By Ryan Broege, UWP Office of Public Relations

PLATTEVILLE– Laura Sherrick, a graduate of the online Master of Science in Project Management Program at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, has been awarded the James R. Snyder International Student Paper of the Year Award by the Project Management Institute. On its website, PMI described itself as a “not-for-profit professional association whose primary goal is to advance the practice, science and profession of project management throughout the world in a conscientious and proactive manner.”

Ginger Levin, adjunct professor of project management at UWP since 2002, had Sherrick in her classes and was impressed by her former student’s achievement. Levin said that she encouraged Sherrick to apply but pointed out that there is a tremendous amount of competition among students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate project management programs from all around North America. Sherrick’s paper was selected as the winner among all submissions in the North American division; winners were also selected in the Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Europe-Middle East-Africa regions.

Sherrick’s paper was originally the final product of the Capstone Class, a three-credit course that all students in the Master’s of Science in Project Management program take near the end of their studies. “I encouraged her to submit the paper because she took each of the nine knowledge areas in the PMI’s ‘A Guide to the Project Management Methodology, third edition,’ and applied each of its inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs to her work. She described why she used each one and their value,” said Levin, who was Sherrick’s professor in the Capstone Class.

As winner of the international student paper award, Sherrick was awarded $500 and given the opportunity to present her paper at the PMI North American Congress, an annual week-long professional conference held in Orlando, Fla. “The Congress was a celebration of project management. There were more seminars being held than any one person could attend, and also opportunities to share knowledge, explore project thinking and learn more about the field,” she said.

This is the second time in three years that the winner of the PMI International Student Paper award has been a graduate of UWP. “In 2007, I nominated Tonya Petersen, who wrote a paper on motivation. The fact that UWP has had two winners in three years truly is an indicator of the strength of our program,” said Levin.

“I am very proud of our campus and students because this is a very competitive award,” said Bill Haskins, program director of the Master’s of Science in Project Management at UWP.

Anyone with further questions regarding the award may contact Haskins at (608) 342-1961 or haskinsd@uwplatt.edu.