School of Business

Department News

Degree Name Change

Because of AACSB accreditation pressures, the name of the degree CMIS students receive will change.  The course content of the degree will remain the same, but students will now earn a BSBA with a CMIS specialization/major.  To accommodate new programs in the CMIS department, the name of the CMIS specialization/major is also changing.  While we remain the Computer Management and Information Systems (CMIS) department, the major is now Computer Information Systems (CIS).

New Majors/Specializations to be offered by the CMIS Department

The need to change the major name from CMIS to CIS stems from the anticipation of adding two new majors/specializations to the CMIS department.  The paperwork has been submitted and new classes developed to support both a CyberSecurity major and a Data Analytics major.  Students in the CMIS department will soon have the option of selecting any one of the three areas to study.  While some core courses will be the same for all CMIS students (CIS, CyberSecurity, and Data Analytics) there are new courses being developed.

CyberSecurity: The Information Security course is currently an elective and will be a required course for all CyberSecurity students.  In addition, they may also take electives in IT Auditing, Ethical Hacking, Cybercrime, and Security & Analytics.  With zero percent unemployment for cybersecurity jobs in St. Louis and across the U.S., this new specialization will help prepare our students for the jobs that are the most in demand.

Data Analytics: Rather than the 270-450 courses taken by CIS students (Systems Analysis & Design and Database Management), Data Analytics student will take a new course on Database Structures for Data Analysts.  They will also take required courses in Big Data, Advanced Excel Functions, and SAS, as well as choosing electives from Advanced SQL, Security & Analytics, and Data Visualization.  Each day there are 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created. To be competitive, businesses use analytics to translate data into decisions and convert past performance into reliable forecasts.  Data Analytics students will gain the skills required to help organizations govern and utilize data to succeed in today’s highly analytical and data-driven economy.

Senior Portfolio Fair

The Senior Portfolio Fair continues to grow with more and more industry partners taking part.  During the Portfolio Fair, our seniors have the chance to showcase what they have learned and what they hope to do with their degree to both faculty and industry partners. This event helps our students put together their resume and focus on what they want to do post-graduation, and it gives our industry partners a chance to get a sneak peek at our soon-to-be graduates. Many industry partners use this event as a recruiting tool for their company.

The fall portfolio fair took place September 27, 2018 with 48 seniors participating.  The spring portfolio fair took place February 27, 2019 with 54 seniors participating.  We appreciate the industry partners who participate in the portfolio fair and assist our seniors as they prepare to enter the job market.  Industry partners participating in the 2018-2019 academic year included Advanced Technology Group (ATG), Ameren, Brooksource, Centene, City of Highland, Edward Jones, Electromek Diagnostic, Enterprise Holdings, Express Scripts, Falcon Technologies, GreenLight IoT, MasterCard, Microsoft, Potter Electric, Sumner One, Treasury Technology Services, Uncomm, US Bank, and Xclusive Web Solutions. If your company is interested in participating in the Senior Portfolio Fair, please contact Department Chair Anne Powell at apowell@siue.edu.

Spotlight on Students

CMIS Outstanding Senior 2019 – Ethan Trekell

Ethan Trekell grew up in central Minnesota and lived there for most of his life. He attended his first year of college at St. Cloud State University, but, much to his parents’ chagrin decided to drop out after one year to play drums in the rock-and-roll band, For All Those Sleeping.  The band released three full-length albums and performed all over the world, but in 2014 the group decided to end the band.  He then moved to Edwardsville where his wife was to complete her master’s degree. It was then that he decided he would start his journey at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. 

Originally, Trekell entered the School of Business to study economics. However, after being exposed to the field of Information Systems, he developed quite an interest in working with technology and switched his major to CMIS. He became particularly interested in software development and took as many programming classes he could find. He learned Java, C#, COBOL, and Web Development. 

After joining SIUe’s chapter for The Association for Information Technology Professionals, Trekell ran for an official position and was elected treasurer. He works alongside the other officers to welcome representatives from companies around the St. Louis area to present and discuss opportunities in the tech industry. 

Trekell looks back at his experience at SIUe as challenging but very well worth it. Upon graduating summa cum laude (with highest distinction) in May of 2019, he will be starting a position as a Software Engineer at Enterprise Holdings in St. Louis. He is excited to apply the skills he has learned and begin his professional career.  

Past Outstanding CMIS Seniors include:

CMIS Entrepreneur – Andrew Rapier

Senior CMIS student Andrew Rapier began pursuing his passion for music and his desire to turn it into his career while still in middle school.  By the time he began college he had already started his own business working with recording artists, producers, and music managers.  His company, Beat It AT Productions & Publishing LLC, offers services such as instrumental/beat licensing, sounds and samples for producers to use in their instrumentals/beats, mixing and mastering services for music artists to get radio ready mixes and sound, as well as offering informative lectures and videos that also help producers and artists develop their sound independently. 

