Rochester Institute of Technology Archives

Program overview

The Project Management MicroMasters® program from RIT is a graduate level series of courses designed to provide you with the in-depth knowledge and skills needed to be a successful project manager in any industry. This online sequence is a semester’s worth of work from RIT’s Master’s degree and consists of three courses and a final capstone exam.

By earning the MicroMasters® program certificate you will develop the leadership skills needed to effectively manage a team that will meet the expectations of your customers and business goals. Build on your MicroMasters® program certificate by applying to RIT’s School of Individualized Study for a customized master’s degree.

What you will learn

The tools and techniques to manage the comprehensive project management life cycle for a project – from initiation through closing.
To balance the critical tradeoffs of time, cost and scope to meet customer expectations.
The ability to apply best practices across a variety of industries and businesses.
Lead a project to success, and how to capitalize on the leadership and behavioral facets to do so.
To navigate the social and cultural aspects, legal and regulatory practices, technology and infrastructure that influence projects’ success in the global market.

Program Class List

Project Management is one of the most in-demand skills in all industries -- from healthcare to technology and business. Take this one course, or the entire program, to prove your skills to employers.

Learn how to create an organizational environment that supports project success.

Learn what makes global projects uniquely challenging and how to successfully manage projects based in different industries and countries.

Demonstrate the knowledge and skills acquired in the Project Management MicroMasters program, and prepare for graduate level program options at RIT.

Meet Your Instructors

Celine Gullace

Celine is an Instructor of Project Management at the School of Individualized Study at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Celine has over 20 years of experience in business management and teaching. She has a keen interest in influencing business decisions and leading high visibility projects. She is an experienced project management instructor and award winning teacher in mathematics. Celine was born and raised in the South of France and came to the US in 1993 to continue her education. For more information, please contact ritonline@rit.edu.

Leonie Fernandes

Leonie is an Instructor of Project Management at the School of Individualized Study at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She is a certified Project Management Professional with over 25 years of project management experience in large, global corporations in the high tech, manufacturing, healthcare and automotive industries. Leonie has extensive coaching and mentoring in leading projects within the United States and in the global arena. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and master’s degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology. For more information, please contact ritonline@rit.edu.

What you will learn

Enhance and tailor written, verbal, and non-verbal communication to various workplace audiences, including managers, co-workers, direct reports, and clients.
Improve critical thinking and listening skills to respond to the needs of various constituents in workplace settings.
Develop skills in leadership, problem-solving, conflict management, and other critical group dynamics.

Program Class List

The most successful professionals are able to assess the environment, analyze a situation, design a solution, and ultimately win in a competitive scenario.

Learn how to effectively communicate and build professional relationships through face-to-face, written, and non-verbal communication.

Learn essential teamwork and collaboration skills to lead, build and motivate teams in the workplace.

Meet your instructors

Mike Johansson

Principal Lecturer, School of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology Mike Johansson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology where he teaches courses in Advertising, Public Relations and Social Media. He was one of three faculty who jointly developed RIT’s first 9-credit critical thinking class, “The Meaning of Things in Three Objects.” The initial offering of the class in Spring 2017 displayed measurable growth in students’ critical thinking skills over the 15-week course. Prior to joining the RIT faculty in 2009, Mike spent more than 25 years in media companies in the United States and abroad. He maintains a lifelong interest in critical thinking and problem solving and includes weekly exercises in his classes to encourage creative thinking. A mentor once noted “Mike doesn’t think outside the box, he doesn’t recognize that the box ever existed.” Mike received two fellowships to the Poynter Institute and also served as a Digital Journalism fellow at University of California, Berkeley. He has a master’s degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

David Neumann

Professor, School of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology

David Neumann is a Professor in the School of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) where he teaches a variety of communication courses including Persuasion, Small Group Communication, Research Methods, and Communication Theory. He has received numerous teaching awards, including the RIT Eisenhart Outstanding Teacher Award and the RIT Eisenhart Provost's Award for Excellence in Teaching. His current focus as a teacher and researcher is on increasing collaboration and cohesion in various work groups. When not on campus you might find him taking in some local music or out playing disc golf.

