CBE Adds Business Analytics Minor to Curriculum

The digital revolution and emergence of big data have changed the business landscape once again, making business analytics more important than ever before. In response to growing demand for data analytic skills, the College of Business and Economics is launching a new minor in Business Analytics starting fall 2021.

Dr. Chaodong Han, chair of the department of business analytics, shared, “Business analytics is needed to turn information into intelligence and insights to support better decision-making and successful business strategies. By adding the minor in Business Analytics to an existing major, students will be able to enhance their ability to understand how data within their respective disciplines and organizations is collected and analyzed to deliver data-driven results.”

The 20 credit minor will be open to all TU students, except those already majoring in business analytics. Students enrolled in the minor will concurrently receive MOS Excel Expert Certification and learn how to use cutting-edge technology-enabled analytical tools like Tableau, SAP Lumira, R, and Power BI, enhancing their competitiveness and marketability upon graduation.

Associate Professor Dr. Stella Tomasi, who will be teaching the new course Data Visualization and Dashboards for the minor in the Fall added, “Studying big data and analytics is challenging, but an important skill needed for students in any industry or discipline. This new minor gives students an edge in their perspective fields to make data-driven decisions.”

Learn more about requirements for the minor in Business Analytics.

Read about CBE’s first Data Analytics Competition.

YAAC hosts 3rd Annual Skills to Pay the Bills Workshop Series

Learning doesn’t just happen in the classroom. In fact, for the past three years TU alumni have returned to campus to teach students the importance of soft skills. In their signature event, Skills to Pay the Bills, the CBE Young Alumni Advisory Council (YAAC) bring business partners and students together in interactive workshops to improve the skills students need to succeed outside of the classroom.

Patrick St. Clair ’16, chair of YAAC, introduced the Skills to Pay the Bills workshop series in 2019. He shared: “The event aims to accomplish three things. 1.) Show students how paramount these skills are to their personal and professional growth. 2) Provide opportunities for students to work on these skills with their peers and industry leaders. 3) Provide resources for students to continue growing those skills after the event ends.”

The successful series is always highly attended and popular with students. Topics include everything from conflict resolution and effective communication strategies to intrinsic motivation and, especially relevant today, tips for starting your career in a virtual world.

This year’s event, held on February 17, featured prominent business leaders whose presentations focused on timely and timeless topics:

  • Kevin Stehl, VP of Business Intelligence at SECU, Getting Started in the Workplace: How to differentiate yourself in your first year as an Operations Professional
  • Greg English, Executive Director at Morgan Stanley, Connecting for success in a virtual work environment
  • Brandon Trissler, VP of Content and Marketing at RNL, Professional Persuasion Through Compelling Communication: Writing to Spur Action and Results

The series of workshops were attended by 66 students.

Read more from Patrick St. Clair’s interview.

Congratulations Dr. Natalie M. Scala and Dr. Sabrina Viscomi!

CBE is proud to share that our very own associate professor, Dr. Natalie M. Scala, has been awarded the USM Board of Regents Award for Public Service. Dr. Scala’s ongoing research on elections security has directly impacted the local community, the state of Maryland and beyond. She joins four other TU faculty members in being recognized for the system’s highest honor.

 

 

We are also pleased to congratulate our Assistant Dean, Sabrina Viscomi, for successfully defending her dissertation (Relationship Status? It’s Complicated: How consumer-brand relationships influence the  organizational outcomes of brand transgressions) and earning her Doctorate in Business Administration (D.B.A.).

Congratulations on your significant accomplishments! 

 

 

Dr. Natalie M. Scala nominated for 2021 USM Faculty and Staff Board of Regents Award in Public Service!

Congratulations to Dr. Natalie M. Scala, Associate Professor in the Department of Business Analytics & Technology Management and Director of the Master’s Program in Supply Chain Management, on her nomination to the 2021 University System of Maryland Faculty and Staff Board of Regents Awards for Excellence in Public Service!

Each spring the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents recognizes outstanding faculty in five categories: teaching, scholarship, research, or creative activity, public service, mentoring, and innovation. According to USM Chancellor Perman, universities must nominate those individuals who “clearly exceed ordinary obligations.” Dr. Scala’s work this past year focusing on election security certainly fits the bill.

Dr. Scala’s ongoing research on elections security has directly impacted the local community, the state of Maryland and beyond. In particular, her work has identified vulnerabilities to polling places, proposed mitigations for those vulnerabilities, and created educational training for poll workers to identify and respond to threats. To achieve this, she has partnered with Anne Arundel and Harford counties to customize the poll worker training with county-specific needs. Specifically, the partnerships with the counties can positively impact the training of over 1,900 poll workers in a pandemic, who will preserve the integrity of votes in counties with populations of approximately 750,000.

Dean Kaynama, expressed her delight at Natalie’s nomination, sharing “Since joining TU in 2013, Dr. Scala has consistently translated her collaborations and student-involved research into projects that make a difference in the community. We are proud to have her represent TU and the CBE.”

Winners will be recognized at the annual USM Faculty/Staff Recognition virtual event on March 23rd.

Good luck Dr. Scala!

Unprecedented four winning teams are declared in Live Strategy Case Competition

The industry judges of the annual Live Strategy Case Competition at Towson University normally choose just three winning teams, but this year stood apart. Judges from this semester’s industry sponsor, J.P. Morgan Private Bank, were so impressed by TU students’ analyses that they couldn’t decide on just three winning teams, so they presented a fourth-place winner.

In first place, the team Five Forces from assistant professor Anna Obedkova’s management capstone course took the leading number of points, which included business administration seniors John Elmes, Nick Gordon, Ruby Goldin, Milan Patel, and Sophia Rampolla. A team called the COVID Consultants won second place, while another called the Brain Trust won third and the Fantastic 3 took fourth.

Every semester, the Live Strategy Case Competition requires students from the capstone MNGT 481 strategic management course to analyze the local business climate and propose solutions for an industry sponsor, researched over the course of the semester. The culmination of those were presented over Zoom on Friday, Dec. 4 to a panel of judges representing J.P. Morgan.

Like almost all companies and organizations, J.P. Morgan has adopted new business practices and embraced emerging trends in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The case study challenged teams of students to recommend which of these measures should continue and answer the question: “How should the bank adapt its business to thrive in the post-COVID-19 world?”

Obedkova said the judges were impressed with a map of Maryland that the winning team created which reflected the density of potential clients in each county.

“The team used an array of public data sources to overlay several maps over each other to provide the level of details that the judges found very useful,” says Obedkova.

Across the board, judges were impressed by this semester’s presentations.

“To see the talent TU has is extraordinary,” says Elizabeth Lenrow, one of the judges from J.P. Morgan.