Connect and innovate with an elite information systems program
Assistant Professor of Practice, Marie-Christine Martin and Assistant Professor of Practice, Steven E. Sclarow joined the Fox School’s Department of Management Information Systems in January 2017.
Prior to Temple, Professor Martin was a Technology and Services executive with 20+ years of experience working at three of the largest global IT providers, while Professor Sclarow, has 20+ years of experience in the Architectural Design and Construction Industry.
Professor Martin Doyle received the 2016 Fox School Musser Excellence in Leadership Award for Faculty Service. The award was presented at the 20th annual Musser Award reception and dinner Nov. 16, 2016, in Mitten Hall, on Temple University’s Main Campus.
Professor Doyle was recognized for his leadership and service to the Department of Management Information Systems, especially in managing the BBA in MIS and for leading the effort to add more rigor to the MIS curriculum. The Musser Award for Faculty Service is presented annually to one person among all the faculty at the Fox School of Business.
Professors Sunil Wattal and Brad Greenwood received prestigious named research fellowships at the Fox School’s Eighteenth Annual Research Roundtable and Teaching Awards on November 9th, 2016. These fellowships are only awarded to the top researchers in the school. In addition, a number of MIS faculty and doctoral students were also honored with research and teaching awards.
Richard J. Fox Research Fellow
Dr. Brad Greenwood
Irwin Gross Senior Research Fellow
Dr. Sunil Wattal
RESEARCH AWARD HONOREES
Doctoral Research Competition
TEACHING AWARDS HONOREES
Andrea Anania, who retired from CIGNA as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer ten years ago, only had one option for her undergraduate degree: the City of New York system because it was free. Her parents simply lacked the funds to support her.
In honor of that formative experience, she and her husband, James G. Stewart, decided to endow a $50,000 scholarship for one student in the MIS program each year (matched by the Fox School for a total endowment of $100,000), beginning fall 2017. Anania, who went on to have a successful career in information technology, and her husband believe very strongly in the value of an education.
“I had to work my entire way through college, and I hope this scholarship relieves some financial pressure for the recipients so they can focus on their studies,” said Anania, who ended up receiving an excellent free undergraduate education from the City of New York system. “In addition, it would be wonderful if it also helped some students make the decision to come to Temple rather than go elsewhere.”
As a Fox IT advisory board member, Anania feels particularly passionate about the Management Information Systems program at Temple because she has seen it blossom under the leadership of Munir Mandviwalla, Ph.D., who has created vibrant partnerships with industry to help shape the program’s curriculum, provide input into research topics, and educate a pool of qualified candidates.
Mandviwalla has also used the program’s advisory board to remain responsive to changing demands in the marketplace, enhancing the curriculum’s focus on software development and project management. Anania noted she feels that the students coming out of Temple’s program are highly qualified to enter the workforce.
“I have formed a deep relationship with Temple over the years and wanted to continue to strengthen the field where I had a very meaningful and challenging career,” said Anania, explaining why she chose to endow the scholarship at Temple.
Particularly, Anania and Stewart are interested in helping smart students with good work ethics succeed.
“Temple attracts that type of student,” she said. “It is tremendously gratifying to know this scholarship could help diligent, intelligent students who only need some financial assistance to make their dreams come true.”
– Elizabeth Hillaker Downs
513 attendees are expected at 16th annual Fox IT awards on Tuesday April 16, 2016, beating the 2015 record of 435. The awards will recognize Linda Dillman, CIO, QVC, Robert Moore, Co-founder, RJMetrics, and Rich Brennen, Partner, Spencer Stuart. In addition, the most accomplished members of the 1000+ MIS community of 900+ students, 22 full-time faculty and administrators, 33 adjuncts, 14 Fox IT advisory board, 13 ITACS and 15 DIM advisory council members will be honored:
Click here to learn how the awardees are selected. The following scholarships are to be awarded:
The $100,000 James and Andrea Stewart scholarship will be announced. Endowed by Andrea Stewart, retired CIO, Cigna, and 2003 Fox IT award leader, and member of the Fox IT advisory board. Alexion, AmerisourceBergen, Emtec, and Pfizer will be welcomed as new IBIT members.