Andrea Hickerson

Director, School of Communication and Associate Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology

Andrea Hickerson, PhD, is the Director of the School of Communication at RIT and an Associate Professor of Journalism. She joined the RIT faculty in 2009, when RIT began its Journalism degree. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses including, Crafting the Message, Communication Law, and Reporting & Writing. She is the recipient of two grants related to journalism innovation from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. In 2017 she was awarded a National Innovation Corps grant from the National Science Foundation related to entrepreneurship in publishing. In addition to her grant work on journalism innovation and education, Dr. Hickerson conducts research on journalism routines and political communication, specifically as they relate to immigrant and transnational communities. She also regularly contributes content to local media in Rochester, New York. Dr. Hickerson has a B.A. in Journalism and International Relations from Syracuse University; a M.A. in Journalism and an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Texas at Austin; and Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Washington.

Keri Barone

About Me

Keri Barone has a B.A. in Communication from SUNY Brockport and an M.A. in Rhetorical Criticism also from SUNY Brockport. Since coming to RIT in 2007 as Visiting Professor, she has served as faculty advisor to the National Communication’s Honors Society, Lambda Pi Eta. She initiated the student-run colloquium series, has co-organized the institute-wide Public Speaking Contest, and continues to facilitate guest speakers and volunteer opportunities to enhance community involvement by students.

What You’ll Learn:

How to critically evaluate your role in workplace interactions
How to employ strategies for active listening
How to ask questions that move conversations forward
How to communicate ideas clearly and succinctly
How to assess needs of clients and colleagues
Best practices for face-to-face and remote communication

Meet Your Instructor:

Andrea Hickerson

Director, School of Communication and Associate Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology

Andrea Hickerson, PhD, is the Director of the School of Communication at RIT and an Associate Professor of Journalism. She joined the RIT faculty in 2009, when RIT began its Journalism degree. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses including, Crafting the Message, Communication Law, and Reporting & Writing. She is the recipient of two grants related to journalism innovation from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. In 2017 she was awarded a National Innovation Corps grant from the National Science Foundation related to entrepreneurship in publishing. In addition to her grant work on journalism innovation and education, Dr. Hickerson conducts research on journalism routines and political communication, specifically as they relate to immigrant and transnational communities. She also regularly contributes content to local media in Rochester, New York. Dr. Hickerson has a B.A. in Journalism and International Relations from Syracuse University; a M.A. in Journalism and an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Texas at Austin; and Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Washington.

What you’ll learn

How to understand the complexities of group dynamics and interactions
How to motivate by improving group climate
How to develop skills in leadership, problem-solving, conflict management, and other critical group dynamics
How to assess team effectiveness and success

Meet your instructor

David Neumann

Professor, School of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology

David Neumann is a Professor in the School of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) where he teaches a variety of communication courses including Persuasion, Small Group Communication, Research Methods, and Communication Theory. He has received numerous teaching awards, including the RIT Eisenhart Outstanding Teacher Award and the RIT Eisenhart Provost's Award for Excellence in Teaching. His current focus as a teacher and researcher is on increasing collaboration and cohesion in various work groups. When not on campus you might find him taking in some local music or out playing disc golf.

What you’ll learn

How to perform strategic analysis and assessment
How to perceive and assess a critical need and design a tailored solution
How to identify key stakeholders and ensure their needs are met
How to employ adaptive problem-solving
How to work through obstacles collaboratively
How to analyze failure to improve future performance

Meet your instructor

Mike Johansson

Principal Lecturer, School of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology Mike Johansson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology where he teaches courses in Advertising, Public Relations and Social Media. He was one of three faculty who jointly developed RIT’s first 9-credit critical thinking class, “The Meaning of Things in Three Objects.” The initial offering of the class in Spring 2017 displayed measurable growth in students’ critical thinking skills over the 15-week course. Prior to joining the RIT faculty in 2009, Mike spent more than 25 years in media companies in the United States and abroad. He maintains a lifelong interest in critical thinking and problem solving and includes weekly exercises in his classes to encourage creative thinking. A mentor once noted “Mike doesn’t think outside the box, he doesn’t recognize that the box ever existed.” Mike received two fellowships to the Poynter Institute and also served as a Digital Journalism fellow at University of California, Berkeley. He has a master’s degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

