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GenEd Data Science Course Scores National Award

David SchuffDavid 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.

Data Science Example“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

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AIS earns HootaThon “Top Student Organization” Recognition

AIS Hootathon 2015

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. 

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Professional Achievement V3

Professional Achievement V3Professional 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:

Points and eportfolio

  • Revised Professional Achievement Point earning model includes new point earning categories and revised point allocations (some allocations went up and some went down).
  • Professional achievement and reward points for certain activities are automatically awarded by the department (e.g., attendance at department events.).
  • Submit requests for activities such as internships by adding a new point request (post) to your e-portfolio. Once awarded, points are automatically displayed on the e-portfolio.
  • The Professional Achievement Widget will now automatically display Professional Achievement Points and badges on student eportfolios.
  • On November 18, all eportfolios will be automatically upgraded to the latest theme which integrates the Professional Achievement Widget. If you are using the latest theme, the change is seamless. Unexpected results may occur if you don’t have “FOXMISeportfolio_V6.” We recommend switching manually now. See: http://community.mis.temple.edu/eportfolios/samples-and-resources/
  • Review and check on points on the Community Dashboard.

Professional and Academic Achievement Recognition and Rewards

  • Earn one ‘Reward Point’ for use in the MIS Store for each earned Professional Achievement Point. Reward points get deducted when they are used – professional achievement points never get deducted. The ‘prices’ in the store are now lower and the minimum is gone so you can get your favorite store item now!
  • Top professional achievement points and academic GPA leaders will earn a Professional and Academic Achievement Award Certificate and $250 Cash award twice a year. The criteria is:
    • Minimum GPA of 3.50
    • The highest total based on cumulative GPA + Professional Achievement Points
  • Top achievers receive new academic and industry engagement opportunities.
  • AIS will receive a cash award each term based on the number of points earned by AIS members. This means that AIS members get to double dip, earn points for yourself and earn points for your organization!

All of the above changes are live, learn more at: http://community.mis.temple.edu/current-students/professionalachievement/

Temple AIS receives 2014-2015 Distinguished Student Chapter award

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.

Four new faculty join the MIS department

The Fox School’s Department of Management Information Systems is pleased to welcome four new full-time faculty members in fall 2015.

Detmar Straub  Detmar Straub is Professor and IBIT Distinguished Visiting Professor of MIS. He recently retired from Georgia State University after 23 years. He is a hiker on trails all over America and turns wood for a hobby. 
 Laurel Miller Laurel Miller, Assistant Professor, received her MS in Education from the Temple University. She also is the Director of the Institute for Business and Information Technology and manages the corporate membership program.
 Jing Gong Jing Gong, Assistant Professor, will soon to receive her doctorate at Carnegie Mellon University. She enjoys studying consumer and firm behavior in technology-mediated markets. Jing likes to cook and go hiking, and is always eager to learn new technologies and methods.
 Amy Lavin Amy Lavin, Assistant Professor, received her MBA from the Fox School of Business, Temple University, where she was most recently responsible for the implementation of Salesforce as the Technical Training Manager. Aside from teaching, her other passions include spending time with family, cooking and reading.

 

Temple Learning Platform at Loyola University and KIPP Charter School

What if there was a tool that created an educational environment that didn’t just teach but engaged students so that learning was communal—an interactive social activity, not a static one-way street of facts and stats flowing from teacher to student?And suppose that same tool allowed high school kids to learn how to manage their digital lives and, as those kids became college students, gave them a chance to build their online professional presence.

That tool exists, and it was built by Fox School’s Management Information Systems department.  This year it was used not just by Fox MIS, but by college students at Loyola University Maryland and by high schoolers at KIPP DuBois Collegiate Academy, in Philadelphia.

The Temple Community Platform is a Web 2.0, cloud-hosted platform based on WordPress. It allows students to create profiles and maintain e-portfolios of their work.  Professors and administrators also have profiles, plus share assignments and course descriptions.  All users comment and share– some blog and post articles.

Plus, it’s gamified.  Students get points for their efforts.

Loyola UniversityAt the Loyola University Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business and Management, Professor and DeFrancis Scholar in Information Systems, Paul Tallon, read about MIS students using e-portfolios at a Fox career fair. Tallon was intrigued.  “It whetted my appetite because we talked about doing something like that,” he said.

