Origin
The Institute for Research in Training and Development (IRTD) is a research group of the Department of Learning & Performance Systems within Penn State's College of Education. The IRTD was established by the Penn State Board of Trustees in the mid-1980s.
History
During Spring 2006, David L. Passmore became the Director of the IRTD. Former and current graduate faculty members in the WF ED program who previously held the post of IRTD Director include: Thomas Chermack, Paul Krueger, William Rothwell, Catherine Sleezer, and, the founder of the IRTD, Gary Geroy.
From 2006 through 2011, the IRTD joined with the Penn State Outreach's Center for Regional Economic and Workforce Analysis to lead Penn State's Workforce Education and Development Initiative, a partnership between Penn State Outreach and Penn State's College of education whose mission was to support the development of the economy an workforce in Pennsylvania and beyond. The Initiative received funding for over $700,000 of projects with clients external and internal to Penn State. Descriptions of these projects were ported to the IRTD website when the Initiative was dissolved in June 2011.
Mission
The IRTD plans, conducts, and reports research about the economy and workforce of Pennsylvania and beyond. The Institute conducts research that is policy–relevant, but is not policy–prescriptive. The Institute often conducts research and analysis about topics and issues that, at times, are the focus of vigorous debate and public attention and that frequently are associated with diverse stakeholders who represent divergent opinions. The Institute adds value, attention, and discussion to this debate by conducting and reporting research and analysis for decisions affecting economic and workforce development using the most objective and technically appropriate approaches possible. The research and analysis of the Institute are pursued independent of the commercial or political interests of any actual or potential sponsor of the Institute’s work.
Reports from the Institute usually are made available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution–Noncommercial–No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License, which means that IRTD reports may be copied, distributed, and transmitted as long as this work is attributed to its authors and to the IRTD, is used for noncommercial purposes, and is not altered, transformed, or used to create any derivative works without the expressed, written permission of the authors. Internships are available for undergraduate and graduate students from Penn State as well as from any institution or organization with interests in research in economic and workforce development.
Leadership
David L Passmore
David L. Passmore (davidpassmore@psu.edu; 814.863.2583; http://DavidPassmore.notlong.com) is the Director of the Institute for Research in Training and Development. He is Professor of Education in the Workforce Education and Development (WF ED) academic program. 
He also is Professor of Operations Research in the dual degree, intercollege Operations Research Program. Passmore earned academic degrees from State University College of New York at Buffalo (BS, 1969), Bowling Green State University (MEd, 1970), and University of Minnesota (PhD, 1973). He has held appointments at the Harvard School of Public Health, National Technical Institute for the Deaf, University of Massachusetts, University of Northern Iowa, St. John Fisher College, University of Texas at Tyler, and University of Minnesota. Passmore has advised a variety of corporate and government clients, including PECO Energy, Johns–Manville, Esso–Interamerica, Joy Manufacturing Technologies, Lord Corporation, E–Systems, Woolrich Inc., Liquid Carbonic, CIGNA HealthCare, National Institute for Metalworking Skills, Campbell Communications, American Council on Education, Research for Better Schools, John F. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, Special Olympics, and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General.
Rose M. Baker
Also affiliated with the IRTD as a Project Manager is Rose M. Baker (rbaker@psu.edu;814.865.9919; http://RoseMBaker.notlong.com). She is Assistant Professor of Education in the Workforce Education and Development program and a Professional Associate of Penn State Business Solutions. Baker is a certified Project Management Professional through the Project Management Institute. 
Her current research includes management techniques and statistical applications for operations improvement, economic and workforce analysis, occupational forecasting, benchmarking, evaluation of training outcomes, worker performance assessments, and job task analysis. Baker has extensive experience in the analysis, interpretation, and reporting of labor market data and educational outcomes. She was appointed by Penn State President Graham Spanier, to serve for a three–year term on the Penn State Commission for Women and is the co-chair elect of the Commission for 2011-2012. Baker earned a BA degree in Mathematics and Chemistry from Washington and Jefferson College and an MEd degree in Adult Education Theory and Practice from Penn State. Her PhD degree in Instructional Systems, with an emphasis in Training, Technology, and Systems Design and Development, also is from Penn State.
Passmore and Baker contribute a monthly column, “Economic & Workforce Briefing,” to Pennsylvania Business Central, a regional newspaper that covers business and economic news in 16 central and western Pennsylvania counties. Their work has been featured in over 100 media instances, including articles in the Wall Street Journal and radio and TV interviews on Fox Business News and NPR.
Starting on July 1, 2011, Baker and Passmore began leading The Evaluation Group, a new initiative of Penn State's College of Education in addition to their work with the IRTD. Prior to July 1, 2011, Baker and Passmore lead the Penn State Workforce Education & Development Initiative, a research partnership between Penn State's Outreach and the Penn State College of Education.
Staffing
As funding allows, projects of the IRTD involve graduate assistants (Penn State graduate students working 20 hours per week for one or two semesters for stipend and tuition), Penn State wage payroll workers (Penn State undergraduate or graduate students working for wages for variable hours), contract workers (employees working for wages that are placed by external employment agencies), or interns (paid or unpaid educational and work experiences with economic and workforce research).
Penn State's College of Education provides grant and contract assistance are provided through its Office of the Associate Dean for Research, Outreach, and Technology, accounting assistance through its Finance Office, and additional administrative assistance through the staff of its Department of Learning and Performance Systems.
We are grateful to Hsin-Ling Tsai and Woocheol Kim, doctoral candidates in Workforce Education and Development at Penn State, who volunteered many hours to port information from our former web site at http://wedi.psu.edu to this site.