What You’ll Learn:

Understand the elements of effective stories and how to use them in the workplace
How to tailor your messaging to a defined target audience
How to structure written messages for maximum audience impact, taking into consideration tone, style, point of view
How various platforms convey messages differently in a professional setting

Professional Certificate in Communication Skills

Take your communication skills to the next level

Storytelling in the Workplace

Public Speaking

Visual Presentation

3 Courses 2 Months 4 - 6 Hours per week

Complete Program $537.30

Next Start July 20, 2020

Program Details

Meet Your Instructor:

Ammina Kothari

Ammina Kothari is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she is also the Program Director for Communication and Media Technologies. Professor Kothari teaches a variety of journalism and communication classes, including Intro to Journalism, Mass Communications, and Communication, Gender and Media. Her research focuses on issues related to health, gender, technology and religion that are situated within the contexts of global communication, journalism and media studies. Some of her on-going research projects include comparative analyses of global journalistic practices within the context of emerging media platforms; how the media conveys information based on the newsworthiness of the issue; and exploring effective channels for message transmission based on topics and target demographics. Professor Kothari was awarded an Emerging Scholar grant from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in January 2016 to support her research on how the British media have been reporting on the refugee crisis. In 2013 and 2014, she was awarded competitive grants to conduct fieldwork in Tanzania to assess the feasibility of using short-message-system (SMS) to communicate health information. Professor Kothari was awarded two university-wide competitive research fellowships in 2010 to conduct her fieldwork in Tanzania, which involved interviews with journalists and leaders of NGOs. In addition to interviews, she also conducted semiotic and content analyses of newspaper texts, to examine how media representations contributed to the social construction of HIV/AIDS.

What You’ll Learn:

How to apply the basic elements of the speech communication process
Tools and methods for controlling public speaking anxiety
How to craft a clear and impactful speech
How to critique other communicators using the principles of this course
How to identify main and supporting ideas

Meet Your Instructor:

Keith B. Jenkins

Vice President & Associate Provost for Diversity & Inclusion at Rochester Institute of Technology

Whatever the arena—professionally, in family, in ministry or in community—Keith’s desire, first and foremost, is to serve. Dr. Keith B. Jenkins, Professor of Communication in the School of Communication, is the Vice President & Associate Provost for Diversity & Inclusion at Rochester Institute of Technology. Keith, a native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, received his B.A. in Communication from the University of Arkansas and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Communication from the Florida State University. Since joining RIT in 1992 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication, Dr. Jenkins has also served as RIT Faculty-in-Residence (1993 – 1995), RIT’s first Assistant Provost for Diversity (1999 – 2002), Director of Undergraduate Degree Programs in the School of Communication (2011 – 2016), and Interim Vice President and Associate Provost, Division for Diversity & Inclusion (2016 – 2017). He was also privileged to establish RIT’s Multicultural Center for Academic Success and the School of Communication’s Journalism Degree program. Jenkins is the recipient of many awards. Among the RIT awards are the 2010 Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching, the 2005 Isaac L. Jordan Pluralism Award, the 2004 RIT Diversity Trailblazer Award, the 1993-94 Provost’s Excellence in Teaching Award, the 1996 and 1997 Higher Education Opportunity Program “Community Professor” awards which recognize a professor who has made a difference in the lives of HEOP students at RIT, and NTID’s (National Technical Institute for the Deaf) 1995 Pluralism Award. Jenkins’ scholarly publications and presentations center around studies in intercultural communication, political and visual rhetoric, and the rhetoric of gospel song. Most recently, the focus of his research has been on pragmatism and the rhetoric of inclusion in Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign

