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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

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