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The Pittsburgh Chapter of the Association for Talent Development — the world’s largest association dedicated to empowering professionals to develop talent in the workplace — recently collaborated with the School of Education at Point Park University for a workshop on campus featuring guest speaker Bill Lucas from the LUMA Institute.

Introduced by Professor Vincenne Revilla-Beltrán, Ph.D., coordinator of the M.A. in adult learning and training program at Point Park, Lucas presented on “Leveraging Human-Centered Design for Innovative Training Experiences (and beyond.)”

“The workshop was great! Bill Lucas is very knowledgeable in regards to innovation and how to empower individuals and teams to become more innovative. Throughout his presentation, Bill provided a great overview of a variety of tools and techniques that have immediate applicability to the work in which talent development professionals engage,” said Vince Kwisnek, president of the Pittsburgh Chapter of ATD. 

Lucas, who is co-founder and head of education and social impact at the LUMA Institute, said: “I was very happy when I was informed that Point Park was the hosting venue of this workshop because I have had the honor of previous collaborations with Dr. Heather Star-FiedlerDr. Eric Stennett and Dr. Karen McIntyre. I love Point Park University’s commitment to a pedagogical balance of theory and practice.”

LUMA has been collaborating with various departments at Point Park University since 2015.

Lucas added: “It was great to be a guest speaker at the intersection of two valued partners. I was honored to share LUMA’s thinking about the principles and practices of human-centered design — the discipline of developing solutions in the service of people.” 

Doctoral students in Point Park’s Ed.D. in leadership and administration program, along with ATD board members, were among those who attended the event.

Lucas introduced the LUMA System, an adaptive approach to innovation that helps people to be more intentional about their design activities.

“The framework for the tangible ways to apply innovative thinking was very beneficial. I especially appreciated the emphasis on how it takes time to look for solutions rather than immediately implementing change," explained Susan Dreves ’21, a Point Park Ed.D. student and assistant professor at Grove City College.

Dreves added: “The Ed.D. program is helping me to become a better leader and improve my research skills for the purposes of helping my undergraduate students further their own skills in these areas.”

More About ATD

According to Revilla-Beltrán, ATD membership is comprised of a wide range of diverse learning and development professionals, in leadership positions at corporations, nonprofits, for-profits, universities, colleges, community organizations and more.

“ATD membership mirrors the diverse students in our graduate education programs,” Revilla-Beltrán said. 

Revilla-Beltrán and McIntyre, director of the Ed.D. program, are both members of ATD’s Pittsburgh Chapter.

ATD members will be on Point Park's campus this spring to host a focus group on “Current issues in Training and Adult Learning.”


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