Student leaders on how to build strong chapters

Leading a student organization is a challenge, says Diego Ortiz-Monasterio, president of the W. P. Carey School’s DISC club, an Association for Information Systems student chapter. Recently, leaders of AIS chapters from across the country shared the secrets of their success at the 2014 Association for Information Systems Student Chapter Leadership Conference and Competition, hosted by the W. P. Carey School of Business.

By Joey Hancock  |  Student Writer

Student leaders from universities across the globe traded ideas for building strong student organizations at the 2014 Association for Information Systems Student Chapter Leader-ship Conference and Competition, held at the W. P. Carey School of Business March 20-22.

The event brought together 155 students and more than 50 faculty members from 28 universities including Canada and Egypt to discuss the information systems profession and to work on leadership skills. “Running an AIS student chapter is difficult; there are many tough lessons that are learned throughout the process,” said Diego Ortiz-Monasterio, president of the W. P. Carey School’s DISC club, an AIS student chapter.

The breakout sessions allowed students to share their experiences. “This leads to better run chapters, better prepared students and better candidates for companies,” Ortiz-Montasterio said. Establishing relationships, alumni involvement and branching out from the norm were a few of the ideas presented at the conference, with each student leader bringing a new take on what makes a successful organization.

Mandated

Sophomore Abigail Weinstein said the University of Georgia student chapter focuses on individual growth and establishing relationships within the community. “At the University of Georgia we have something very unique in that we have a professional development requirement with our student organization and also with our MIS department,” she said. “Students who are MIS majors are required to come to professional development events and activities, and one of the ways we accomplish this is by having professionals come through our organization.”

Weinstein said that the professional development requirement boosts chapter attendance. “We have seen a lot of students come in to the organization and then find an interest in not just the major but also in the student organization,” she said. A lot of majors within the Management Information Systems program are being recruit-ed earlier and earlier, Weinstein said. “Companies are starting to realize that this is a growing major and they want those students,” she said. “In September we have our fall recruitment dinner and also connect the members and professionals in other ways like luncheons and workshops to get more involvement.”

Reaching out

The University of Delaware chapter connects its members to students with majors out-side of the IT world as well as companies, according to students Kimberly Eagle and Will Webber. “We don’t focus solely on one or two majors,” Eagle said. “We realize that IT has value to anyone no matter what your intended career is, whether it is medical technology, English, visual communications, economics or finance.” Involving other majors is important because technology is used throughout many disciplines, Eagle said. “It’s not just computer science and management information systems people that are going to need these things that are hot topics right now,” she said.

Interacting with students from other disciplines is not only helping the Delaware chapter to grow; the broader membership base also opens up a view of the technology issues of the future. “We’re getting input from finance majors, economics majors and the medical technology program, where they interface with medical implementations,” Weber said. “This is some-thing we’re not familiar with and we are learning from these other students on projects.” The UD chapter broadened its membership requirements in order to bring in people from outside of the technology fields. The chapter is recruiting members from other colleges, such as liberal arts and nursing, because technology is a tool used in practically every field, Webber said.

“We’re trying to promote an education-type of approach to our chapter, as opposed to just the professional development aspect.” “We want to make sure we are serving all of our members through the job opportunities and internship opportunities that the companies we partner with are offering,” Eagle said. “For me as an MIS major, if our club solely focused on development jobs that wouldn’t interest me. We can see the other end of the spectrum and bringing in other disciplines and it is helping us grow.”

Career pathways

W . P. Carey students Diego Ortiz-Monasterio and Syed-Ali Bilgrami said their chapter is working to involve alumni with the group as well as helping students find a path into careers. Connecting new graduates and current students with alumni and professionals will help students learn networking and will smooth their entry into the professional arena, Ortiz-Montast said. “We’re hosting an alumni mixer and creating a website that includes a map.

Alumni are invited to place tacks where they live so that when people graduate and move to another state or another city they can see there are a few alumni here and they can contact them.” The larger mission of the project is to promote effective networking, Ortiz-Montast said. “Our big mission is to create a social environment,” he said. “We get along with each other and we hang out together. It’s really about creating a sense of community. The thing I really like about our club is that everyone is really tight-knit, everyone gets along and that really shows in the professional world.”

The network students build while in school will cross over to the professional world, helping students to work more efficiently. “During school you have a network of students where you can build effective teams for your classes, study groups and things of that nature, and once you go out into the professional world you’ll already have an existing alumni network,” Ortiz-Montast said.