Tuesday, September 1

Daily Focus: Getting to Know the MDP Program & Development Practice*

First, you will get to know the origins of the MDP degree and the history of the MDP Global association and Minnesota program. Then you will be introduced to several key members of the Minnesota MDP community, those primarily responsible for program governance, implementation and navigation. The final portion of the day will feature several guests from the profession and will focus on the following questions:

• What is development practice and why is it important for emerging professionals to train in this area?

• What knowledge, skills and competencies support success in the field and professional growth?

• What knowledge, skills and competencies do employers seek?

These and other questions will animate a conversation with our incoming cohort of development practice students on the first day of the MDP program orientation. We know that students come to the MDP program from varied backgrounds and with different professional objectives and pathways envisioned. Yet they are united by the idea of a development practitioner - well or poorly defined. Generally this notion focuses on a professional who understands the theories that shaped and that influence development, broadly speaking, but who is also grounded in the work. Some call themselves generalists, others generalist/specialists, and some describe themselves as knowledge integrators. Whatever the term, there are knowledge, skills and competencies that are essential to the endeavor. This session aims to highlight and contextualize them.

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