Education truly pays, according to Laura Materi, who credits the professional development courses at Penn State Great Valley for her recent promotion.

Materi was assigned to be a member of a new project team in the summer of 2015, when she was working as Frontline Education’s Implementation Consultant. With no formal project management experience under her belt, she decided to enroll in Penn State Great Valley’s courses on the subject.

The project management certificate from Great Valley is a series of four courses designed to prepare students for a career in planning and business. During the courses, Materi worked on simulated projects with a team, and applied project management practices – including initiation, planning, scheduling, cost controls, and risk management – to real-world scenarios.

After successfully completing the program, Materi joined a new team at Malvern’s Frontline, where she was soon promoted to organizational readiness project manager, a bump-up she largely attributes to the credentials she gained at Penn State Great Valley.

“The PMP credential — combined with my experiences at work and in the certificate program — bolstered my eligibility for promotion,” she said.

Check out previous VISTA Today coverage of Penn State Great Valley here.