Of the 34 classes offered in 1998, more than half were canceled due to lack of interest. In 2000, the number of training classes offered for Tech employees has quadrupled, as has enrollment, while the number of classes canceled has dwindled to 7 percent.

Hal Irvin, director of the Office of Organizational Development, credits the turnaround to a revamped approach to institutional training.

"We formed a campus-wide committee to examine the process and did focus groups with the different job groups on campus — from the people who mowed the grass to those who do sophisticated upkeep on computers — and we found they all had their own unique needs," Irvin said. "We realized the classes we were trying to put out were too generic and didn't address the job skills needed by the campus."

Irvin realized to meet the needs of such a diverse campus of employees — and to compete with the outside training many departments were seeking off-campus — was going to take more resources than the office had at its disposal.

That's when the idea of running the training office like a business came into play.

Departments whose employees need language training pay a fee and allow employees to take two work hours per week to attend class. The employees also give two hours of their own time.

Classes are also provided for English-speaking and non-English-speaking employees who want to earn their GEDs.

Computer training has been expanded to meet requirements of departments, as well as offering 650 computer-based classes that are free to faculty, staff and students. The enlarged management development curriculum has developed a Web site — www.training.gatech.edu — that provides a comprehensive list of available classes and instant online registration.

©2000 Georgia Tech Alumni Association