NOTE (updated 1/14/2015): Please note the new dates of February 26-27 posted for this course.

Instructional level –Advanced

The volatility of the current business climate has resulted in a renewed focus on project and portfolio governance. It is a way to assure the effectiveness and efficiency of organizational direction. In this course you will learn how to build governance models using a framework that will enhance communications and team alignment and minimize risk. You will establish a model that can assist in the identification of responsibilities at the executive, operational, and execution levels of a governance model. From this, you will learn to design a model uniquely suited to your own organizational core competencies, technologies, politics, and hierarchy.

This seminar will explain baseline industry applications for both the PMO and governance configurations along with the details how and when to apply the appropriate model. The student will become familiar with a governance life cycle framework and how it can be applied to their organizational project, program, and PMO culture.

Learning objectives:

Participation in this course will:

• Enable students to recognize specific criteria and attributes that enable them to quickly identify the best opportunities to implement a PMO or governance model, or a combination of both
• Establish key aspects of the organizational culture that will enhance their modeling to support their organizational requirements
• Expose students to a governance lifecycle to assist with building their project environments
• Define the critical components for approaching and structuring your project or program performing environment
• Leverage the existing organization to define the key stakeholders and the role they play in the PMO or governance model whether combined or individually applied
• Establish a framework for defining the interdependencies between organizational leadership
• Explain the criticality of executive participation in both the PMO and governance process
• Empower the student to be the change agent and drive the PMO and governance model implementations within the organization

Course format:

This is an onsite course.

This course is highly interactive. The student will be exposed to focused lectures, detailed discussions, applicable case studies, and team exercises. Participants will establish a model that can assist in the identification of responsibilities at the executive, operational, and execution levels of a governance model. From this, they will learn to design a model uniquely suited to their own organizational core competencies, technologies, politics, and hierarchy.

Other offerings:

This course is offered once per year.

Notes: Breakfast, networking lunch and all materials included in tuition.

Participants in the Advanced Project Management Program may take this course as an advanced elective. All others must meet the experience requirements as stated. 

This daylong seminar will consider crucial operatic masterpieces that transformed western music. Compositions by Mozart, Puccini, Rossini, Verdi, Wagner, and Bizet are explored, together with cultural context and influence as time permits. Works are presented via piano, CD, and DVD. For a complete list of arias to be discussed, please see syllabus on the Graham School website.

JOIN fellow alumni, parents, and friends for a cocktail reception with President Robert J. Zimmer in downtown Chicago. MEET faculty who drive discovery in education and research around the globe. EXPLORE interactive exhibitions that showcase insights and innovations that make UChicago one of the world's great centers for inquiry and impact. DROP IN and Discover UChicago.

Thursday, March 5, 2015
6:00-8:00 P.M. Open House
6:30 P.M. Special Screening

Ritz-Carlton
Ballroom
160 East Pearson Street
Chicago, Illinois

Please respond by Monday, February 23.
Business attire is requested.

Questions?

Visit CAMPAIGN.UCHICAGO.EDU
Email CAMPAIGNEVENTS@UCHICAGO.EDU
Call 773.834.8840

Hosted by the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults, these free lectures take place at 12:15 PM the first Friday of every month except July at the Chicago Cultural Center.

“We Must Not Be Afraid to be Free”: The Trials of George Anastaplo

Adam Rose, Basic Program instructor                

Register for all three Winter lectures.

Handling and labeling art and artifacts safely are critical to preserving your collections. While some handling concepts are common sense, there are many issues that are particular to proper handling of art and artifacts. During this course, you will become familiar with these issues and be prepared to handle collections safely. Through the hands-on component of the course, you will also develop an understanding of the function of catalog numbering and gain experience in choosing and applying the appropriate labeling technique for different object types. Samples of labeling materials and some specialized tools will be provided.

This course will meet at the Field Museum, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605. This course can be taken individually, or as part of the Artifact Collection Care Certificate Program.

In an era of tweets and sound bites, the University of Chicago remains committed to the notion that there is no substitute for reading and discussing important texts. The Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults brings the rigor and discipline of the liberal arts at the University of Chicago to adults—without the tests, papers, or grades. 

Learn more about the Basic Program through a sample classroom discussion at our information session. The 90-minute session begins with a description of the program and Q & A, followed by a discussion of a text from the curriculum selected by one of our instructors. 

Register

Instructional level – introductory (open enrollment)

This in-depth course presents concepts and techniques that will extend the capabilities of analysts, business architects, and subject-matter experts to enable their organizations to position themselves to rapidly and appropriately respond in an ever-changing business environment. Participants will learn to apply a holistic, enterprise-wide view of an organization, identify external and internal impacting factors and interdependencies between operational and organizational components, and learn how to filter alternatives to determine the optimal solutions in order to achieve desired strategic results.