So, where did the desire for a degree in Computer Management and Information Systems come in?  As a sophomore, Rapier realized that most music is now produced through computer-based technology.  CMIS was a perfect major for him and he has been able to combine both technical and managerial skills learned in CMIS and the School of Business to grow his company.  Rapier says

“My goal for attending university was not to graduate and then immediately work for another company full time, but to rather, graduate and have more tools and information at my disposal to pursue the growth of my own company and brand.  Taking classes like managerial accounting, business finance, and database development brought a more corporate and applicable level of business functionality and understanding which became very useful information as it was easy to incorporate it within my own company.”  

His company now boasts over 15,000 clients, a catalog of over 1,000 original beats and instrumental compositions, and collaborations with major producers, artists and groups.  While music is his passion, Rapier early on realized that most successful businesses today need a core of information technology to be successful.  He has been most successful in merging his passion for music with the CMIS degree he will earn in May 2019.

CMIS Longest Road to the Degree – Andrew Masiero

“At 18 I wasn’t interested in school.  I did as little as I could in high school but made sure to graduate.  I took physical labor jobs because that was what I was qualified for.  I was twenty-five years old when I started work at Bluff City Minerals, and I (mostly) hated working there. This was true for most other jobs I had worked in my life. I found ways to enjoy my work. But, for the most part, I simply lacked passion for anything that I was doing.  It wasn’t enough to earn a living and pay the bills. I was bored. And, the primary challenge was cultivating the mental endurance to continually suffer through rote and (seemingly) meaningless tasks.

I was at the mine for a year when I decided that I wanted to go college and pursue a different path for my life. One of my main problems was that I had no idea what I wanted to do (I bet that never happens). But, I got started and enrolled in courses at a local community college. I have a variety of interests too numerous to mention. I’m a curious person who is continually digging in to discover new knowledge of whatever happens to be interesting to me at the time. My first semester, I performed well, and I enjoyed the experience very much.

Unfortunately, my job continually interfered with my educational journey. The work schedule at the mine was very demanding. We worked long hours, and the times and days changed frequently. This resulted in cycles of withdrawal from courses and long lapses between enrollment (sometimes years). The idea of going back to college would sort of ebb and flow over the years. And, it took me over twelve years to accumulate forty-five college credits.

My employment at Bluff City Minerals was terminated in October of 2016. I had just purchased a home six months prior to that and was still recovering from surgery for a work-related injury. I was scared. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I wanted to go back to school full-time without working. I didn’t want life to get in the way of my educational goals. I wanted to go all in and get my degree so I could have more control over my life. I did some number crunching and discovered that I couldn’t make it all the way to graduation without getting a job. But, it was close.

Everyone in my life was thinking differently. I was getting emails about job prospects from people who were trying to be ‘helpful’. But, I wasn’t interested in that. When I said I wanted to go back to college, one person replied, “People in hell want ice water”. When another close family member finally opened up to the idea, they suggested I get as much done at the community college as I could to save money. It made sense. But, to me that felt too familiar and therefore, risky. I needed a stronger commitment and a shock to my lifestyle. I needed to submerge myself into a whole new environment. I needed to immediately become a full-time student at SIUE.  I decided to take action and figure out the rest as needed.

So that’s what I did.

I was thirty-eight years old. I was nervous because I was the ‘old guy’ going back to school. That didn’t last long, and I quickly met friendly people in every class. Additionally, I was unsure about being able to handle the work-load and performing at a level that I considered acceptable. Again, this didn’t last long, and everything seemed to just fall right into place. I was happier than I had been pretty much my whole life.

Obviously, there will always be classes that are liked more or less by each individual. And, though I’m apparently fascinated by everything, there were a few courses that I didn’t enjoy very much (statistics, anyone?). Typically, I’m very interested and always invested in each subject (I particularly liked the accounting courses). But, there were a handful of courses that stood out and were of special interest to me. These courses are really in line with who I am and who I want to become. These would be Structured Systems Analysis and Design (CMIS270), Managing Group Projects (MGT331), Database Design (CMIS450), and now Structured Systems Design (CMIS470).

Making the decision to go back to school full-time was a risk, but this has to go down as one of the single best decisions I’ve ever made.”

Andrew Masiero will graduate SIUE with a BS in CMIS in May 2019.  He will be graduating summa cum laude (with highest distinction).

