Testimonials

My graduate degree changed my life in so many positive ways.  I hope that anyone who reads this and is undecided as to whether or not to enroll in the master’s degree program will take the step and go for it.  In my own personal journey, I had completed my bachelor’s degree in early childhood and elementary education in 1992.  Going back after so many years was not an easy decision. Working full time as a teacher, having a husband and two sons to take care of, plus commuting two hours a day seemed impossible to me to take on such a task. With the encouragement of a friend who was also interested in the program I was convinced to go and meet Dr. Kopp.

After meeting with Dr. Kopp, a decision that had taken me 12 years to think about, in an instant I knew that this meeting was about to change my life.  He instilled in me a confidence I had not felt in years.  His passion in the way he spoke about the program made me a believer. Without hesitation I made my decision and enrolled in the program, and I can attest to this day it was the best decision I ever made.  During my time in the program, I gained immense knowledge, wonderful friends, and a self-confidence that I had left behind many years ago. My goal was to retire from the school system and enter the business world as a corporate trainer.

Today I work for a Mercantil Commercebank as a corporate trainer, and my title is People Development Specialist. I will forever be grateful to Barry University who opened the doors to my future, and Dr. Kopp who was the one who inspired me to believe in myself.

After working at numerous accounting and office management positions with small companies and lacking the education to pursue higher level positions for which I had the experience, but not the required educational levels, I made the decision to pursue a Bachelors degree.  The opportunity to attend college did not present itself until I was in my late twenties.  My concern was being a single parent with small children.  How would I manage to go to school and complete my degree in a relative short period of time?  Many of the colleges I researched had 16-week semesters and at that time I knew that I could only take a couple of classes each semester.  How would I ever finish?  I had seen an advertisement in a local newspaper for Barry University.  The length of the semesters (10-weeks) intrigued me so I made a call and set up the initial meeting with a Barry Advisor.   I don’t believe I will ever forget that initial meeting as the Advisor was very empathetic and encouraging when I already felt overwhelmed with all the information I had been receiving from various other schools.  I began my relationship with Barry University in 1995 and it was the best decision I made for myself and my family.

After graduating with a Bachelors degree in Professional Studies from Barry University, I was finally able to apply for higher level positions.  This was an accomplishment I did not see happening for me.  As a matter of fact, I cried when I walked across the stage to receive my degree.  I finally did it!  Within a year of receiving my Bachelors degree, I decided to go back to school and pursue a Masters degree, partly because most of my working peers had already attained a Masters degree and I knew it would help me in my working career and partly because I missed the camaraderie I had with both the Professors and the students. 

I was working in the Human Resources field, holding positions as Human Resource Director, Benefits Manager, and Risk Manager, all of which require minimally a Bachelors degree.  I decided to enroll in the Human Resource Development and Administration program with Barry University.  It was there that I met Dr. David Kopp.  Dr. Kopp taught many of the courses for the program.  His wit, patience, and teaching techniques made the task of taking graduate level courses exciting.  All of the courses were challenging because they encouraged a different level of thinking.  You were now going to learn to analyze, synthesis and evaluate at the top three tiers of Bloom’s Taxonomy, all of which are required levels of thinking as you move into management level positions. 

With all that said, I received the very best education from Barry University.  I learned skills that I was immediately able to apply to my positions.  Not only did the skills assist me with my job, but they also provided me with the opportunity to learn how much I enjoyed teaching.  Had I not attended the Barry HRDA program, I would not have had the opportunity with my employer to utilize these learned skills and discover my strong desire to teach others.  I developed over 23 Human Resource, Supervisory, Management and Leadership training programs for my employer.  I became the guru for training and development programs.  I received awards, acknowledgment and recognition from peers, coworkers and most importantly executive management for my efforts towards improvement of the organization. 

I am currently pursuing a Doctorate degree in Organizational Management and teaching for a local community college.  I couldn’t be happier.  Thank you to Dr. Kopp and to all of the Professors with Barry University for providing me and all the Barry students, with the very best education, support and friendship.

I will never forget my first day of class as a student in the Master of Human Resource Development and Administration program at Barry University. The name of the course was HRDA Theory and Practice.  After four hours of hearing about performance and KSA's, I left class with feelings of doubt and insecurity, and a fear that I would not be able to make it through the first course.   When I began the program in 2004 I was a kindergarten teacher.  I was not happy in my current position and I was looking to make a career change.

After doing some research in possible career opportunities, I found the HRDA master's program at Barry University.  I quickly came to realize that this would be a great place for me to start preparing for my new career.  I made my first appointment with Dr. Kopp, Chair for Human Resource Development Programs. After meeting with him, I knew that I had made the right decision for the school and the program.  I left the initial meeting with a feeling of confidence that the HRDA master's program was going to help me make the change that I had been hoping for; knowing that the road ahead would not be easy,

I began the journey into the world of HRD. Needless to say, I made it through the HRDA theory and practice course and ran full speed ahead into the rest of the courses, knocking each course out of the ball park one course at a time.  Before I knew it, a year had gone by.  I was now equipped with knowledge on adult learning and motivation, instructional design and presentation principles.  I decided to test the waters and began sending out my resume.  Lo and behold the first company that I sent my resume to made me an offer. The position was Training Manager at The Setai hotel. In this role, I had an opportunity to use many of the skills I had learned through the HRDA master's program, and since I was still attending class, I was constantly learning and applying cutting edge techniques while on the job.

I continued my classes over the winter of 2005 and with the guidance of my Barry professors and the confidence gained each time I completed a new class, I decided to begin a new job hunt. This time I was looking into positions in the banking industry. After two months of searching, I found a job as a People Development Specialist at Mercantil Commercebank. In this role I have applied knowledge from my entire program at Barry, specifically in organizational change, organizational development, and instructional design.

Today, I have been in the HRD industry for three years and an alumni of Barry since May 2006. I look forward to the many career opportunities that lie ahead. The HRD industry is constantly changing and growing, but with the strong foundation given to me through the HRDA master's program at Barry University, I feel prepared to succeed in any organization I choose.

The HRD program at Barry (particularly Dr. Kopp's classes) have taught me so much about development of individuals and organizations. It has helped me to improve my management skills as well as gain greater respect from my peers. My staff recently participated in an upward appraisal and all of my scores were excellent. HRD has taught me how to manage people, but at the same time observe other things such as change agents and destabilizing forces (both external and internal).  I feel more prepared today than four years ago to take on additional responsibilities within my organization thanks to the HRD program. HRD has taught me to see the organization as a living organism that will always continue to evolve and adapt to change.

We are currently experiencing an organizational change, and I love it! I would recommend to other business majors to at least take the core classes of the HRD degree. They add value, and it is unfortunate that others have not signed up for this program. Although there have been schedule conflicts between one school and the other because of the length of the classes, I feel that it has been worth it.