The U Academic Senate voted unanimously Monday to create the department of operations and information systems within the David Eccles School of Business, catering to the rising demand for managers also educated in other areas of business.
The new department will pull from both the department of accounting and information systems and the department of management to give students a more focused curriculum and better training to enter into a competitive workplace.
“This is what we call restructuring,” said Olivia Sheng, chairwoman of the newly created department.
The idea was first introduced in early 2007, when professors and the dean of the business school, Jack Brittain, began organizing ideas. The demand for the department was evident then, and has only increased in the past few years.
Since the restructuring of the undergraduate information systems degree three years ago, enrollment has increased by nearly 350 percent. Sheng said the increase won’t continue so rapidly, but is expected to level out at about 10 to 15 percent annually, which will lead to the creation of a new undergraduate degree in the near future.
“It’s not going to be that radical of a change. We’ll offer the same courses we’ve offered in the past,” said Don Wardell, chairman of the management department who proposed the idea to the Academic Senate with Sheng. “We hope it will be beneficial to the campus, the students and the community.”
Around the United States, departments closely resembling the U’s have been successful at other universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California-Berkeley and New York University. The U took note and established its own program in hopes of competing.
“We had two programs in two different departments that fit together quite well, so it seemed natural to combine them under one department,” Wardell said.
Along with the new department, the senate also voted to create a new Master of Science degree in information systems, which was prompted by strong demand from recently graduated alumni and current seniors, according to Sheng.
“This is going to be really good for the university and especially for the students,” said Paul Mogren, president of the Academic Senate, the U’s legislative board responsible for educational policy.
The cost of creating a new department seems high, but administrators are working to keep costs down. The new department will be housed in existing buildings, the same courses will be offered, and most importantly, at least from a financial standpoint, the entire faculty will be composed of professors already employed by the U.
“We already have the expertise, there was no reason to bring in anybody new,” Wardell said. “We would love to bring in new people as we grow, but it’s not necessary right now.”
Sheng said the process of creating the department was “painfully slow.”
“Once we had support from the business school, we had to wait a year before we could do anything,” Sheng said. “We were hoping to start classes in Jan. 2008, but now it’s going to be Summer 2009.”
Sheng remains optimistic about the potential of the department. “I have no doubt that we will be nationally recognized in the years to come,” she said. “This will help both in terms of offering better education and broadening the opportunities of our students, and also to better the mission of this university.”