Alumni in the News

Jeffrey Loyet, a Glen Carbon, IL resident, spent his time at SIUE putting in the work both a student worker and later as a staff member. He graduated in 2000 with a BS in Computer and Management Information Systems. In this interview Loyet spoke about his experience as an “older, non-traditional” student who focused on his education while still finding time enjoy his college years. “The campus was growing by leaps and bounds and it always seemed like there were new opportunities arriving all over campus almost daily.” Today, he’s part of the Society for Information Management, the CIO Roundtable, and SIUE’s own CMIS Steering Committee

Currently, Loyet works as the Vice President Information Technology of Potter Electric Signal Compan. There, he’s proud to say proud to say that he had a substantial hand in reshaping a piece of the fire alarm market by providing the infrastructure and resources needed to make Potter’s own brand of Fire Alarm Panels. This was a first for Potter and Loyet helped them differentiate themselves form competitors. PESC created panels that were able to communicate via email to those who monitor and maintain them. It was Loyet’s work that made the panels work once they were installed. He credits SIUE for his skill in this: “The basis for this echnology I can take all the way back to my days of working at SIUE and maintaining the campus network and servers.”

Focus on Faculty

Dr. Mary Macharia comes to us from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville where she completed her PhD in 2018. While doing her studies at Arkansas, she also taught an undergraduate level “Introduction to ERP systems” class with a portion of the course dedicated to SAP. She is bringing to classroom, not only her passion for IT and working with young people, but also her 14 years’ industry experience that covers working in various capacities of IT administration, management and support, and spanning corporate organizations, non-profits and consultancy work. In her last job, before embarking on her doctoral studies, she worked in International Development specifically as an IT manager for a USAID project. Her research interests fall under the broad umbrella of social inclusion with respect to IT and specifically in the areas of identity and identity threats in Information Systems, IT for development and Telemedicine, and rural health.

Dr. Tim Jacks was promoted in 2018 to Associate Professor and granted tenure at SIUE. This is a major milestone in the academic career. The decision to promote and tenure Dr. Jacks was based on outstanding teaching evaluations from students, a strong record of research publications, and continual service to the University and the profession. Dr. Jacks most frequently teaches infrastructure classes such as CMIS468 Business Telecommunications, CMIS422 Information Security, and developed a new course, CMIS424 IT Audit and Controls. He has been able to provide a variety of valuable certification opportunities for students to make them more marketable when they graduate. Dr. Jacks was a 2017 School of Business Poos Research Award recipient for his work on IT occupational culture. He was also the recipient of an Innovation Grant from the Chancellor to create a new Cybersecurity specialization that will be offered starting in 2020. He has been an active member of the World IT Project research team that has gathered data on IT professionals in 37 countries. He has published in a variety of academic journals including Communications of the Association of Information Systems, the DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, Journal of Global Information Technology Management, Information Technology and Management, Business Process Management Journal, and Decision Support Systems. Dr. Jacks has received recognition for his service including: Enterprise Faculty Advisor of the Semester (2016 and 2017) for his work with Delta Sigma Pi, New Faculty Advisor of the Year (2017) for his work coaching the SIUE Fencing Club, and an Organizational Leadership award from the Global Information Technology Management Association (GITMA) for hosting the GITMA international conference in St. Louis in 2015. 

Dr. Clay Williams, pending final SIU Board of Trustee approval this spring, is being promoted to the rank of Professor. Earning the rank of Professor is a significant achievement as it represents the highest academic rank a scholar may achieve. This promotion recognizes substantial, on-going contributions in research, teaching and service. Dr. Williams has made outstanding contributions in research having published articles in many of the IS field’s premiere journals including 3 at MIS Quarterly (MISQ) - the field’s top journal, Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS), European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS), and Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS) – forthcoming, as well as many other high-quality journals. His research on the application of critical realism to the conduct of information systems research has been cited nearly 500 times and helped to advance its application in the field. Dr. Williams teaches mostly at the graduate level including CMIS 526 Information Systems and Technology (a course he created), CMIS 528 Strategic Management of IT, CMIS 540 Project Management Fundamentals, and CMIS 557 Enterprise Resource Planning regularly earning superior teaching evaluations from his students. He has also been on the forefront of adopting online delivery in the School of Business. His contributions have gone beyond the classroom to include impacting curriculums at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr. Williams was very influential in developing the structure of the new CIS specialization in the BSBA program that replaced the BS CMIS program, participated in creating the Business Analytics Specialization that supports all School of Business graduate programs, facilitated the formalization of Project Management as a MS CMIS Specialization, helped to have the BS and MS CMIS programs classified as STEM, and helped to restructure the MBA program to support the implementation of the accelerated and online programs. In terms of service, Dr. Williams has made significant contributions at all levels including his department, the school, university and profession. He continues to serve as the Graduate Program Director for MS CMIS (2013-present), continues to serve on the School Faculty Personnel Committee (2017-present), served on the School Curriculum Committee for 6 years during which time many major curricular changes were implemented, and chaired the successful Dean Search Committee (2014-15). In terms of service to the profession, Dr. Williams is a senior editor for The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems (2013-present), served as an associate editor for a special issue on critical realism at MISQ, and regularly reviews manuscripts for many of the field’s top journals including MISQ, Information Systems Research, JAIS, and EJIS as well as many other high-quality journals.