Jacqueline C.: Hi, everybody!
Welcome and thank you for joining us today
for live webinar, where will take a look into
the Applied Psychology program, and the student
experience.
Please be sure to occasionally refresh your
browsers, and turn up the volume on your device
so you can hear audio.
If you have any questions, please use the
Q&A box shown below; we will be sure to address
these at the end of the webinar.
Please do not hesitate to ask any questions
here throughout the presentation.
Looking to our agenda, my name is Jacqueline,
and I will be the facilitator of today's webinar.
We have with us our program director, Dr.
Ellen Leggett, and our guest alum is Bryce
Minoski.
Today we'll go over the applied psychology
program and curriculum, share with you some
career directions, meet one of our MAPP alum,
Bryce, discuss practical applications of this
degree, and finally go over next steps and
how to apply.
I'm now going to turn it over to our program
director, Dr. Ellen Leggett.
Dr. Leggett, thank you so much for being with
us today.
Ellen Leggett: Thank you, Jacqueline.
I'm really glad to be here, and welcome to
all of you who are on the line today.
We really appreciate your interest in our
program here at USC.
Let me tell you a little bit about myself.
I think in some ways, I'm probably similar
to many of you in that I was an undergraduate
student in psychology many, many moons ago
on the east coast, at Mt. Holyoke College,
and I didn't really have a strong idea of
where I wanted to use my career, but I did
pursue a master's degree right away from Harvard,
which was a one year master's degree that
set me on a path of working in higher education.
I began my career ultimately as a professor
in psychology on the west coast at one of
the UC campuses, UC Riverside.
And on a fortuitous airplane ride, talked
to the person sitting next to me, and it changed
my career.
Because I decided to join a startup consulting
firm that was working to educate trial lawyers
about how they can communicate and understand
jury psychology better.
That fateful plane ride turned in to a 25
year career of being a jury consultant and
working with trial lawyers all around the
country on high stakes corporate cases.
So I've been in and out of many, many corporations
in this country when they're at their worst
moment, facing the court of public opinion.
And I've really enjoyed that career.
And that set me on the course of really applying
psychology.
And one day through another fortuitous circumstance,
which I won't go into now, I was able to meet
someone at USC who told me about this great
program.
And long story short, I returned to academia
six years ago to direct this program for USC,
where we have really taken seriously the need
for businesses to include employees who are
trained in psychology to understand both the
problems that are faced by employees, and
the audiences that are external.
Whether they be jurors or consumers.
So it's been my pleasure to be director of
this program.
What are we really doing in this program?
We really fundamentally believe that understanding
human behavior is central to the crucial functions
of motivating both employees and reaching
the external consumers as I mentioned, but
especially so in today's global workplace
and marketplace.
Many of you may work in environments where
you are virtually connected to your team members
as employees, or you may be working at a company
that sells products or services not only locally
but internationally as well.
Certainly the iPhone does not have a market
purely in the U.S., and that is one of the
ubiquitous products worldwide now.
So when we talk about consumer psychology
and organizational psychology as the two areas
of emphasis in our specialized, applied program,
thinking about how to use psychology for business,
here are some of the things that we need.
That if you understand consumer psychology,
you're really trying to understand the purchasing
trends of consumers, understand how consumers
are making decisions, especially in today's
world, where they're shopping online, more
than going into brick and mortar stores.
We take seriously that communicating to consumers,
especially today, is very different than the
world of advertising used to be, and lastly
that we're teaching our students to think
creatively about the new ways to deliver strategic
marketing plans to meet consumers where they
are today.
If we talk about organizational psychology,
we're looking internally at an organization
or company, at the employee behavior in the
workplace.
Talking about things like what do companies
need to understand about their employees in
order to make good decisions?
And that opens up the field of people analytics,
which is a growing field right now.
We work with companies and their leaders on
how to bring about organizational change.
If there's one thing you can count on in organizations,
it is change.
Nothing stays the same for very long, and
we want our students to be not only comfortable
with change, but help organizations navigate
change.
We are also very focused on how to attract
and retain top talent.
Because this is a primary goal of organizations,
especially with so many millennials entering
the workplace who are different in their mindset
than older generations, and multiple generations
are coexisting in the workplace right now.
All of which leads to the need for more effective
training programs we have in the workplace,
not only baby boomers, but digital natives
now entering the workforce, and the way in
which they will receive training will be very
different.
So our students, by having both of these areas
of expertise, enter organizations with a different
point of view, and perhaps see things that
others may not see.
And that's our goal.
Why are we focusing on these particular areas?
Because the career outlook is incredible for
these areas.
And the growth that is expected in both of
them is quite profound.
Both in HR and organizational development,
as well as the areas related to consumer insights
and consumer marketing.
