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Fox School of Business

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New faculty bring expertise in technology-enabled change, cloud computing

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This fall, the MIS department welcomes two new faculty members, Jason Thatcher and Leila Hosseini.

Jason Thatcher

Thatcher has been awarded the Milton F. Stauffer Professorship at the Fox School. He joins MIS from the University of Alabama. However, Thatcher isn’t exactly an unfamiliar face on campus. Last year, he was a featured speaker at the Digitization 20 conference, and his informal relationship with the department dates back almost to its inception two decades ago. 

With a background in history and social science, Thatcher’s research centers on individual decision-making, strategic alignment, and workforce issues. “My interest is in studying how technology changes the world we live in,” he says. For example, he’s researched how publicly available data on social media impacts hiring decisions.

He’s been published in journals including MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, and Journal of Applied Psychology among others and is regarded as one of the top active researchers in the field. Thatcher was recently named a TUM Ambassador by the Technical University of Munich, the highest academic honor for their faculty visitors and one of the highest academic honors in Germany.

An award-winning professor, Thatcher teaches courses in Management Information Systems and Strategic Management. His research interests cross over into the classroom. It goes beyond simply helping students understand how to manage their online presence. “All those war stories I have to resonate with. It lets them know this is a really interesting field. I love to talk to kids with an open mind,” he says.

Leila HosseiniLeila Hosseini joins as Assistant Professor after earning her Ph.D. in Management Science with a concentration in information systems from the University of Texas at Dallas. Hosseini’s research is highly practical for today’s business world. “The underlying theme of my research is to identify managerial and operational solutions to improve efficiency in technology markets, particularly cloud computing,” she says. 

“In one of my papers, we used real-world data from a mobile advertising platform and showed that a firm could save about 25 percent of their cloud computing cost by using our proposed procurement policy,” Hosseini says. Her research analyzed Amazon Web Services’ complex pricing policies to show the advantage of renting multiple virtual machines to meet a firm’s cloud computing needs.

She’s enthusiastic to work with her new students this fall. “What I really like about teaching is helping the students,” she says. “I love sharing the knowledge I have with my students to help them get a job they’re going to like.”

New Digital Systems course teaches all business students how to code

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WebAPI

Last year, the MIS department began previewing several redesigned courses, and this fall the new curriculum has been officially rolled out in full. The introductory course, Digital Systems, teaches basic programming skills to all business students, regardless of major. It’s a new approach that will give Fox students a competitive edge after graduation.

“There’s been a push that MBAs should know how to code, and we’re bringing that thinking to our undergradates,” says David Schuff, Professor and Chair of the Department of Management Information Systems. “Some other business school programs start with basic computer literacy, but we’re asking, ‘What’s the next generation of tools and skills?’”

Digital Systems provides an overview of how businesses use technology in today’s economy. The first two-thirds of the course help students get a grasp of the big ideas in an active learning environment. Through hands-on, in-class assignments, students practice applying the concepts they’re learning, including programming.

“It represents a shift from a project-management focus to a product-management focus,” says Schuff.

Steven SclarowDuring the final third of the course, students learn to code using JavaScript to build a digital product of their own. Their final project challenges students to make a tool that can rank potential investors in a fictional firm in terms of various functions like income, assets, and debt. “Their job is to write those functions,” says Steven Sclarow, Assistant Professor of MIS and the course coordinator.

“In the past, coding assignments taught concepts without putting the business perspective on it,” says Sclarow. “Our approach uses an overarching narrative throughout the course to help students see how it relates to them and digital product management,” he says.

The prospect can be daunting for some students, especially outside MIS, but completing the project gives them not only important new skills, but also confidence. And for MIS students, this introduction prepares them expertly for what’s to come: more advanced courses on API-based software development, user experience, and cybersecurity.

“The new Digital Systems course is the latest example of how Temple’s MIS department prepares students for the workforce,” says Bruce Fadem, chair of the IT Advisory Board and retired VP and CIO of Wyeth.

“All business students are going to encounter digital systems, no matter what job they have,” says Sclarow. And Schuff emphasizes this point: “If you’re in accounting or finance, you might have a need to do process automation. In marketing, you might need to manipulate data to do analyses. Programming is becoming an essential tool to do these things yourself.”

