February 19, 2009
OD Program Graduate Wins International Student Paper Award
John Milburn, a recent graduate from the Organization Development (OD) program, Masters in Psychology, won the 2008 Organization Development Network (ODN) Student Paper and Presentation Competition. His paper and presentation was entitled, "Finding Truth in Outliars: Exploring Assumptions and Methods for Handling Rogue Data."
More than 30 programs in 20 countries on five continents compete in this international program. The yearly competition, "Pushing the Envelope” is sponsored by the NTL Institute and is focused on "…emerging trends pursued by some of the fields most innovative thought leaders…" (2008 ODN Conference Program)
As part of winning the award, John presented his research at the OD Network Conference on October 21, 2008 in Austin, Texas. Milburn's presentation was well-received and sparked a lively conversation about the way in which OD practitioner's process anomaly data.
In addition to presenting his work, Milburn's paper was recently published in the January 2009 issue of OD Practitioner, the OD Networks flagship and peer-reviewed quarterly publication.
Several other SSU OD graduates have received the same honor in recent past. In 2004, SSU graduate Jeffrey Young won the prestigious award with his paper entitled, "The Journey toward Human Collaboration: A Travelers Guide," and in 2006 SSU graduate Elissa Berrol wrote a winning paper entitled, "Beyond the Shadow of A Doubt, Self-Doubt and the Development of Self As Instrument: Implications For OD Practice.."
The OD program at SSU continues to produce award-winning research papers which make valuable contributions to the field of OD, as well as graduates who are well-trained organization development professionals.
The Organization Development Network (ODN) is an international professional association of organization development practitioners. Their members come from all 50 states of the USA, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and around the world. Some are external consultants; others work within their organizations to promote healthy change.
They may specialize in such areas as human resources, training, leadership or talent development, change management, strategic planning, and a broad range of initiatives designed to make organizations more effective. The main goal of the ODN is "advancing the theory and practice of organization development." ODN can be found at www.odnetwork.org.
Above is Milburn (center) with OD colleagues.
Posted by wasp at February 19, 2009 12:45 PM