Students

Read all about it: IS Department updates

Department of Information Systems faculty and students have been making waves! For example, last month we learned that our student organization received laurels for the second year in a row from the Association for Information Systems. This month’s news briefs also includes links to faculty media interviews and a note to companies about student internship opportunities. Read all about it!

2011-11-07

Department of Information Systems faculty and students have been making waves! For example, last month we learned that our student organization received laurels for the second year in a row from the Association for Information Systems. This month’s news briefs also includes links to faculty media interviews and a note to companies about student internship opportunities. Read all about it! Distinguishing characteristics: DISC honored by AIS DISC — the Department of Information Systems Club — has been selected for the “Distinguished Chapter” award by the Association for Information Systems (AIS) for the second consecutive year. This year’s faculty advisor, Assistant Professor Gregory Dawson, will accept the award on behalf of the club at the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) on December 5 in Shanghai. The award is a tribute to the hard work of past presidents David Roman and Katie Golen, their faculty advisor, senior Lecturer Matt McCarthy, and IS department student service staffer Emily Galindo-Elvira. And there’s no let-up this year, according to President Drew Schweinfurth. “We are holding the first ever DISC dodge ball tourney and participating in events like BizO and Avnet Tech Games allow the members to get the core technical skills needed while also learning how to work with others in a team environment,” Schweinfurth said. “We also have some great things in the works, such as building a DISC resume book, and we’ve made connections with many new companies, like Google and Microsoft, who are getting involved with DISC.” The AIS recognizes student chapters that excel at professional development, membership activities, promoting careers in IS, community service, fundraising and communications. IS faculty in the news Department of Information Systems faculty members are go-to sources for reporters in news organizations around the nation. Here’s a sampling from the past few months: Department Chairman Michael Goul warns scoffers not to brush off Google’s foray into the online travel arena. Travel columnist Chris Elliott quoted Goul in “Need a Flight? Just Google It,” which appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, and several other papers. A number of publications have cited a 2010 study by Michael Furukawa, Raghu Santanam and Benjamin Shao about electronic medical records. Recently the Montgomery Advertiser and a number of other papers referenced the study in a story about Alabama’s One Health Record project, which will make a patient’s complete medical history easily available to physicians. Privacy expert Marilyn Prosch weighed in on allegations that Facebook is creating “shadow profiles” of non-users. The story appeared on foxnews.com. Internship opportunities The department is seeking firms to offer internship opportunities to Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) students. The average professional experience of these students is nine years, and most students have at least a few years experience working in the IT environment. Since MSIM classes are held evenings and some weekends, the students have scheduling flexibility. “Given the experience level of the students, they can be of great value to the firms that hire them as interns,” says Raghu Santanam, faculty director of the MSIM. Contact Sara Jenkins, senior coordinator of graduate programs for more information. Project management for the future “Project Management for the Future” was the title of the first event hosted by the Department of Information Systems and the Phoenix chapter of the Project Management Institute. The evening included speeches by six project management experts. Stacy A. Goff talked about what project management practitioners need to do to maximize today’s software tools and adopt new advances as they come along. Kathy Kolbe, winner of the Robert E. Fox Award for Lifetime Achievement from the institute, shared insights from the science of team building based on human instincts. Other speakers included Ann Meyers of Rally Software, John Kostaras of Optimum Solutions, Rob Crossley of Strategic Innovation and J. P. Morgan of Dynamic Worlwide Training Consultants.  

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