Ciara Murphy doesn’t give up easily — especially when it comes to helping others.
As she wound her way through five different majors — education, then special education, journalism, photojournalism, and marketing — finally landing in MIS, she knew she wanted that perfect fit that combined her desire to help people with an intellectually stimulating career.
It’s this stick-to-itveness, and the success that has followed, that helped garner Murphy, the vice president of operations for Association for Information Systems, the 2016 MIS Student Leadership Award.
“It’s an extremely competitive group of students this year due to the quality of the candidates,” said Jeremy Shafer, assistant professor of Management Information Systems. “However, Ciara is well deserving of the award, since she has demonstrated a willingness to take on challenging tasks, such as Hootathon and other successful fundraising efforts.”
In fact, Murphy’s determination shone throughout her efforts for Hootathon, a fundraising event for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, as she led her team in a series of diverse fundraising efforts, such as canning at football games and running a kickball tournament. Ultimately, her team raised the most funds of any group at Temple University, to the tune of more than $7,600.
What drives Murphy through all of this is a desire to give back and help others, since she sees herself as the beneficiary of that type of generosity growing up in Boston, Mass.
“I was practically raised in the Boys and Girls Club, from my school work to my swim team,” Murphy said. “It has always been really important to me to give back to people, because they’ve given to me.”
This pay-it-forward commitment is reflected not only in her role as a TA for the introductory course for MIS majors, where she guides many students through the intellectual and emotional challenges of navigating their way to a major, but also in her role with AIS, where she coordinated fundraising events, such as the aforementioned Hootathon, and social events for the group.
Murphy sees the social events for AIS as more than just a time to have fun and bond; in her mind, these events are helping her fellow MIS students gain important soft skills, such as empathy and networking, that are crucial for future success.
“I think it’s important to create that sense of community within an organization,” said Murphy, noting that the organization’s members typically only meet twice a week to hear invited speakers. “Ten years down the road, we are going to be in positions all over the country, and these social events will catalyze our future network. I think that’s invaluable for your future in this field.”
Murphy, who had an internship at JP Morgan and Chase, plans to continue to focus on ways she can help others with her job at Cigna, where she will help develop ways to use technology to incentivize people to improve their health.
“I really enjoy being able to understand and engage in meaningful ways with both IT and the business side of things,” said Murphy, who feels the MIS program equipped her with the determination and skill set to solve problems creatively and act as an effective liaison. “I guess that’s really just a theme for me.”
The MIS program has left her feeling well prepared for the next step of her journey, as an endpoint asset management analyst for Cigna’s Technology Early Career Development Program, and she even feels she has the foundation to reach for her ultimate goal: CIO.
“Everyone who graduates has big dreams, and I’m just going to keep at it and do my best, and hopefully, I will be granted the opportunity to take on leadership activities in the corporate world” she said. “This program has helped make me feel like that’s a feasible goal, preparing me in ways I didn’t even know were possible — and I’m just very grateful.”
Read more about Murphy’s future plans here.
Writer: Elizabeth Hillaker Downs
David Schuff’s Data Science course has not only helped students pinpoint prime scoring positions for the Owls basketball team and identify Al Qaeda’s recruitment hot spots, it has also recently garnered national attention at the 4th Annual Business Intelligence Congress. At the conference, Schuff won the Teradata University Network Innovation in Teaching Award for his paper outlining the course, “Data Science for All: A University-Wide Course in Data Literacy,” in recognition for its innovative course design and unique place in Temple’s general education curriculum.
“This award validates the idea that analytics should be taught to a very broad audience,” said Schuff, Ph.D., professor of Management Information Systems.
Offering Data Science as a gen ed is ahead of the curve, Schuff added, as many universities are only beginning to launch graduate programs in data analytics and have no undergraduate courses.