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Lavin wins trio of teaching awards

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Amy LavinBefore COVID put online education in the spotlight, Assistant Professor of MIS Amy Lavin was already an expert on the topic. She finished her dissertation on the subject last year. It focused on the characteristics of success in an online classroom. “I researched which type of students might perform better in person versus virtually. I also looked into what characteristics of faculty members made for successful online class experiences,” she explains.

For Lavin, success in the classroom is not just theory. She recently won three teaching awards: Fox Honors Faculty Member of the Year, the Full-Time MBA Faculty of the Year, and the MS in Digital Innovation in Marketing (MS DIM) Faculty Member of the Year. These were “all complete surprises,” she insists. But anyone who knows her passion for teaching wasn’t surprised.

“To me, teaching is about building relationships and inviting students on a journey with you,” says Lavin, “I’m lucky because I am able to help students develop their understanding of how technology will enable transformation in their future careers.”

She adds, “When I look back at the great teachers that I had, they all engaged their students in the material, made it real, and helped me figure out how to make sense of it. I’m thrilled that I have been able in some way to do the same for our students.”

Lavin’s path to becoming a professor was informed by her industry experience. After earning her MBA at Fox, she spent several years at a software company implementing education systems in schools. Along the way, she learned a lot about technology. “I wondered how we can use technology to make things better,” she recalls.

She worked at Temple while earning her degrees, and a chance meeting with her old boss brought her back to her alma mater. “He mentioned an open position implementing systems for billing, registration, advancement–basically the business of higher ed,” Lavin says. She jumped at the chance to return to Temple.

Teaching soon followed. “I discovered I really love working with students when I had the opportunity to teach a section of the MIS introductory course,” says Lavin. After three years as an adjunct, she moved into a full-time role in MIS and became the academic director of the MS DIM program in 2015.

One of the many positive comments Professor Lavin receives is that she is the kind of professor that makes them want to be a better student. For her, this is the highest compliment. “Temple students make me want to be a better professor,” said Lavin, “So the feeling is mutual.”

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Alum Ashneet Gujral blends tech and people skills at Amazon

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Ashneet GujralAs a solutions architect at Amazon Web Services, Ashneet Gujral (BBA ’11) draws on what he learned during his time at Temple MIS every day. “My job revolves around finding strategies for customers and partners. I focus on compliance and security frameworks,” he says. He can’t disclose many details because his projects are related to government agencies, but in general Gujral advises customers on building business solutions. 

“I really wanted to work for Amazon,” he explains. He’s been with the tech giant since last September, but he’s worked with different kinds of clients, including those in the healthcare sector, in the past. “I’ve always worked with businesses whose main focus has been something other than technology. I wanted to challenge myself to go beyond what I had been doing,” he explains. 

This ambition goes back to his time as a student. “At Temple, our professors always encouraged us to go beyond the curriculum. If we wanted to experiment or try something more advanced, we were encouraged,” Gujral says. 

He recalls assisting professor David Schuff with a research project that dealt with social networks. “I built a tool for gathering data,” he says. The project gave him valuable experience in building something based on customer requirements. “That’s something you learn by doing, and this was really hands-on,” says Gujral.

He also cites professor Paul Weinberg as a mentor. “He was a key professor for me. He gave me a lot of guidance in my early days and taught me what to expect in industry beyond what we learned in schoolwork,” says Gujral.

One aspect of his education that he draws on regularly has little to do with technology. He says his time at MIS taught him something unexpected: People skills.

“When I was still a student, I learned how to participate in meetings in a meaningful way,” he says. It was as a member of the MIS student organization, the Association for Information Systems (Temple AIS), where he picked up the interpersonal skills that are a part of his success today. 

“I learned how to resolve conflicts when you don’t agree. There are times when I’ve been in meetings when we’ve been talking about multiple tech solutions that all have pros and cons. Having MIS as my background, I understand the tech part, but I can also explain why one solution is better than another without offending anyone,” he says. “I learned how to recognize when my solution is not the best one.”

Three Temple teams win big in national AIS Student Chapter Competition

Sophia Spadotto Madison CollinsThree Temple AIS student teams took home awards at the annual Association for Information Systems Student Chapter Leadership competition in March. Even though the national conference was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak, the national competition was still hosted virtually.

Temple teams placed in the Scholastic Analytics Challenge, the Computational Society Case Study Challenge, and the Blockchain Hackathon Challenge, competing against Universities across the country including Florida International University, Utah State University, and the University of Michigan Dearborn.

