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The Jack and Patti Phillips Workplace Learning and Performance Institute (WLPI) at The University of Southern Mississippi serves as a research and outreach center for best practices in workplace learning and performance.

WLPI offers the Master of Science in Workplace Training and Development to emphasize both the research and theory framework of Workplace training and development and performance as well as its practical applications.

Amy Eifling, Graduate Workplace Training

The Woforce Training and Development (WTD) master's program emphasizes both the research and theory framework of Workplace training and development and performance as well as its practical applications.

The emphasis of the program is to define and design training and non instructional interventions that can improve performance at the worker, the work process, and the organizational level. Human performance improvement in organizations requires more than an understanding of training design and delivery. The WTD master's program provides students with the tools they need to better understand factors that affect job performance, such as job expectations, task design, incentive systems, feedback systems, performance strategies and tools, job aids, and resources. Students learn to think strategically and design interventions that will positively impact workplace learning and performance. 

Admissions Information

Required Application Materials

Submit the following to the Office of Graduate Studies:

Southern Miss Graduate Studies
Graduate Admissions
118 College Drive #10066
Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001

• Original completed, signed application form
• $25 application fee (required for all applicants as of June 2004)
• Official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended
• Official report of GRE test scores

Submit the following to the Workplace Learning and Performance Institute:

The University of Southern Mississippi
Jack and Patti Phillips Workplace Learning and Performance Institute
118 College Drive #5135
Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001

• Three letters of recommendation
• Current resume
• Statement of qualifications, goals, and career objectives
  This statement is an important part of the application portfolio. Applicants should use the title "Statement of Qualifications, Goals, and Career Objectives" with name and "MSWTD" in the upper right corner. The statement should address the following: reasons this graduate program was chosen, how the applicant plans to relate the specialty area to his or her education and experience, expected career benefits from this program, and any other matters that should be taken into consideration. Maximum of two pages double-spaced.

Deadlines for Admission

Additional Information

To obtain an application form and recommendation form, you may either visit the Office of Graduate Studies at http://www.usm.edu/graduatestudies, where you may apply online or download a hard copy, or you may contact the Workplace Learning and Performance Center to have a hard copy mailed to you.

Types of Admission

An applicant may be granted regular or conditional admission to a master's program, or may take course work as a non degree graduate student with permission of the department chair.

Regular Admission - A student must satisfy the following minimum standards to attain regular admission.

• An applicant must hold a baccalaureate degree from an institution approved by a recognized accrediting agency.
• An applicant must be eligible to re-enter in good standing the last college or university attended.
• An applicant must present evidence, by official transcript, of a grade point average of at least 2.75 (figured on an A equals 4.0 scale) for the last two years of undergraduate study, and a grade point average of at least 3.0 on undergraduate courses in the field of proposed graduate study.
• An applicant must have at least three (3) letters of recommendation from persons qualified to assess the applicant's readiness for graduate study and should be sent to the department.
• An applicant must submit test scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). The GRE is the preferred test. However, GMAT scores will be allowed under some circumstances. For information about the GRE, visit http://www.gre.org. For test information or to schedule a test at Southern Miss, call the University Testing Center at 601.266.6123.
• An applicant whose native language is not English must achieve a TOEFL score of 575 or more.

Conditional Admission - Conditional admission may be granted to a student who does not meet requirements for regular admission.

• An applicant must possess a grade point average of at least 2.5 (figured on an A equals 4.0 scale) for the last two years of undergraduate study.
• The department chair and college dean must approve the recommendation of conditional admission.

A conditional student must maintain a grade point average of at least 3.0 on the first nine (9) semester hours of course work numbered 500 or above or on all courses taken while completing this nine (9) hour requirement. Upon recommendation of the department chair and approval by the dean, the conditional admission will be removed and the student reclassified as a regularly admitted student.