Let's talk now about things that make our
program unique.
First of all, I would just like to point out
that we have a faculty that is specifically
chosen to work with this program.
The faculty come from areas that have engaged
them in consulting and work inside organizations
large and small.
And they have not been career academics.
Many, like me, started in academia, and then
listened to the siren song of business, and
went off to do something in industry, and
now are very fortunate to be able to teach
what they've learned in our program.
They're passionate about what psychology means
in the workplace.
This program is very challenging.
I will not mince words on that; it's a challenging
program because we are in many ways blazing
new paths.
But you can achieve, as an online student,
this degree in 16 months, taking two courses
at a time, and going continuously for 16 months,
including the summer.
And lastly, I'd just like to point out that
we believe our curriculum is not only very
relevant and cutting edge, but also that it
is experiential and practicum based.
We want our students to have their hands on
projects.
Be talking to clients, and really doing the
work that will be expected of them in whatever
environment they're in for their career.
So we take seriously the connection between
what is taught in the classes, and what is
applicable to work, and we love it when students
give us the feedback that what they learned
in class today, they used even in their current
job tomorrow, let alone their future job or
career.
Could you [inaudible 00:10:30] to the next
slide, Jacqueline?
Okay.
The next slide just shows us the program structure.
Many of you may have seen this already on
our website.
But we do have a number of required courses
that assure in 16 months, 32 units, everyone
will have, 34 units, sorry ... Everyone will
have the same core curriculum.
So the required courses, as I mentioned, consumer
psychology, organizational psychology, also
a research methods class, which is not going
to be similar to any research methods class,
I dare say you have had in the past.
We assume that students in this program have
had some research experience; this is a master
of science degree.
Therefore we take data seriously.
But we will be emphasizing in this program
how to use data in the real world.
In other words, it's very directed research,
and not the experimental methods course you
may have had way back when as an undergraduate.
There is a practicum component to this program,
as I've said.
And that includes both research, what we call
a treatise, as well as a professional development
opportunity, or internship.
And on the right hand side of the slide you'll
see all of our electives, every student takes
two electives.
And we've got electives that are more oriented
towards organizational; some are more oriented
toward consumer, and some are really popular
with students, regardless of which direction
they go, like the interactive media class,
and the cross cultural psychology class, which
is extremely important, as we do emphasize
for all of these students that both work and
buying power are not bound by geographic boundaries
any more.
And in order to make real that pledge to be
relevant in the global environment, we have
created two opportunities for students to
engage internationally.
The first is an experience for students to
work abroad in Dublin.
This is available to our students during the
summers only, and this summer we have our
largest group of online students going that
we've had.
We will have 10 online students going to Dublin,
and they are placed in organizations and companies
that are specific to their interests.
And they will be living and working together
for eight weeks in Dublin.
This is our third summer of sending students.
By the way, on campus students go as well,
and we will have five on campus students,
and they will all be living and working together
in Dublin.
It's been a phenomenal program.
And I'm excited to say that, so the next slide,
that this year we are unveiling another international
opportunity, which is a spring break trip.
We are taking our first group of students
this week.
Actually, I'm leaving on Saturday, for Dubai.
And we have 18 students total going on this
trip.
16 of them are from the online program.
And many of these students will be meeting
each other for the first time when they get
to the hotel in Dubai, because we have students
from LA, Chicago, New York, Florida, all convening
in Dubai.
So we're visiting five companies in Dubai
that have been very eager to meet with our
students, including Korn Ferry, which is an
international consulting firm for talent acquisition
and executive search, and Kantar Worldwide,
which is the number one company in the world
for consumer insights and market research.
So we're thrilled to be making this available,
and we hope, stay tuned, but we hope this
will be such an exciting and successful trip
that we will be scheduling a spring break
international trip every year.
And that, I can think we can safely say that
I'm ready to introduce our guest today.
Bryce Minoski, a former student of mine, I
will say, and someone that I think very highly
of.
Bryce was an online student in this program,
has made her way through a journey that she
will tell you about, from Washington, DC,
now to Tunisia.
And Bryce, I am delighted that you are signing
on tonight from Tunisia, and are joining us.
Please, can you introduce yourself a little
bit to our audience?
And thank you for being here.
Bryce Minoski: Well, thank you very much for
having me, Dr. Leggett, and I'm excited to
tell all our listeners about my career, and
all the wonderful things that I enjoyed about
the MAPP program.
I'm originally from Washington, DC, and that's
where I've lived most of my life, up until
I moved to Africa in 2017.
I graduated from Washington and Lee University
in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience,
and when I graduated, in my mind the natural
next step for me was continuing to do the
scientific research that I really enjoyed
doing.