Participants will learn techniques that facilitate effective communication among stakeholders, from C-suite executives to functional managers to program/project teams, because a business focus is maintained throughout the course. In addition, attendees will learn about the field of business architecture, the role of the business architect, and the business architecture approach.

Learning objectives:

Participants will:

• Develop an understanding of the factors that influence an organization to initiate change and determine the nature, cause(s), and implications of change
• Compare common industry definitions of and value propositions for business architecture
• Understand the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and participants in a business architecture environment and their working relationships with each other and the business architect
• Recognize the importance of organizational communications and governance rules as they apply to business architecture
• Develop an understanding of the purpose, benefits and consequences of using a formal business architecture approach
• Learn how to recognize the impacts and independencies between influencing factors, organizational strategy, and operational and organizational components

Instructional format:

This is an onsite course.

This course is interactive. The student will be exposed to focused lectures, detailed discussions, applicable case studies, and team exercises. The instructor will present concepts that define the “what” and “why” and techniques that demonstrate the “how” within the field of business architecture. These concepts will be reinforced by interactive true-to-life business cases. Participants will leave the course with templates and reusable reference materials that can be applied immediately to existing as well as future initiatives.

Other Sections:

This course is offered once per year.

Notes: Breakfast, networking lunch and all materials included in tuition.

This course fulfills elective requirements for both the Project Management Strategy Certificate and Advanced PM Certificate.

Instructional level –intermediate

Good project planning has long been shown to be one of the cornerstones of successful project performance. The challenges involved in the development of a sound project plan, however, are often overlooked. When the least is known about a project, a project manager is expected to define costs, schedules, resource requirements, and other project parameters. These initial estimates are really guesses of the future which will become better defined as the project proceeds. Admittedly all estimates are educated guesses, but in the project world they often then become cast in concrete. How does a project manager face this important task with confidence?

Once a project has moved beyond the initial planning stages, the project manager is also faced with the challenge of conveying project performance to a management that often is not familiar with project terminology. For the most part, upper management of most organizations and clients understand the world in financial terms such as revenue recognition, profitability, and cash flow. Project selection is often based, at least in part, on the financial considerations of the project. Translating project terminology and concepts into financial terms and concepts is a key role for the successful project manager. Fortunately, there are good approaches to dealing with these concerns. This course takes a practical look at estimation (theory and practice), project baselines, budgeting, financial analysis, and evaluating and measuring project performance.

Learning objectives:

Upon completion of the course, a successful student will be able to:

• Describe estimation theory as it applies to project management
• Understand how to develop a project budget
• Identify and apply the tools of resource allocation to projects
• Describe how to apply project controls
• Understand how to communicate project information to the management level

Course format:

This is an onsite course.

This is an interactive course. Through a series of lectures, discussions and group work participants will be exposed to the following topics:

1. Estimation theory and practice
2. Budget development
3. Forecasting
4. Resource allocation
5. Project Controls

Other Offerings:

This course is offered twice a year. Other available sections include:

PMMBEP 14A1: October 23, 2014–October 24, 2014

Notes: Breakfast, networking lunch and all materials included in tuition.

This course fulfills elective requirements for both the Project Management Strategy Certificate and Advanced PM Certificate.

Instructional level – Advanced

Most practicing project managers are aware of the role that risk management can play in successfully completing their projects. In a time of “doing more with less” and “faster, better, cheaper,” however, it is easy to overlook the value of a well-constructed approach to risk management. Balancing benefits and costs is not always an easy evaluation to make. Ignoring risk, however, can lead to nasty surprises at best and disaster at the worst.

Complicating matters for project managers is the complexity of most current projects. At one time complexity was characteristic of large systems such as cities or large organizations. Due to rapid increases in technology, systems that were once independent or only loosely linked are now interconnected to an increasingly high degree. Dealing with this complexity in a project environment has become a serious challenge.

This advanced course for project managers will give a review of risk management principles in the project environment. It will take a close look at complexity, how it arises in the project environment and how risk management can help to overcome its most challenging effects.

Learning objectives:

At the completion of the course, a successful student will be able to:

• Identify the components of risk and a risk management plan
• Describe and be able to apply the tools and techniques of risk management
• Describe the core elements of probability and estimation theory
• Understand how complexity has become a key component of projects
• Describe how risk management improves project performance

Course format:

This is an onsite course.

This course is highly interactive. The student will be exposed to focused lectures, detailed discussions and team exercises. Extensive use will be made of case studies and the latest tools to deal with this increasingly important phenomenon.

Notes: Breakfast, networking lunch and all materials included in tuition.

Participants in the Advanced Project Management Program may take this course as an advanced elective. All others must meet the experience requirements as stated.