Faculty advisor Steven Sclarow was pleased with the performance of the Temple chapter, “I am excited to see our students take home three awards this year, especially given this year’s unique challenges of competing virtually. However, our students were more than up to the challenge!”” 

The winning Temple teams are:

Congratulations to all the winners!

Conference celebrates 20 years of MIS at Temple University

Digitzation 20

Two decades ago, Temple University founded a new department at the Fox School: Management Information Systems (MIS). The timing was prescient; the following two decades would bring seismic technological changes that put IT front and center in the business world.

For 20 years, the program’s innovative curriculum, research, and thought leadership have empowered graduates to thrive in the modern digital economy.

To mark the twentieth anniversary of MIS, an invitation-only Digitization 20 conference took place on November 7. Experts from academia and industry alike spoke about how digitization will change business, education, and society in the next 20 years.

“Prediction is hard. Still, the thought-provoking format of the Digitization 20 conference provided useful ideas on how to drive business forward to a better future,” says Sunil Misra, president of Emtec, Inc. and a member of the IT advisory board.

“It was great to have such illustrious colleagues and friends in academia and industry participate in the celebration,” says David Schuff, professor and department chair. “Breaking from tradition, we successfully tried a new format to bring the different voices together.”

Richard Watson, Regents Professor and J. Rex Fuqua Distinguished Chair for Internet Strategy at the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia, spoke at Digitization 20. “I talked about the most important digital transformation, the transformation to a digital electricity grid system,” he says.

He was most excited about the abbreviated talks. “We heard so many different perspectives in a single day,” he says. “Quite a few people talked about AI and the potential impact on the job market, and I’m still thinking a lot about that.”

Jason Thatcher, professor and MIS endowed faculty fellow at the Culverhouse College of Business at the University of Alabama, says he’s never seen industry and academia mix like this in his career. “Normally, with a high-profile person from industry, they come in with a handler, give their talk, and then they leave. But we all sat together and had conversations throughout the day,” says Thatcher, who presented on the dangers of big data.

Bruce Fadem, chair of the IT advisory board and retired VP and CIO of Wyeth, also noted the unusual blend of industry and academia. “The speakers, participants, and ideas at the Digitization 20 conference were excellent. The conference further demonstrates the expertise of the MIS department in integrating academic and industry perspectives,” says Fadem.

John Shain, president of Automated Financial Systems and the chair of the Fox School’s board of visitors, echoes that sentiment. “It was wonderful to participate and speak at the 20th anniversary celebration conference of the MIS department. It is inspiring what the department has achieved in 20 years,” he says.

Digitization 20 was co-chaired by David Schuff, Laurel Miller, and Munir Mandviwalla.

Three faculty recognized for outstanding contributions to MIS field

Professors Munir Mandviwalla, Detmar Straub, and Anthony Vance have been recognized as AIS Distinguished Members – Cum Laude by the Association for Information Systems, the premier professional association for information systems academics.

The AIS Distinguished Member program is one of the highest honors given by AIS, recognizing ongoing contributions to the success of the organization by its members. The Cum Laude designation recognizes an even higher level of achievement beyond Distinguished Member. Those receiving the Cum Laude designation have held a leadership role in the AIS community and had at least four publications in AIS or AIS-affiliated journals.

Professor Mandviwalla’s contributions include creating the AIS Leadership Excellence Award to recognize exceptional industry practitioners. He founded AIS Student Chapters in 2008, the home to IS students worldwide. Professor Mandviwalla also created the Information Systems Job Index, a biennial national survey of the Information Systems job market.

Detmar Straub

Professor Straub’s service to the field include serving as editor-in-chief of MIS Quarterly, widely recognized as the top journal in the field. He was a senior editor for Information Systems Research and the Journal of the AIS. Professor Straub served as VP of Publications for AIS, co-chaired the 2014 International Conference on Information Systems, and served as a program chair for the Americas Conference on Information Systems in 2006 and 2001.

Anthony VanceProfessor Vance is a leader in cybersecurity research in the area of insider threats and security-related behavior; he is regarded as an innovator in this area. He was a founding member and serves as editor of the IFIP Working Group in information systems security research. Professor Vance also co-curated the MISQ InfoSec resource on cybersecurity. He currently serves as an associate editor for MIS Quarterly.