So that's about the time that I enrolled in
a neuroscience PhD program in the University
of Oklahoma.
And while I was there, I was working in an
ophthalmology lab at the Dean McGee Eye Institute,
where we were studying the effects of the
MRSA virus on patients with diabetes.
And while I was really enjoying some aspects
of my research, and I had the opportunity
to be published in a peer review journal,
there were some other aspects that were not
so enjoyable, such as injecting mice with
diabetes inducing drugs, and waiting for them
to go blind.
So that was kind of a horrible thing I had
to do, and I knew I kind of needed the career
change, because I really enjoyed working with
people.
So I decided to pull out of that program,
and I moved back to DC, where I joined up
with a government contracting company providing
the security for the embassies in Kabul, Afghanistan
and also in Kandahar.
Our major client there as the U.S. State Department.
And at this organization is where I saw firsthand
the role that psychology can play in business
and the workplace.
And I say that because the culture at this
particular organization was not very good,
and I saw how senior managers were ignoring
some of the basic principles of organizational
psychology that could have had a positive
impact on their employees.
So from there I moved into another nonprofit
organization, where I was an HR business partner,
and I really, really loved that job.
I specialized in employee development, training,
staffing, and concept management.
And it was around this time that I enrolled
in the MAPP program, and I also met my now
husband, who at the time was working for the
State Department.
And so by that long, roundabout way, it is
how I eventually learned in, I think it was
early 2017, that we were going to be moving
to north Africa to the country of Tunisia.
And so for those of you who don't know who
that is, because when I found out I was moving
there, I actually did have to look that up
on a MAPP, if you can picture the Mediterranean
sea, with the boot of Italy extending down
into its center, Tunisia is located to the
southwest of the boot on the opposite coast
of the Mediterranean.
So the capital city is Tunis, where I live,
and it's actually further to the west than
the city of Rome.
So it's not too far away from all the major
European attractions everyone likes to go
see.
So that has been my career thus far, and right
now I am working at the U.S. Embassy here
in Tunis, where I'm the Community Liaison
Officer, and what that entails is essentially
taking care of our American families, their
kids, making sure that they are welcomed to
post, they feel at home quickly so they're
able to focus on their work.
I work a lot with local Tunisians, planning
events with them, and really ingratiating
the Americans with the Tunisians so they want
us to continue staying here, and they become
our partners in policy.
[crosstalk 00:20:10]
Ellen Leggett: Yeah.
Bryce Minoski: Okay, good.
Ellen Leggett: So, Bryce, do you want to tell
us how you came to choose the MAPP program
at USC?
Bryce Minoski: Sure, so when I ultimately
decided that I wanted to get a master's degree,
I knew that I wanted something that would
be flexible for me.
Because at the time when I was working for
the nonprofit organization in DC, I was traveling,
sometimes up to twice a month, to regional
offices around the country.
And I knew I needed a program that would allow
the flexibility for me to log on at any time,
so that work in advance or many after the
fact.
And I found that the MAPP program really fit
that bill.
Another criteria that I used to select USC
was its reputation.
I think that its reputation precedes it.
Its got amazing professors that are well known
within their fields, and as Dr. Leggett has
mentioned, they're not just professors that
spent their entire career in academia and
have no practical knowledge.
I've had wonderful professors who really know
their stuff, and have the credentials to back
it up.
And then the third reason I chose MAPP program
was because of the reputation I heard that
it was really heavy on the practical knowledge
that you could use in your job.
I found that a lot of my friends and colleagues
that I worked with were enrolling in these
online programs that to me really seemed that
they were just checking a box.
They kind of phoned it in a couple times,
did some blog posts, and then they got their
degree after writing a big, fat check.
And you know, they were really just ticking
a box on their resume so that it would make
them more competitive in the business world.
And while that's really important, you know,
to get your foot in the door for an interview,
I also really wanted the skills that were
gonna set me apart and make me successful
in my future job, so those were the three
main reasons why I decided to go with the
MAPP program.
Ellen Leggett: So your concerns about the
online program were ultimately allayed?
Bryce Minoski: Yes.
I think that one concern that I had about
doing an online program was, am I really going
to get to know my professors very well, or
am I just going to be a faceless person in
the class, and while I [inaudible 00:22:54]
really build relationships with the other
students that are in this program.
And what I found was that those fears were
very unfounded.
That there are many, many opportunities for
the students to work together, and really
get to know each other.
And so we had many group projects where we
were calling each other in our free time,
sending each other data back in forth or papers
we were working on.
And I saw the same students in multiple classes
that I had, so over the course of, for me,
it took two years to graduate, but you can
graduate in 16 months.
I really got to know some of these students
rather well.
And then the same thing with some of my professors.
