brightest and best people come to U.S. universities with Ph.D. programs and then stay in the immediate communities around the universities, becoming some of those areas' most productive citizens, Swanson said. "The communities have benefited, the states have benefited and the United States has benefited," he said.

The nature of human resource development also makes recruitment of international students important, he said. It often involves people in multi-national corporations. "We have to prepare people who are capable of dealing with people with various points of view and various cultural backgrounds," Swanson said.

Just having international students in the program will provide cross-cultural lessons for students and faculty alike, officials said.

Students representing a national and international presence will reflect favorably on UT Tyler's new program and contribute to it becoming quickly recognized as an outstanding Ph.D. program, Swanson predicted. The university's goal is for the HRD program to be recognized in five years as a "top-tier doctoral program."

Since human resource development is a young discipline, Swanson said. UT Tyler can establish excellence and increase visibility more rapidly through its HRD program than through other fields, such as biology and chemistry, where there are bastions of history.

Human resource development focuses on unleashing human expertise to improve job performance through training and organization development, Swanson said. It requires management and strategic planning. HRD graduates can work in research and in the workplace, improving job performance, developing leadership talent and facilitating a diverse workforce.

"This degree will be appropriate for those pursuing academic research careers as well as management positions in business," said Dr. Clayton Allen, professor and UT Tyler's chairman of human resource development. "We feel our program will provide students with invaluable tools and resources to become top professionals within the HRD field."

The university plans to begin accepting students for its HRD program in the fall of 2008 if the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board gives final approval. UT System regents recently authorized the program and sent the proposal to the state board.

Currently, Texas A&M University offers the state's only Ph.D. program in HRD. UT Tyler participates in it through a cooperative arrangement, and conducts its own undergraduate program.

UT Tyler expects to enroll at least 15 doctoral students per year in three categories once its HRD doctoral program begins. Probably 40 percent will be from East Texas, and the rest from the remainder of Texas and the United States, Swanson projected.

Swanson recruited in the Netherlands last fall. He will travel to Korea in April to recruit students, and to China next fall.

Companies are joining the business academy because they get the benefit of getting someone on site who can help solve problems.

Setting up UT Tyler's HRD program within the College of Business and Technology allows for partnerships with local businesses and organizations, and is one of the program's competitive advantages, Swanson said. In the United States, Ph.D.-level human resource development programs often fall under universities' colleges of education.

"Not only do we have the human resource development faculty, but we also have the business administration faculty who are participating in delivery of this Ph.D. program, so our curriculum is very exciting in terms of creating the kind of graduate that's going to be very useful in society," Swanson said.

Another competitive advantage is UT Tyler's size. The university can be flexible and agile and move in strategic ways in setting up the HRD program and providing organizational support that a large university with a lot of bureaucracy cannot.

"The kind of support we have from the president, provost and dean is unwavering and unquestioning. They are celebrating this program, and it will filter down into the faculty and students. There's an energy and commitment and that's a competitive advantage," Swanson said.