VCU news

By Leila Ugincius

This academic year, the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business honors the 50th anniversary of its Department of Information Systems.

Founded in 1965 at VCU-precursor Richmond Professional Institute, the Department of Information Systems has proven over the past five decades to be “the little engine that could.” Starting as a two-year data processing program, the department today offers master’s and doctorate degrees as well as certificate programs — excelling in instruction and research while emphasizing the importance of data analytics.

“It’s a really exciting time to be a part of the IS department at VCU,” said Lemuria Carter, Ph.D., chair of the department. “The department has accomplished so much and has such a powerful legacy and yet still a lot of potential. It’s a very comprehensive department.”

The department has accomplished so much and has such a powerful legacy and yet still a lot of potential.

At the turn of the century, the department started the Information Systems Research Institute and became the first IS program at a business school to receive accreditation from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. “We’re one of the few departments in the nation that has an IS program accredited by both ABET and the AACSB [the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business],” Carter said. “That’s not going to mean a lot to a lot of people, but it’s really an exceptional accomplishment.”

In 2005, a team of students from the IS department and the VCU School of Engineering beat out national schools to win the Microsoft Imagine Cup.

More recently, in 2014, two IS students traveled with a faculty member to Haiti to install approximately 50 sustainable and easy-to-maintain computers in Haitian schools. During the weeklong trip, the trio also taught students and educators how to use their new computers.

“Our objective was to provide the younger Haitian generations the ability to move forward and to participate in the new global economy which they have been missing out on,” said assistant professor Manoj A. Thomas, Ph.D. “To do that, it takes access to technology, computers and computer literacy.”

That same year, Gov. Terry McAuliffe established a data internship program through VCU IS to explore additional uses of data to improve citizen benefits and state government effectiveness and efficiency. The internships provide a unique opportunity for graduate students to collaborate with chief information officers of participating states agencies.

These projects stress the importance of information systems as well as differentiating the field from computer science. People often ask Carter to explain the difference between the two.

“I get that question a lot, and there’s definitely overlap,” she said. “Computer science usually will focus more on the technical aspects — right optimization, algorithms — and then information systems looks at how technology impacts an organization, and the people within the organization, and the decision-making process. It really does bring in elements of psychology and how technology impacts people, business and society. And so there is a human element to the technology of information systems, but it’s easy to lose that as we’re talking about the server rooms and different software.”

The Department of Information Systems has its own server room on site, which is extremely rare both within and outside the university. The resource is a valuable tool for students and faculty to conduct research and analyze data. Students get hands-on experience, so they are ready to hit the ground running when they leave VCU.

Carter and her colleagues are always looking for ways to provide experiential learning opportunities for students, as part of the School of Business’ EPIC strategic plan. The server room could potentially be a part of that, as well as internships and service-learning courses.

The IS department’s stellar reputation has attracted and benefited from its equally stellar faculty talent. For instance, in 1998, Allen Lee, Ph.D., joined the faculty because he wanted to “come to a business school with a dedicated IS department, rather than a business school where IS was combined with another discipline,” he said.

“The department now offers not only the M.S. in IS degree but also the executive M.S. in IS,” Lee said. “The department’s undergraduate IS major became the first undergraduate IS major in a business school to achieve ABET accreditation. We offer an array of educational programs that, to my knowledge, is not available at any other university.”

And associate professor Peter Aiken, Ph.D., who had a storied history with the university well before joining the faculty in 1993, has been most excited to see the unit evolve from a teaching department to a balanced teaching and research department. “Our sole focus is on IS,” he said. “Most others are joint IS/marketing IS/accounting, etc.”

Carter, who joined VCU in July, wants to ensure the department stays on the cutting edge. One way is by providing timely courses, such as Digital Forensics, Internet of Things and Big Data Analytics.

“Another thing that I think is cool,” Carter said, “is we started in 1965 as the data processing program, and now 50 years later we’ve renewed our focus on data by coming back and introducing our first big data analytics course this fall. We’ve come so far, but the fundamentals haven’t changed. Data has always been important — how do we collect it, store it, analyze it and then ultimately what do we do with it? How do we use it to make better decisions?”

For more information on the history of the VCU Information Systems Department, visit http://business.vcu.edu/departments-and-centers/information-systems/50th-anniversary-of-vcu-information-systems/.

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