I have two professors from the program that
I still maintain contact with, and they recognize
me, and they're interested in the work that
I'm doing here in Tunisia.
And so really I was worried about that initial
component of not having a face to face interaction
with some of these other students and my professors,
but my fears were allayed, and I feel like
I have a deep bond with some of these people,
even though we've never met face to face.
Ellen Leggett: That's great to here, Bryce,
because I think we've all been pleasantly
surprised about that, even professors, that
we feel there's really a community with the
students and the faculty.
So thank you for pointing that out.
So let's talk about your international career.
Can you reflect on the courses that you took,
maybe any examples of courses that have been
useful to you as you have made a transition
to working internationally?
Bryce Minoski: Absolutely.
There was, interestingly, I was think it was
the second, or the last, or the second to
last semester that I was in the MAPP program,
they announced the brand new class cross cultural
psychology in applied settings.
And when they announced it, I wasn't too interested;
it kind of piqued my fancy, but I hadn't committed
to it.
And then I learned that I was moving to Tunisia.
So I thought, well, this is convenient.
I'm going to enroll in this class, and see
if I get anything out of it.
And I'm so glad I did, even if I hadn't moved
abroad, I think this class would be valuable
for anyone to take if they're in business.
And the reason I say that is because we're
in an increasingly globalized workforce, and
I would challenge anyone in the audience tonight
to go into their LinkedIn profiles, and go
one or two connections out, and you'll have
somebody in there that works in a foreign
country or is a foreign national or is from
a different culture.
So I think that it's a great class that I
think prepares you for dealing with people
from different cultures, and understanding
them, and realizing that we are all approaching
problems from different viewpoints and paradigms.
And so it was just a great class that I think
really set me up for success when I eventually
moved abroad and started working in a foreign
place.
Ellen Leggett: Great.
I wonder if you could just take a moment,
Bryce, to mention how you managed to your
internship and your thesis.
I personally remember that your thesis got
a little bit interrupted with your transition
to Tunisia, but I'm sure people wonder if
they're full-time employed, how do they find
a way to meet the requirement in this program
for an internship, or what we like to think
of as a professional development opportunity?
Can you just describe how you managed all
that?
Bryce Minoski: Sure.
I think, well, right off the bat I'll say
that if I can finish this program and work
full-time, I think anyone can.
I mean I, in the two years that it took me
to complete the program, I got married, I
changed jobs, and I moved across the world
to Africa.
And there were other people in the program
that were also getting married, having babies,
you know, they have busy lives; they have
a lot of things going on.
So I think what is great, what I've mentioned
about this program, is that you can, it fits
around your schedule and your life.
And so you know, you can log in and complete
work ahead of time, or I happened to email
some of my professors when I knew I had a
big work thing coming up, I wouldn't be able
to hand in assignments on time.
And they were always very accommodating, very
understanding.
So that was very helpful.
In terms of the MAPP internship, which is
a requirement of this program, the way, what
you'll find for a lot of students, is that
they will find another area of their, where
they work, that they're interested in, maybe;
maybe it's a department that they want to
learn more about, or a project that they would
like to work on that they wouldn't normally
work on, and so they'll make an agreement
with their boss or their manager, and work
in that section.
And that's exactly what happened for me.
At the time that I was in this program, I
was working for the nonprofit in Washington,
DC, and we were going through a massive merger
with several other smaller nonprofits.
And we had a lot of work to do in HR that
I was dealing with at that time.
Senior management was always putting together
a steering committee, essentially, comprised
of people from different departments.
And I saw that opportunity to really be involved
in the direction of this organization, and
also to kind of get a first hand experience
of organizational psychology in action.
Like, this is ground level, the whole organization
was changing and being reshuffled.
So I actually requested to be on that steering
committee, not expecting they'd say yes; but
when I pointed out that I had recently completed
the organizational psychology MAPP class,
they surprisingly let me join the team.
So I got to attend biweekly meetings where
we discussed where employees would be best
situated on teams, and I would make situations,
you know, this team, based on research that
I've read, would be better in a hierarchical
structure, this one would be better with a
flat structure.
And I think I even at one point, read a really
interesting article from my MAPP class, that
I then printed out about a dozen copies and
brought it in to the steering committee.
And I said, "I think you all need to read
this so we don't make this mistake!"
And yeah, we actually as a group sat down
and read it together, and they're like, we're
so glad you're in this program, Bryce, because
we're benefiting from it.
So it ended up being a very mutually beneficial
experience.
So now there were, I had colleagues that were
classmates that were doing internships outside
of their workplace; some people had some really
interesting things working in small businesses,
starting up their own business, I think I
remember a few students doing that.
So it was a really diverse crowd, very interesting
to hear what everyone was working on at the
end of the semester when we finally shared
what we had been working on.
