Meeting with Jen Wofford, Assistant Dean for Educational Programs, CIS

It's funny how things work out here; the more time I spend, and the more people I work with, the more I see how everything is connected. When I met with VP Susan Murphya couple of weeks ago, she suggested that I also meet with Jason Locke, the Director of Undergrad Admissions, and when I met with him, he suggested that I meet with Jen Wofford, the Assistant Dean for Educational Programs in CIS. Little did I know that she was in the same office as Christine Stenglein, who I work with on a very regular basis. So today, I met with both Jen and Christine (who's the undergrad coordinator for IS), to discuss the marketing of the major and corporate relations.

We all agreed that as IS students we, the ISSA and I, have a unique perspective to help market the program. Since IS is so interdisciplinary, the faculty generally only see their own field within the major. As student, however, we see the major in its entirety, taking classes in all of the sub-disciplines. Also, as Jen pointed out, we're much closer in age and mindset to the target audience, so our view could be really valuable in helping to craft the message that we send to prospective students.

As far as corporate relations go, Christine and I explained to her that we have been having some trouble informing companies about the major and convincing them that it actually is useful. She suggested that we collaborate with the ACSU (Association of Computer Science Undergraduates) to use some of their clout within companies. Their elections were just last night, so hopefully the new president will be as collaboratively-minded as I am. Also, she suggested that we collaborate with IS programs at other schools to sort of pool our alumni and contact bases.

It was great to find out that we were both on the same page with where we'd like the major to go in these respects. Besides the collaboration, one of my major goals as the President of the ISSA is to get more involved with what the school is doing for the IS program. So it'll be great to have her as a resource and colleague with this effort.