The course equips students to harness the power of big data and to present data-driven arguments in a compelling manner, through a combination of theory and hands-on learning activities, including lessons on widely available software, such as Tableau and Excel. By the end of the course, students should be comfortable working with and presenting data as well as evaluating its trustworthiness.
“We are basically surrounded by data and our lives are infused by it,” Schuff said. “This course can make you more savvy about the way you navigate the world.”
For Alexander Monsell ’15, a recent graduate of Temple’s theater program, the course helped him to articulate arguments with more certainty.
“It’s…helpful in an industry where so much is based on feeling and emotional response to be able to back things up with hard numbers,” Monsell said. “‘The audience seemed to like the piece’ just isn’t as powerful as ‘90 percent of showings had standing ovations.’”
The course has grown in popularity over the years, with 240 students enrolled in spring 2016 compared to 30 students when the course launched in fall 2015.
After enrolling, Charlotte Myer, a Sophomore majoring in Political Science, saw how data science could apply to her undergraduate research.
“It’s an excellent primer for any kind of data-driven field,” she said. “It helps make the quantifiable more understandable.”
Learn more at: http://community.mis.temple.edu/datascience/
– Elizabeth Hillaker Downs
In their first year of participation, Temple AIS was named “Top Student Organization” for their fundraising efforts during HootaThon, Temple’s Miracle Network Dance Marathon held on November 7th, 2015. The AIS team of 65 members raised over $7,600 for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. This accounted for the 4th largest fundraising effort out of 110 teams and the largest amount among Temple student organizations.
In addition to personal fundraising, AIS implemented a HootaThon committee to plan fundraising events throughout the month of October. These events included two canning trips at the Temple homecoming and Halloween football games. The committee also worked with the Temple American Marketing Association to hold a kickball and bake sale fundraiser.
The HootaThon fundraising effort is part of an organizational-wide focus on community service for this school year. Starting this fall, AIS members are required to participate in at least one community service event to earn active membership for the semester. Other fall community service efforts included volunteering at nearby Duckrey Elementary School and sponsoring a “Black Tie” event held to benefit Temple’s Operation Smile Chapter.
In only its third year, HootaThon raised a total of $280,620.76 to support the Child Life Department at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Those interested in learning more can visit hootathon.org.
Professional achievement is professional development, career knowledge, leadership, networking, and readiness for the workplace. Professional achievement is different from academic achievement, both are important. Employers expect that new hires will have the skills and knowledge to perform their job and the savvy, communication skills, and relevant experiences to hit the ground running.
A high level of professional achievement shows employers that you can apply learning to practice, and that you can work with your peers and accomplish goals. Academic achievement is measured by GPA, professional achievement is measured by professional achievement points.
We have improved the program in fall 2015 as follows:
All of the above changes are live, learn more at: http://community.mis.temple.edu/current-students/professionalachievement/
Philadelphia, PA October 25, 2015 – The Association for Information Systems (AIS) is pleased to recognize Temple University’s student chapter with the Distinguished Chapter Award, one of the association’s annual awards honoring the accomplishments of the best AIS student chapters worldwide. The awards are presented during a ceremony at the International Conference of Information Systems (ICIS), in Ft. Worth, Texas, on Dec. 14, 2015.
The Distinguished Chapter Award recognizes chapters that have excelled in most of the areas of emphasis: professional development, membership, careers in IS, community service, fundraising, and communications.
“AIS takes immense pride in recognizing the distinguished scholars who make up our community, and ultimately, contribute to the success of the field,” said AIS Vice President of Student Chapters James Parrish. “As such, I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate Temple University’s student chapter as well as the student leaders involved.”
AIS Student Chapters began in 2008 with a two-fold mission to support information systems students in attaining their career goals and help universities provide greater visibility to grow the major on campus. The annual awards recognize the ‘best of the best’ from the nearly 70 chapters worldwide.
Learn more about Temple AIS at http://templeais.org/
Association for Information Systems
The Association for Information Systems, founded in 1994, is a professional organization with the purpose to serve as the premier global organization for academics, students and professionals specializing in Information Systems. For more information about AIS or to become a member, please visit www.aisnet.org.