Ellen Leggett: Yeah, thank you for that; that
was a really, that was an example of a MAPP
student stepping up, and by letting them know
what you're studying, you got a great opportunity;
I think that's a great story, Bryce.
Bryce, looking ahead, from Tunisia, where
do you see your professional goals evolving
at this point?
And how does MAPP factor into how do you see
your future?
Bryce Minoski: Well, it's really interesting;
what I've been so pleased about with the MAPP
program are the professors who I've mentioned,
they're not just career academics, they all
worked in their fields in business.
And a lot of them do consulting work on the
side.
And in fact, many of the professors, or the
class assignments that we had to do, they
would bring in the case studies that they
themselves have worked on.
The business projects that they had themselves
consulted on.
And I found that fascinating.
And so I thought, I really like the field
of HR, so if I continue to stay in this field,
I thought down the road, wouldn't it be fascinating
to eventually do my own HR consulting business?
Start that up on the side.
Because for the foreseeable future, my husband
and I will stay abroad.
In fact, this summer, our next post we discovered
is going to be in Rome, Italy, just across
the Mediterranean.
So we're very excited for our three year tour
there.
[crosstalk 00:32:37] Yes, so hopefully there
will be some vacancies in the same office
that I'm working in now, the community liaison
office.
But if not, there's a lot of family members
that will do telecommuting back to the United
States, and they'll do online consulting,
so I feel real positive about the fact that
MAPP has kind of laid the groundwork for me
to eventually go down the consulting route,
if that's something I want to pursue one day.
Ellen Leggett: Well, I have to say from personal
experience, knowing you Bryce, anything you
set your mind to, you will succeed.
Bryce Minoski: Thank you; I appreciate that.
Ellen Leggett: Let's just wrap this up, the
next slide about the faculty; that's a picture
of some of our faculty at graduation last
year, in fact.
Can you just comment a little bit more about
... I think you've already talked quite a
bit about the faculty, but any final thoughts
about the commitment that you found in the
faculty and their relationships with students?
Bryce Minoski: Yes.
I think I mentioned, I've had friends who
have been enrolled in other online degree
programs, and some of the big complaints that
I hear back from them is I'm just a number,
I'm one of hundreds of online students.
I don't think my professor's even looking
at my blog posts, they're not really look
at the paper that I'm turning in every week.
You know, could be a TA that's grading it.
And I can say with certainty in this program
that the professor that I had for the course
was going over every blog post, responding
to them individually, was grading my papers,
giving me feedback.
It wasn't an easy A, for sure.
But in the end, it was worth it, and it wasn't
just a rubber stamp diploma.
It was something that I worked hard for over
two years, and I'm very proud to have.
And I got a lot out of it in large part because
of the quality of the faculty that this program
has, so I'm very grateful to you for hiring
such qualified, amazing people.
So thank you, Dr. Leggett.
Ellen Leggett: Thank you, and it's great to
be able to hire folks, as our online program
has grown, we have been successful in recruiting
really amazing faculty.
And, by the way, we have really amazing alums
as well, and Bryce, you certainly exemplify
best of what we hope for our graduates.
Thank you very much for joining us and sharing
your insights and your journey.
Wish you only the best of luck as you transition
to Italy next.
I think that's it, [inaudible 00:35:39].
Yeah.
At this point we can toss it back to you,
Jacqueline.
Jacqueline C.: Thank you, Dr. Leggett.
And thank you so much, Bryce.
So if you are ready to apply, we accept applications
throughout the year, as we have start dates
in spring, summer, and fall.
So currently we are accepting applications
for the summer 2019 term, where classes begin
Monday, May 13th.
So the admissions requirements for our program
are a completed application, a bachelor's
degree from an accredited institution with
at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA, all official
transcripts, GRE scores, statement of purpose,
professional resume, and finally three letters
of recommendation.
The application deadline for the summer term
is April 13th.
If you are interested in fall 2019, that application
deadline is August 5th.
Please feel free to contact us to further
discuss the program and enrollment process.
My contact information is below; again, my
name is Jacqueline Campagna, and I'm the enrollment
advisor for this program.
We have also, I believe, Serena Diep, our
academic advisor, on the line.
Serena?
Serena Diep: Hi, everyone!
Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon.
As Jacqueline mentioned, I am the academic
advisor for the MAPP online program.
Jacqueline is your first point of contact
if you have questions regarding the program,
but I'm also happy to assist students or perspectives
if they want to know a little bit more about
the program or are interested in potentially
coming on to campus and doing a tour.
Jacqueline C.: Thank you, Serena.
So now I want to open it up for Q&A.
So we had a few really, really great questions
come in.
Ellen, I think this is a great one; this first
one, for you.
