The sixth annual Information Technology Career Fair was the biggest one yet, with 40 companies and more than 250 students taking part in the Sept. 17th event held on Temple’s main campus.
Among the businesses seeking to hire Management Information Systems students for internships and jobs were AmerisourceBergen, Dow Chemical, Lincoln Financial, NBCUniversal, Scholastic and QVC. The fair has grown so much that it was moved to the Howard Gittis Student Center, said Laurel Miller, Director of the Institute for Business and Information Technology.
“Our students are getting internships and jobs at many different companies and making an impact. This has companies that haven’t been recruiting saying, ‘Hmmm. Maybe we should go to Temple and recruit,’” Miller said. “Companies are coming to us and saying, ‘Your students are much more professionally developed than others we see.’”
Management Information Systems faculty and staff encourage all students to attend the Career Fair, even freshmen. It’s a critical part of their professional development, she said.
“A lot of students come in and say, ‘I don’t know how to talk to people I don’t know. I don’t know what to say. I’m too nervous,’” Miller said. “We want our students to start early so they’re pros at approaching people and saying, ‘I’m Laurel Miller. I’m an MIS major. Please tell me about your company.”
This was junior Michelle Purnama’s first Information Technology Career Fair. Purnama, who changed her major to MIS last year, spoke in depth to representatives from 10 companies, including the CIO of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, a company that specializes in medicines for rare diseases. She was surprised someone at his level was at a recruitment event.
“We had a great conversation. I could feel how passionate he was about his job,” Purnama said. “A resume isn’t all that matters. A lot of students have good resumes, but recruiters are also looking for personality and what you stand for.”
Purnama told the CIO she wanted to have a job that would have an impact. She now has a summer internship offer at Alexion’s Connecticut headquarters.
“He saw how my values aligned with the company and he wanted to recruit me,” Purnama said. “When you make a connection like that, right off the bat, it’s very special.”
Professor Min-Seok Pang was promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure. Dr. Pang joined the department in in 2014 and has since built an outstanding record of scholarship around the role of information technology in government. He also is a highly-rated instructor in the BBA in MIS, the MBA program, and the Ph.D. program, teaching courses in the strategic management of information technology and data science.
Emily Repshas has been promoted to Assistant Director of MIS. Repshas joined the MIS Department in 2016. Her contributions to the department include managing the MIS PRO program, the PRO store, and expanding the department’s social media presence. In her new role, she will be adding marketing and communications to her responsibilities, including our undergraduate and master’s programs.
Professor Amy Lavin has been appointed a Dean’s Teaching Fellow for 2018. Professor Lavin has been an innovator in the classroom. She is the Academic Director of the MS in Digital Innovation in Marketing (MS-DIM). In 2017, Professor Lavin was named the MS-DIM Faculty Member of the Program, an award given based on student feedback. She has presented at conferences such as the Americas Conference on Information Systems and the Higher Education Social Media Strategies Summit.
Professor David Schuff was named the Fox School of Business Executive Doctorate in Business Administration 2018 Faculty of the Year. The award recognizes his “significant contribution to the academic and intellectual growth of Executive DBA students,” according to Academic Director and Professor of Marketing and Supply Chain Management Susan Mudambi.