Professional Certificate in Communication Skills

Take your communication skills to the next level

Storytelling in the Workplace

Public Speaking

Visual Presentation

3 Courses 2 Months 4 - 6 Hours per week

Complete Program $537.30

Next Start July 20, 2020

Program Details

What You’ll Learn:

How to utilize best practices for presenting quantitative data using images
How to incorporate basics of visual design in everyday workplace presentations
How to select impactful and appropriate images for various audiences to support your message How to understand visual hierarchy and other text- to-image relationships

Meet Your Instructor:

Lori Marra

Senior Lecturer, School of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology

After a 30-year career in Technical Communication and Interactive Multimedia management, Lori joined RIT’s School of Communication full time in 2013. Professor Marra has a B.S. in Management from Nazareth College where she also double-minored in Philosophy and Studio Art. She also holds an MA in Philosophy from the University of Rochester. She focused on Stoic Ethics and her thesis is titled: The Mad Are All Unwise: The Practicality of Stoic Ethics. She teaches Communication, Public Speaking, and Technical Communication (with a focus on business communication for technical professionals). Lori is also an accomplished playwright and long-time member of the Dramatist Guild. She is advisor to the RIT Players, RIT’s theatre club and she is an artist in residence at MuCCC Theatre. For more on her playwriting career, visit her web site: lorimarra.com or follow her on Twitter @blueinkplayrite.

Professional Certificate in Communication Skills

Take your communication skills to the next level

Storytelling in the Workplace

Public Speaking

Visual Presentation

3 Courses 2 Months 4 - 6 Hours per week

Complete Program $537.30

Next Start July 20, 2020

Program Details

Project Management is one of the most in-demand skills in all industries — from healthcare to technology and business. Take this one course, or the entire program, to prove your skills to employers.

About this course

Learn about project management from a multidisciplinary perspective, as we cover fundamental tools and techniques for managing a broad range of projects.

You will learn about the project management life cycle from initiation to closing. We will address the behavioral and quantitative facets of project management, as well as the use of methods, tools and techniques for the initiation, planning, execution and closing of projects. The course will be divided by the project life cycle phases.

First, we will cover project initiation. We will review projects in organizations, project selection models, the project manager role and project organization structures to better understand how a project is initiated. You will also learn how to create a key project management deliverable, the project charter.

Second, we will cover the project-planning phase. You will learn how to build a comprehensive project management plan covering the key aspects of risk, quality, scope, schedule, cost, time, resource and communications.

Third, we will cover the project execution phase. We will explore the monitoring and control of a project including earned value analysis and project reporting. Case studies and examples will be used to help you understand the correct actions for a project manager to take to keep a project in control.

Finally, we will cover the project closing phase, where we explore the tasks to complete an effective project closure.

This course is part of the RIT Project Management MicroMasters® Program that is designed to teach the skills and behaviors necessary to be successful in a project management career. In order to qualify for the MicroMasters® Credential, you will need to earn a verified certificate in each of the three courses as well as pass a capstone exam.

What you’ll learn

The roles and responsibilities of a project manager
Project initiation and planning
Project execution
Project closing Project management tools and techniques

MicroMasters® Program in Project Management

Pay as you go – start the first course for $150. Learn what makes global projects uniquely challenging and how to successfully manage projects based in different industries and countries.

Project Management Life Cycle

Best Practices for Project Management Success

International Project Management

Project Management MicroMasters® Capstone Exam

4 Courses 8 months 4–7 hours per week

Complete Program $1212.30

Program Details

Recommendations only: This course is intended for those who have completed a Bachelor’s degree or have a minimum of 5 years of work experience in a project related business environment. Recommended education or work experience in organizational behavior, mathematics and basic accounting or equivalent.

Who can take this course?

Unfortunately, learners from one or more of the following countries or regions will not be able to register for this course: Iran, Cuba and the Crimea region of Ukraine. While edX has sought licenses from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to offer our courses to learners in these countries and regions, the licenses we have received are not broad enough to allow us to offer this course in all locations. EdX truly regrets that U.S. sanctions prevent us from offering all of our courses to everyone, no matter where they live.