For students working ... Actually, you know
what?
I'm sorry, Bryce, I think this one would be
great for you!
For students working full time, what would
be the expectation for their course layout,
especially with the internship requirement?
I know you spoke to this a little bit, but
can you elaborate on how you were able to
balance working full time while simultaneously
going to school full time?
Bryce Minoski: Sure.
So you have the ability to take up to two
classes at once, or one per semester.
So I took two classes every semester, except
for one semester where I took just one class,
and the reason for that is because I knew
I was going to be very busy during that time
period; it was the time period of the huge
merger that I was working on, and also I was
planning a wedding, and getting married, and
going on a honeymoon.
So I decided I'm going to lighten my workload
a little bit.
And so as I said, I think you'll find a rhythm.
The first couple weeks are going to be tough,
and you have to stay on top of the material,
but eventually you get into a pattern when
you know certain assignments will be due,
and the great thing about the online program,
again, that it has in some ways an advantage
over a classroom program is that you can see
when your assignments are do ahead of time,
and you can even do the assignments.
So, for example, if I knew I was going to
be traveling for work during a certain week,
I'd look ahead to that week and try to get
some of those assignments done ahead of time.
And again, the professors are also super flexible,
so the one class that I was enrolled in, the
one semester I was getting married, I emailed
the professor at the beginning of that semester,
and said, "Hey, during these two weeks I'm
probably going to be offline.
I'm going to be getting married, and I'm going
to be in my honeymoon in the Caribbean, and
so, no internat access."
And she was totally understanding.
Everyone's got busy lives, and so I think,
again, it just comes down to organization
and finding out what your rhythm is like,
and then it just becomes second nature.
And then when you graduate, you don't know
what to do with all that extra time that you
have, which is a good problem to have, so.
That's how you figure it out.
Ellen Leggett: If I could just add on there,
I know that many students in the program do
travel for work, and although we make exceptions
for honeymoons, we don't make exceptions for
business trips, and people have logged in
for their webinars and kept up with their
requirements for participating in discussions
online, even while traveling.
And indeed, that's one of the blessings of
being an online student is that you can do
that, even while traveling.
And I will let you in on a secret, even professors
have logged in to teach a class from ... From
personal experience, I can say have done that
from Maui, and Dublin as well.
So the courses move on, and being a virtual
student makes that possible, no matter where
in the world you are actually sitting.
Jacqueline C.: Thank you so much, both of
you, that was definitely really helpful.
Now with that being said, how much time do
you think needs to be allocated per class
per week for this program to be successful?
Ellen Leggett: Bryce, what do you think?
Bryce Minoski: Oh, you caught me off guard
with that one.
I would say, some weeks you can get by with
maybe three or four hours, and other times
you know, it feels like another day of work,
you know, I would work a whole Saturday working
on a paper or a group project.
And so it definitely varies week to week,
but I'd say on average, you know, between
6 and 8, 6 and 10.
Does that sound right, Dr. Leggett?
Ellen Leggett: I think we probably tell you
to have expectations that are higher than
that.
Because again, it depends on whether you're
taking one or two courses, but yeah, I think
max per course would be 10 hours a week, if
you're doing all the reading, and it's a week
where you have assignments due.
But I clearly know that student spend their
weekends saying no to some social invitations,
and doing their work instead.
And everybody, as Bryce said, finds a way
to fit it in.
I know other students get up early in the
morning, get to work early, and spend an hour
at their desk at work doing homework before
the day begins, where it's quiet.
Or do that at home.
So you fit it in, but I think that it's a,
as Bryce said, on a weekly basis, there are
some weeks that are worse than others.
Jacqueline C.: Great.
Thank you both so much.
Now one really great question came in.
Students are looking over the curriculum,
and they really like all the electives.
Now, typically students will only choose two
electives; are they able to take additional
elective courses?
Ellen Leggett: As long as you are still enrolled
and haven't finished all of your requirements,
you can take it, but it would be an extra
course above and beyond; it doesn't get you
your degree faster, because you still have
to take all the other required courses.
But we have had students, for examples, they
are stretching out their treatise, their thesis.
For example, and since they've got another
semester that they want to do the thesis,
they may add an additional course.
But it is, but you need to still be enrolled,
and you still need to have some requirement
that you're working on, or you wouldn't be
able to enroll.
But that's good to hear, that you like the
looks of the electives.
The UX elective, by the way, is our newest
one, and it will be launching in fall.
We have premiered the course on campus this
spring, and the professor is now building
out the course for online delivery, so it'll
be ready for fall.
So we're excited about that as our newest
elective.
Jacqueline C.: Yes, very excited about that;
in my experience, I've heard a lot of students
asking about that, so I think that's gonna
be great.