Temple is only one of three schools that have three or more Distinguished Members and the only school with three members that received the Cum Laude designation.

AIS coding club at local school a model for future volunteerism

AIS Duckrey StudentsThis semester, the Association for Information Systems (AIS) took the organization’s longstanding commitment to community service to the next level. In partnership with Steppingstone Scholars, AIS President Chinmay Muttur and Treasurer Kevin Publicover created a new coding club at Tanner G. Duckrey Elementary — a K-8 school right in Temple’s backyard.

Each week, half a dozen middle schoolers develop their skills through hands-on practice with block coding that’s presented in a fun, engaging way. Each session also includes a short presentation about a career in the coding field and a self-reflective closing circle about a topical subject, such as Black History Month.

“I like the dance party code program that we do,” says one Duckrey student. “You get to pick your own music and set up who your characters are. I like that it’s a small group, so we get more done in a small amount of time.” 

“One goal we had going in was to spark interest in at least one student and we’ve been successful in that mission,” says Publicover, who created the club’s curriculum and teaches it with fellow AIS members Sean Boyer, Emily Gindele, Jessica Ladzenski, Kyra Lloyd, and Connor Ross in coordination with Steppingstone’s Jhanae Mahoney and Hannah Clements. “A couple of students have shown a passion for coding this session.”

“We’ve been able to take what we do in MIS at Temple and turn it into something we can spread around North Philadelphia,” Muttur says. “It’s amazing how much a middle school student can grasp coding if it’s presented in a way that’s fun.” According to Muttur and Publicover, AIS is already making plans for next semester and beyond.

The coding club was born after AIS identified an opportunity for growth in volunteerism and community service, according to Steve Sclarow, faculty advisor for Temple AIS. “The AIS team saw this as an opportunity to provide value for the neighborhood while reinforcing their own skills,” he says. “You learn as much by teaching as you do by doing.”

Steppingstone has been impressed by AIS and hopes to use the partnership as a model for engaging other student groups across the university with their after school programs, says Chris Avery, vice president of programs for Steppingstone Scholars, a college access program started in 1999. “Working with AIS helps us create a pipeline to build continuity and replenish support after the current MIS students graduate,” he says.

One of Steppingstone’s goals is to see its students continue developing their coding skills through high school and go into STEM fields after college. “That spark can start in elementary school when students are given skills around coding by engaging role models from AIS,” Avery says.

MIS alums find success in product management and fintech

Juhi GhoshWhen Juhi Ghosh (MS ’07) came to Temple with a computer science degree from India’s Pune University, she was committed to furthering her MIS education while mixing in finance and marketing courses to help her succeed in the fintech industry. “I did a lot of research before I picked MIS,” she said. “It’s one of the few MIS programs offered at a business school and it had the right balance of business and technology management.”

While earning her M.S., Ghosh interned at Goldman Sachs as a software developer and after graduation, returned to New York City to work for the firm. She then spent seven years at Elliott Management Corporation and now is a product manager at Arcesium, a post trade technology company providing solutions for alternative asset managers.

Rachael VoluckRachael Voluck (BBA ’14) transferred to Temple from Penn State in search of a diverse student body, a campus connected to urban life, and a major that would make her competitive in the job market.

She found just that with MIS. “MIS is an innovative program that prepares you for the workplace and connects you to potential employers,” she said. “Temple instilled a solid work ethic in me that’s proven very helpful.” That work ethic was evident during her time at Temple – in 2013, Voluck received the Cara and Niraj Patel Scholarship for high performing MIS students.

The Montgomery County native started her career at Vanguard before shifting gears to work for startups in the fintech, insurance tech, and advertising tech fields. Today, she works in San Francisco at Square, a leading financial services and mobile payment company. As a technical product manager on the communication platform team, she builds enterprise software including email, SMS, push notifications, and in-product messages.

While at Temple, Voluck was president of Net Impact, a sustainability and corporate social responsibility organization at Fox. She also co-founded the Rad Dish Co-op Cafe with a group of fellow students. “As the only person from business school involved, I wrote the business plan and handled the economics of menu pricing,” she said. “I helped show that business fundamentals are really important no matter what you’re doing.”

She’s energized by hearing that more women have joined the MIS program in recent years, saying “I like the idea of more women learning about tech and getting out there and doing it.”