Tallon reached out to do some fact gathering, and shortly thereafter found himself running a pilot program at Loyola, with the platform hosted and supported by Temple. The first semester the platform was up and running, Tallon made creating an e-portfolio a class requirement in one of his courses.  Twenty-eight students went step-by-step through the process of creating a deliberate digital identity. 

Tallon said, “I’m convinced this is the way to go.”  By using a platform that works the way Facebook and LinkedIn work, but is specifically for educational and professional purposes, students learn to post and interact in ways that are more polished than on social media sites.

By the end of the year, more than 60 Loyola business school students had created e-portfolios.  Tallon thinks that, moving forward, sophomores should be using the platform as part of their required Intro to Information Systems class. At that point they “should have a resume and be interested in internships.”

With the Temple and Loyola platforms, future employers can search the e-portfolios, looking for specific skill sets and experience and see the resumes and projects that have been posted.  This helps match students with the right internship—and, eventually, the right job.

KIPP PhiladelphiaThe second pilot program took place at KIPP DuBois Collegiate Academy, in Philadelphia (a public charter school in an historically underserved area of the city). Rachel Kyler, a teacher and the Director of College Placement, explained that at the high school level the community platform is closed to outsiders, due to a need for student privacy, but open to the school community.

But, like the business schools, one of the major goals of KIPP is to prepare kids for the working world. To be successful, they need to develop “soft skills (like) networking” and to work at internships, Sarah Gomez, Managing Director of KIPP Through College said.

The platform (note: link leads to password protected site) was rolled out to more than 100 11th graders as part of their Junior College Seminar.  The goal was to give the students a place put their resume, showcase their work and communicate with each other about their internships over the summer.

The feedback from the students is positive, Kyler said. “They’re excited about communicating and connecting—they can share what’s working at their internships.”

The platform helped streamline the internship process for the school staff, and will help with both accountability and helping kids overcome challenges during the summer.

Plus, “It’s good college prep because colleges are moving in this direction.”

The Temple Community Platform was conceived in 2008 for the Fox School’s Department of Management Information Systems and since inception has hosted 7300+ members, 5900+ sites, 1200+ e-portfolios, 17,000+ posts, 48,000+ comments, and 300+ courses. It is being used by Temple’s School of Tourism and the Fox School’s Department of Human Resource Management and talks are underway to expand use at Loyola University.

Peter Hwang steps up and wins

Peter HwangIt came as a complete surprise to Peter Hwang to learn that he’d won the 2015 Student Leadership Award given by Fox School‘s Management Information Systems Department and Institute for Business and Information Technology.

But win he did, and he, along with several other honorees, received his award at the 15th annual Information Technology Awards event on April 14, 2015.

Hwang is a Junior, majoring in Management Information Systems. The award is given annually to a full time undergraduate, or part or full time graduate student, who’s made a significant contribution to the students and extended community of the MIS department.

It’s unusual for such a young student to get the award, but Hwang has been stepping up as a leader since his sophomore year when he first joined Temple AIS (the founding student chapter of the Association of Information Systems.)

The organization offers students a chance to hone a variety of skills directly and indirectly related to MIS, through workshops, resume critiques and forums with speakers.  It also gives students a chance to promote their current field of study, MIS.

“I tried to be active as possible. I would go to all the events and participate in their mentorship program.” Hwang says about his sophomore year with AIS.

“I applied to be the Director of IT my junior year. After the first semester, the VP of Operations stepped down. I was offered the position and gladly accepted.”  Hwang says he had a strong desire to help out. By taking on the dual role, Hwang was effectively doing twice the standard level of volunteer work, which was seen by fellow students as well as faculty as much more than “helping out.”

Plus, he did it with a positive attitude.

Since arriving at Temple, a choice he made because it was close to home and he was interested in business, Hwang says he’s transformed.  In high school, he was not as involved in academics. Now, he is “able to give back, to give workshops.”

One thing that hasn’t changed during his college career– his love of tennis.  Hwang was the captain of his tennis team at Marple Newtown High School, and continues to play club tennis.  It is, he says, for balance in his life. “It’s important to be physically active.”