One question that came through, what are some
examples of treatise topics students have
used in the past?
Ellen, do you think you can shed some light
on treatise topics?
Ellen Leggett: Oh, sure.
Students are incredibly creative in their
treatises.
And that word treatise is kind of an old fashioned
word for what is a very modern requirement.
Because our goals with this project are to
have you apply everything that you've learned
in the program to a real world problem.
So it's less of a, just writing a paper, and
more of a project, that you identify a problem
in a business or organization, related to
their consumers or their employees, and then
you identify what kind of data could be collected
in order to assist the company organization
in answering a real business problem.
And then you collect the data.
Do analysis of it, and write the entire thing
up as your treatise.
The kinds of topics that people do are ranged
everything from, I mean, Bryce maybe I'll
ask you to add in what you ended up doing.
But in my own experience, a few that stand
out are a student who was fascinated with
millennials' interest with high end coffee
drinks.
And she, she's a consumer psychology student.
She did focus groups in her home town, which
was Austin, Texas.
She just put up signs outside various coffee
shops, and we thought, oh, no one will join
into a focus group without an incentive of
a coffee drink or something.
And she didn't even have to do that.
She had so many people sign up that they were
willing to be in her focus group.
She did the entire study of how to market,
you know, what is it about the psychology
of young people today that makes custom coffee
drinks so appealing, and why are they willing
to pay so much money for theM?
And then wrote a complete marketing plan for
a friend of hers who was interested in launching
a new coffee business.
So that was one really exciting one.
We had a student, on the consumer side, a
student interested in Seattle, as to Seattle
has a very prominent LGBT community, and stores
hang rainbow flags outside of the storefronts.
And living in Seattle, actually she had just
moved to Seattle for work, she was very curious
as to whether that mattered to consumers,
when they were choosing the stores that they
would frequent.
And she designed a study that was an online
study where people looked at store fronts
and answered questions as to whether they
would enter the store, whether they would
buy things, and whether they would support
the store.
And she varied whether they had a flag outside,
a sign in the window, like a sticker of a
rainbow or something.
Or whether there was nothing in the window
or the storefront to indicate any LGBT friendly
attitude.
And she had 300 people take her survey, and
it was fascinating.
And then she used that; she made a report
for the local chamber of commerce, as to what
had learned about consumers' attention to
that segment of the population.
On the organizational side, we've had students
like Bryce, who were interested in employee
stress, and one student was doing her internship
at IMAX, the movie, 3D movie company here
in.
She was in HR, and during that time, the company
was relocating their headquarters from point
A to point B. And as she looked around, she
saw employee stress everywhere.
And she convinced HR to do a study of the
stress of employees both before and after
the move.
And she designed the whole study, she ultimately
had to have it approved by the president of
the organization, and I think it got ultimately
passed to the CEO.
And this was distributed to all employees
at IMAX in the location.
Ultimately she made a recommendation to IMAX
about how they could handle transitions better,
and what employees still needed once they
were at the new location.
And Bryce, just lastly, a comment from you
about what you did.
Bryce Minoski: Sure, I had actually a somewhat
similar treatise topic.
The internship that I did actually naturally
led into my treatise, which was addressing
the overall level of employee engagement at
the organization that had gone through the
merger.
In the aftermath of that event taking place,
we found that we were losing hand over fist
all the top talent from the organization.
And the alarm bells started sounding, and
I said, "You know, I think employee engagement
is very low."
You know, morale is down because people had
been let go as part of the merger or had new
roles that they didn't really want or anticipate
doing.
So what I did was I came up with an idea to
administer an employee engagement survey to
the entire organization.
So I designed an assessment, and I sent the
link out to the entire organization, which
was I think over 500 employees.
And when I got the results in, you know, I
used SPSS, and kind of saw if there were any
predictors that would determine whether employee
engagement was low or high in different departments
or if there was any differences between men
and women.
Or those that had been at the company longer
compared to those that were brand new to the
organization.
And so ultimately I was able to determine
that there were some predictors, such as work/life
balance, and employee growth and development,
that were predictors of employee engagement.
So I was able to deliver those results to
the CEO of the organization, and they were
able to hopefully make some changes based
on their results of that report.
At that point I had left the organization,
but I hope that they were able to get some
value out of that treatise.
Ellen Leggett: Great.
I remember well that you had to kind of take
a little detour, since you were moving to
Tunisia in the middle of getting that treatise
finished.
But it was a great project.
So all of these have in common that students
are seeing something around them that is a
real challenge, either for employees or for
consumers, and trying to find a way to design
a study that will lend clarity and recommendations.
Jacqueline C.: Great.
Thank you so much Dr. Leggett and Bryce.
