EIU MASTER OF SCIENCE IN Talent Development

Degree Requirements

The M.S. in Talent Development requires successful completion of 33 semester hours of coursework. MSTD students must complete a final Capstone Project before graduation. The final capstone project will enable the student to demonstrate their overall level of knowledge and skill instead of a thesis. Because this program is geared towards working professionals, a capstone project provides them the opportunity to apply the concepts learned in the program directly to a real-world problem. The intent of the capstone project is for students to apply in detail all of the concepts learned in their program in order to fully develop and implement talent development initiatives. The final Capstone Project must focus on a researchable problem, new creative work, or innovative area of application (i.e. strategic employee development, performance improvement).

Graduate from the talent development program will be equipped to:

• Analyze the talent development needs from organizational to performance to learning perspectives;
• Design and develop effective talent development initiatives that meet performance goals and objectives and are data driven;
• Implement and facilitate talent development initiatives utilizing proper organization and methods;
• Manage talent development initiatives, projects, and systems;
• Analyze, evaluate and measure the overall success of talent development initiatives;
• Consult with various talent development stakeholders.

Talent Development Coursework Requirements