Students

Students off to a quick start

Campus is crackling with energy this fall as a record number of students arrive ready to prepare for their future. The Department of Information Systems welcomed a promising group of doctoral students, even as our most recently hooded Ph.D.s started careers at universities across the nation. At the same time, students in our professional programs began the process of finding the right future employer. In the photo, representatives of from Choice Hotels talk about the opportunities at their company with students.

2013-09-26

September 26, 2013 - Campus is crackling with energy this fall as a record number of students arrive ready to prepare for their future. The Department of Information Systems welcomed a promising group of doctoral students, even as our most recently hooded Ph.D.s started careers at universities across the nation. At the same time, students in our professional programs began the process of finding the right future employer. In the photo, representatives of from Choice Hotels talk about the opportunities at their company with students.

The road starts here

Among the new students getting settled on campus this fall are three beginning doctoral students. Two students – Ying Liu and Chunxaio Li – are coming from Temple University. A third, Madhu Kalshmanan, worked in the W. P. Carey School’s Online Academic Services team before applying to the program. This is an exceptionally strong group of students, according to professor Ben Shao left, who coordinates the program. This spring, three other information systems Ph.D. students who had finished the program were hired for tenure-track positions at other universities. Matt Sopha is an assistant professor of information systems and operations management at the Sellingher School of Business and Management, Loyola University, Baltimore, Md.; Yen-Chun Chou is an assistant professor of management information systems, College of Commerce, National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan; and Tam McCreless who is an assistant professor of management information systems at the School of Business and Economics at Fayetteville State University.N.C. “It’s a gratifying experience to see them come in as people with a lot of potential, then become promising young scholars,” Shao said.

Students jump start their careers

Department of Information Systems students know that the best way to find a summer internship or that first post-graduation job is to start talking to companies early. On September 23, undergraduate and graduate students mingled with recruiters from more than 40 companies at the annual Career Mixer. Many alumni can trace their professional careers back to a conversation at this mixer, and in fact, several recent graduates were there representing their employers. Here, Alex Ressa shares his resume with Carrie Bottega from Choice Hotels. The spring mixer is scheduled for February 3. To register your company for these events, contact Karen Stark.

Media Hits

Technology in the classroom no longer means just smart boards and laptops. Professors and students are finding ways to use Twitter and other forms of social media in the learning environment. Bin Gu who has done research on social media in higher education, was quoted on the topic in the Phoenix Business Journal. Despite what we might assume, the cell phone has not yet brought about the complete demise of the land line. A recent report found that 28 percent of homes had no landline in 2011. The Deseret News compiled a roundup of news reports on the study, including Gawker’s headline: "Most households bizarrely still have a landline." Information Systems Professor Raghu Santanam was quoted from an interview on the topic with the Arizona Republic. Despite Gawker’s snarky amazement, Santanam says there are understandable reasons why many consumers are holding onto a land line. Rankings The new rankings are out from U.S. News & World Report, and once again, the Department of Information Systems ranks among 17th in the nation for its undergraduate offering. Overall, the W. P. Carey School comes in at No. 27. This marks the ninth time in 10 years the school has made the prestigious Top 30. Other W. P. Carey departments making the Top 25 in their specialties include Supply Chain Management -- which partners with Information Systems in the Master of Science in Business Analytics program -- at No. 3, and accounting at No. 22.

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