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MIS Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
Fall 2018 MIS Fall Advisory Board Meeting in Atlanta
11/2/2018
Welcome
Hugh Watson welcomes everyone for coming and introductions are made.
Introductions and Departmental Update – Maric Boudreau
One-word summary – “Growth”
Fall 2018: record number of MIS applicants (290) and acceptances (180)
Currently recruiting for new faculty with a start date of August 2019
New Programs
MSBA, MADA/KPMG, Area of Emphasis in Information Security, BBA/MAcc Double Dawg Program
Certificate in FinTech -> aiming for Fall 2019
Review of the MIS Curriculum – Maric Boudreau
Currently, 6 required classes, at least 1 MIS elective
Areas of Emphases
Information Security
Data and Analytics
Feedback on the curriculum
Infrastructure elective should include some cloud platform, such as AWS
Could be a well-rounded class that includes DevOps or GitHub
Important that students understand version control software such –> unanimous agreement
by the Board.
Students need to understand that infrastructure and DevOps are interconnected
Agreement that System Analysis & Project Management could be combined
MIS Classes for all Business Majors
MIST2090 -> fundamentals of IS/T & Excel
Not necessarily an MIS class, like MGMT3000 is a management class
Possible new class: MIST3000 (Introduction to Data Literacy in Business): Goal is to provide foundation
for analyzing and understanding data-oriented problems and support decision making
-> SQL and Python
Consensus is that this class is critical to fill gaps in the MIS program
General business students do not need to have depth in SQL, but rather understand
how to fetch and present data
Sentiment for including a data access and analysis tool such as Tableau or Power BI
Is Java Still the Language of Choice - Maric Boudreau
Is Java still the language of choice in MIST4600?
Java is a good foundational language to learn the object-oriented foundational skillset
that is applicable to other languages
The ability to pick up and learn things is more important than being proficient in
several languages -> understand version control, DevOps, etc.
Companies that are looking for a hardcore Java programmer are not going to Terry MIS
Overall, no agreement about one language over another but a strong focus on student’s
ability to understand foundational programming concepts
MIS FinTech Initiatives – Maric Boudreau
Georgia FinTech Academy: talent development platform at the state level that UGA is
a part of
FinTech Certificate: 3 required classes
3 required classes: FinTech Principles and Practices (MIS), Financial Technologies
(MIS), FinTech and Commercial Banking (Another department)
Looking to hire part-time instructor to teach on/both classes, starting in spring
or fall 2019
The New MSBA and MADA Programs – Hugh Watson
40 students total – 25 in MSBA and 15 in MADA KPMG program
Working with AI, Watson Analytics, Tableau, SQL, R and Python. Also taking Marketing
analytics, econometrics, etc. to build holistic data analysis toolkit
Any board members interested in looking at student resumes send Hugh an email
An Issue with Student Job Offers – Hugh Watson and Kaylee Ewing
Demand for our major is very strong, but there is an issue because companies have
gotten more aggressive with their recruiting timelines at UGA.
Students are having to accept or decline full-time return offers from internships
before school starts -> creates difficulties for students
Feedback from Board:
From an employer perspective, they invest a lot into an internship program. Try to
make it clear beforehand that the goal of the internship program is to hire interns
for full-time
Employers have massive hiring plan that they have to fill. Going into fall recruiting,
they need to know what the hiring plan and budget is going into on-campus recruiting.
Students need to be more selective with an internship -> MIS program should work to
educate students to better understand that internships are essentially job offers.
Date for Top 10% Event – Hugh Watson
Important to move the event up to have engagement with students and not miss opportunity
to recruit all students
Pre-selects for interviews are typically made immediately after the career fair. Would
serve better as a recruiting tool if the Top 10% event was earlier.
Students Missing Class due to Excess of Company Events – Hugh Watson
A request that companies be sensitive when pulling students from Athens to events
in Atlanta because it creates disruption in the classroom.
Possible Company Fatigue from Student Organizations – Hugh Watson
Does MIS need to centralize control? Or do you like the fact that you have many opportunities
for face-time with students?
SMIS is the general body meeting -> niche subsections in other clubs
Like having the ability to segment -> the organizations provide companies with opportunities
to have more targeted messages
Companies want more information about specializations of each group, not particularly
fatigued -> should check out student organization websites listed above
MIS Coffee Series – Kaylee Ewing
Alternating professors and professionals at coffee series events?
Definite interest by board members -> we will work to fit your schedule
Hugh will send out information to those interested
Projects for MBT and MSBA Programs – Craig Piercy and Hugh Watson
Need for a capstone project for these programs
MBT -> moved to online a few years ago. Most recent cohort has 40 students
9-month project, 5 students on a team -> need 8 projects. Please contact Craig Piercy if interested
Projects start in January and run through December
Type of projects: mobile app solution, web application connected to database, development
type projects
MSBA -> a one-off project for students to conduct analysis, build a system/model,
etc. Please contact Hugh via email if interested
Thank you for attending the Fall 2018 MIS Advisory Board Meeting in Atlanta!
Meeting minutes prepared by Ethan Mann and Hugh Watson