UT ENGINEERING NEWS
Contact Info:
Theresa Lestingi, 512.471.4875, tlestingi@mail.utexas.edu
February 5, 2002

Register NOW for UT Austin's Software Project Management Certificate Program

Learn the skills to overcome the limitations of a tight labor force, meet the rapidly changing needs of customers and organizations in today's competitive marketplace, and have dramatic impact on the bottom line.

Austin, Texas -- The University of Texas at Austin's College of Engineering announced today that February 9, 2002 is the deadline for early registration for its renowned Software Project Management (SWPM) Certificate Program. Both the onsite and online SWPM classes will run March 20, 2002 - December 10, 2002. Software project managers, developers, and those involved in software quality assurance are invited to register now, since this class fills quickly.

UT Austin's SWPM certificate program gives professionals the necessary skills and techniques to improve their company's overall software development process. From choosing appropriate metrics to understanding workplace personality types, SWPM offers a thorough view of the most up-to-date practices combined with the instructors' industry experience. The final result is a working knowledge that incorporates quality, applicability, portability, profitability, maintainability, and timeliness.

"The SWPM program is real-world project management taught by real-world practitioners," said Mike Haney, CEO, Athens Group and SWPM alumnus. "Their proven approach leads to better control of project costs and higher quality project deliverables. I recommend it highly."

Tailored to meet demanding schedules, SWPM offers the opportunity to earn a certificate program in nine months, either onsite or online, while maintaining full-time employment. SWPM's time-efficient format follows its highly anticipated new text, "Quality Software Project Management", written by SWPM instructors Bob Futrell, Don Shafer, and Linda Shafer. Onsite participants will meet once a week in the evening while the online participants will take part in a weekly hour-long chat and complete the class work at their own convenience.

"Software professionals can take this project management course no matter where they are located," said Carolyn Stark, Director of the Center for Lifelong Engineering Education. "By expanding our online offering, we are able to offer SWPM to working professionals who travel extensively or have unavoidable schedule conflicts that prevent them from attending class."

UT Austin's Software Quality Institute (SQI) launched SWPM in 1993. Since then, over 240 project managers have graduated from the program. Organizations that have supported SWPM include AMD, Dell Computer Corporation, IBM, Journee Software, Motorola, National Instruments, Schlumberger, and 3M Corporation.

SWPM will meet weekly from March 20, 2002 to December 10, 2002. Registration fees for both the online and onsite courses are $10,000.00 if registered on or before February 9, 2002 and $11,500.00 if registered on or after February 10, 2002. The onsite class meets weekly on Tuesday evenings in north Austin, Texas. Parking is free to the onsite course participants.

About the SWPM Curriculum

To succeed in today's competitive marketplace, project managers are required to know the principles of software engineering, and they must incorporate skills for managing people, products, and processes into their daily routine. For this reason, the SWPM curriculum is grounded in interlaced bodies of knowledge developed by internationally recognized organizations: the Project Management Institute (PMI), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), and the American Society for Quality (ASQ). SWPM instructors, who are themselves software professionals, refine knowledge identified by these two organizations and contribute decades of their own industry experience with the most up-to-date practices. Quality, applicability, timeliness, portability and profitability are all key areas of focus for the Software Project Management curriculum.

About CLEE

The Center for Lifelong Engineering Education (CLEE), which oversees the administration of the Software Quality Institute, is the continuing education provider for UT Austin's College of Engineering. CLEE has more than 30 years of experience in providing lifelong learning to industry using the rich intellectual resources of the College of Engineering.