Release Date: Monday, May 17, 1999

GROWTH IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROMPTS TERRY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS TO ADD DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

ATHENS, Ga. — A new Department of Management Information Systems in the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business was approved Wednesday by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents.

"A strong and visible MIS department within the Terry College is better positioned to train and graduate students in the highly marketable skills we teach - computer programming, network technology, database management and developing information systems," said Patrick McKeown, a longtime faculty member who will head the new department.

MIS already stands as one of the college's most popular majors due to high demand for techno-savvy graduates in the job market. As recently as a year ago, the MIS major had grown to 500 undergraduates, and almost 200 MIS majors graduated from the Terry College this academic year.

"Establishing management information systems as a separate department gives us the flexibility to work with our students and other units on campus to help address the governor's mandate that the University System produce more technically trained graduates," McKeown said.

The MIS professors who will comprise the new department have been part of the Department of Management and will use existing resources and space in Brooks Hall. This year marks the 30th anniversary that UGA business professors have been teaching and studying information systems, McKeown said. By this fall, the department will have grown to 12 faculty members and about 10 doctoral students.

Confirming the department's strength in scholarship, the MIS group was ranked first in research productivity worldwide, based on a study of the two leading MIS research journals. Two Purdue University professors reviewed all articles published in MIS Quarterly and Information Systems Research from 1993 through 1997, and Terry College faculty were credited with authoring or co-authoring 12 of the 210 published papers.

In addition, professor Alan Dennis received the university's Russell Award for excellence in undergraduate instruction in 1997, and two professors - McKeown and Richard Watson - have been given Fulbright Awards.

MIS becomes the seventh academic department within the Terry College, joining the J.M. Tull School of Accounting; banking and finance; economics; management; marketing; and insurance/legal studies/real estate/management science.

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