We have one directed to you, Dr. Leggett,
that I don't feel that I could actually answer
independently, so I am going to ask you now.
Would you say this MAPP program would also
be helpful for someone interested in trial
consulting?
Or would this require a different program
of study?
Ellen Leggett: No, it would absolutely be
relevant, and this program has, I'm proud
to say, we have at least graduates of this
program who are full-time trial consultants
now, and actually did internships in trial
consulting as well.
There may be more; I think we have a current
student who is working in a trial consulting
firm as well.
There's no particular class about trial consulting,
but trial consulting is an amalgam of both
of these arenas.
Group dynamics and leadership, a jury is 12
people.
And the dynamics of that group and how it
makes decisions draws both on the organizational
dynamics, as well as the consumer side, is
how does a company market its product, which
is its position in a lawsuit, to an audience,
how is a jury?
So it's a beautiful combination of both arenas.
There is in one or two classes, there is a
lesson using examples from trial consulting.
And I'm always excited to work directly with
anyone who has an interest in that area.
Jacqueline C.: Great, thank you so much.
I think we have time for two more questions.
For one, Bryce, this one was for you.
Was there ever a point during the program
where you felt having an in person interaction
or communication with your professor was needed?
And if so, how did you address or overcome
that challenge?
Bryce Minoski: Honestly, I can't think of
a time where there wasn't, where whatever
issue or whatever question I had could not
be solved by you know, a Skype call with my
professor or just a phone conversation.
A lot of the professors make office hours
or they'll just give you, a lot of them just
gave us their personal phone numbers, and
in fact, when I was working on a group project
over a long weekend, I want to say it was
Memorial Day weekend, or another long holiday
weekend, [inaudible 00:55:42] texting with
the professor over the holiday, getting feedback
and getting some questions answered.
And I guess for some people, if that's more
important to you, then maybe that's something
you should consider.
But honestly, for me, and I think increasingly
in business, it's not always possible to be
in the same building as somebody, or even
in the same continent, as we see.
So I think it's a way of adjusting your expectations,
and you still can see your classmates, you
still see your professors.
I for get the name of the software we used
in the MAPP program, but it looked kind of
like the Brady Bunch, there's all these little
Post-it size squares, and everyone's head
pops up.
And so you really can't hide in the class.
You know, in addition to there being pretty
small class sizes, your professor will notice
if you're not there.
Or if you've got your headphones or you're
watching TV because they see what they're
doing.
But I think that kind of holds you accountable,
and so you do see your classmates, you do
see, physically, your professors.
Just not in the same room.
And so, that's just something to keep in mind
going forward is that yes, while it is online,
you still have that, in a way, face to face
interaction just through a screen.
Ellen Leggett: Thanks for saying that, Bryce.
And I think the faculty feels that we get
to know the students well.
Because it's a virtual classroom, we are available
by text.
We're not confined to the Tuesday, four to
eight prime minister is that when the on campus
classes meet in the evening.
So we are more able to use our time spread
across the 24 hours of the day as well.
I will make a final comment, which his that
when students come on campus finally for graduation,
this feels more like a reunion than anything
else.
I have witnessed students running into each
other's arms with huge hugs, like such an
amazing moment to meet people in person that
you feel you already know.
And we all feel the same way.
And I will even say that at this moment, I
have not met Bryce personally.
And the reason is that Bryce moved to Tunisia
right when she should have been coming to
Los Angeles to graduate and walk across the
stage.
And as you know, online dating, people fall
in love, and make decisions without even meeting
in person, unfortunately, sometimes.
So there's a great power to being able to
connect.
And we take that seriously.
We are psychologists, after all.
So we think we know something about interpersonal
relationships, and how to form them.
And therefore, we connect as much as possible.
And most of the professors now do their meetings,
one on one meetings with students through
video.
We use Zoom for all of our classes now; we've
changed from Adobe Connect, which is what
you remember, Bryce.
And yeah, we're face to face with each other
for even our one to one meetings during office
hours.
Jacqueline C.: Great, thank you so much.
So I think that's all the time that we have.
If we did not get to your questions, rest
assured I will follow up with you directly
so we can get those addressed.
And any questions, like I said, please don't
hesitate to reach out to us.
But I want to thank you all for joining.
Dr. Leggett and Bryce, thank you so much for
taking the time to join us today and sharing
all this great information, and of course,
all of you, thank you for being here.
Ellen Leggett: Thank you, Jacqueline.
And thank you to all of you who are interested
in our program.
And Bryce, again.
Thank you so much.
I hope that you can have a wonderful evening
now.
And we will all sign off, and hope to hear
from you all again soon.
Bryce Minoski: Thank you Dr. Leggett; thank
you for having me.
Ellen Leggett: Buh bye now.