Other people honored for making a significant contribution to the students and extended community of the MIS department include:

  • Faculty Leadership Award – James Moustafellos
  • Administrative Leadership Award – Debbie Riley
  • Administrative Achievement Award – Jillian Reilly
  • Faculty Teaching Award (full-time) – David Schuff
  • Faculty Teaching Award (part-time) – Amy Lavin
  • MIS Researcher of the Year – Paul Pavlou

Temple’s AIS Student Chapter wins 1st again – for 4th consecutive year!

AIS 2015 ConferenceTemple’s AIS Student Chapter won big again at the Sixth Annual AIS Student Leadership Conference and Competition receiving first and second place. These victories mark four straight years of Temple’s clinching a first-place at the AIS conference – further affirming a remarkable year for the chapter, which was recently named Distinguished Chapter by the Association for Information Systems (AIS).

Held over April 9-11, 2015, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and hosted by the University of Alabama, the AIS conference hosted about 300 participants from schools around the globe, whose student teams had the opportunity to enter into various competition tracks. Fox MIS students competed in the IS that serves society track.

  • 1st Place: Ken Wunderle and James Dantonio for MyPhilly Access
    A city-wide network of kiosks that would provide essential information for the homeless population of Phila.  It is a very simple interface to allow people with varying levels of literacy and technical ability to be able to access vital information on housing, food, medical services, emergency housing, job training, and counseling.
  • 2nd Place: Stephen Scanlon, Peter Hwang, Jack Portnoy, and Matt Keenan for Got Your Back
    Designed to create transparency between Law Enforcement and Society.  Incorporates Google Glass to live stream video and data to the dispatcher, while storing the information in a Cloud database.  A real-time “second set of eyes” promotes greater safety and informed decision making for police officers in the field, and will significantly enhance both officer accountability and evidence gathering.

The AIS conference’s goal is to connect students, faculty, and corporate representatives, share best practices on operating and funding the chapter, and foster valuable (and competitive) information-system based activities. This year, as with previous years, Temple was more than up to the challenge.

Congratulations to the Temple champions!

Alum Ron Riddell ’68 endows 100K scholarship

When Ron Riddell graduated with a B.B.A. from Temple in 1968 computers were, he says, a “mystic temple in society.” But, armed with his degree, Riddell found himself in the computer field, and wound up, nearly 40 years later, with a successful career as a mainframe programmer. He’s currently a system support analyst and Assistant Vice President at Wells Fargo Bank.

Part of the achievement he attributes to luck, but “with out a degree at Temple I wouldn’t have gotten where I’m at…it opened doors to reasonable success.”

Now he’s helping other Temple students get their degrees, and have a chance at finding open doors, by funding the Ron and Ronda Riddell Endowed Scholarship with a $50,000 gift which is being matched by the Fox School for a total endowment of $100,000.

Munir Mandviwalla, Associate Professor and Chair, MIS, says the gift is “transformational because it will support hard working Temple students who choose business technology as a career. It is also the first such gift in the short history of the department.”

Riddell understands hard work and tight finance. He chose Temple because he could afford the tuition and live at home (commuting to class was common at the time). He got a further boost about two years into his studies. Temple became “state-related,” a designation that Pennsylvania gives universities that are independently run, but receive financial appropriations—in exchange for offering tuition discounts to students that are residents of Penn.

It was while he was at school that he met his future wife, Ronda Currens, although she didn’t attend Temple. The two met at church and she was only in Philly for a year before going home to Minneapolis. “ Four and a half years, and a lot of phone calls later,” the two married.

A job at Philco was Riddell’s first open door. After 18 months in production, he moved into programming. At the time, Philco was heavily involved in defense contracting, including work with NASA. His first computer was a Burroughs with 256 kilobytes. “I’ve got more memory sitting in my programmable alarm clock,” he points out.

The position at Philco lead to a stint at The Franklin Mint, then years of work at Combustion Engineering (a company who, at the time, was a leader in the development of both fossil and nuclear steam supply power systems.)

Then he took a job with Fidelity Bank and he’s now bee n in banking for 30 years.

“I didn’t build a better mousetrap. I got lucky getting a job in computers when demand was high.” Riddell says. He also invested, and lived a comfortable but modest life with Ronda (who succumbed to MS in 2009).

He wanted to do something that was large enough to make an impact, and the endowed fund does just that.

He also hopes that naming the scholarship after his wife, Ronda, will help people remember her. She was with him for 45 years.

Most importantly, though, “if it helps get a kid through college” then Riddell’s more than happy to have made sure doors continue to open.

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