{"id":4167,"date":"2007-01-01T14:30:03","date_gmt":"2007-01-01T18:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=4167"},"modified":"2014-11-14T16:03:54","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T21:03:54","slug":"msmis-program-grooms-women-leaders-in-high-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2007\/01\/msmis-program-grooms-women-leaders-in-high-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"MSMIS program grooms women leaders in high-tech."},"content":{"rendered":"

The Master of Science in Management Information Systems (MSMIS) program in the College of Business Administration evolves continuously in response to a changing environment, but one factor remains constant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to graduate students who are qualified to take leadership positions in IT in South Florida,\u201d said Irma Becerra-Fern\u00e1ndez<\/strong>, associate professor in the Decision Sciences and Information Systems (DSIS) Department and faculty director of the MSMIS program.<\/p>\n

For women, the challenges in gaining such positions remain daunting, but signs of progress exist.<\/p>\n

For example, the online article \u201cWomen CIOs: How to Smash the Glass Ceiling,\u201d which appeared in December, 2006, in Baseline<\/em>, cited telling statistics. Prepared by Catalyst, a nonprofit organization that is working to increase the proportion of women in top jobs, the July, 2006 report showed that women held 9.4 percent of all jobs higher than vice president at Fortune 500 companies in 2005. Though the number is still small\u2014and does not have CIO positions singled out\u2014the percentage of women in the positions is up from 7.9 percent in 2002.<\/p>\n

Three alumnae of the college\u2019s MSMIS program feel their degree is helping them achieve their career goals and giving them the confidence to set their sights high\u2014in part because the program offers a fifty\/fifty mix of technology and business.<\/p>\n

MSMIS enables graduate to attain senior status.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
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\nCitereia Allembert Ajayi<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Citereia Allembert Ajayi<\/strong> (MSMIS \u201906) bypassed level 1 or junior-level designations when she recently landed a job as a senior business systems analyst at Norwegian Cruise Lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came into the corporation at a higher level because of my degree and my previous work as a database coordinator for a law firm,\u201d said Ajavi. \u201cI feel confident in the job because what I learned about the management of technology in the MSMIS program enables me to make good recommendations to my employers and the teams I\u2019m on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For her, the program\u2019s balance between technology and business was the attraction.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone can pick up a book and learn technology,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat drives my career is the business knowledge I\u2019ve learned, along with my experience. You can\u2019t get that from a book.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strategic orientation benefits alumna.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
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\nVeronica Gomes<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u201cThe program doesn\u2019t just give you key technologies\u2014it\u2019s strategic,\u201d said Veronica Gomes<\/strong> (MSMIS \u201906), a member of IBM\u2019s technical support team, who was promoted to advanced technical support while taking the program. \u201cYou learn how to plan, manage, differentiate, and impact business through technology, and you see how technology varies from one company to another. As a result, you feel you are a more skilled professional who can look at the big picture and successfully integrate business with technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also found the diversity of her colleagues an advantage in the marketplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe university allows professional women and men of different backgrounds, countries, cultures, and experiences to work together and produce from that diversity very interesting results, discussions, perspectives, and solutions,\u201d she said. \u201cThis combination is very useful in the global markets and businesses in which we work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well-rounded program gives graduate full picture of the field.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
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\nJulia M. Accardo<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Just one semester as a marine biology major was enough for Julia M. Accardo <\/strong>(MSMIS \u201904), information management, Florida Power & Light Company, to realize her future lay elsewhere. She already had an interest in business and liked the technical aspects of the college\u2019s MSMIS program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got an idea of what I wanted to pursue because I learned about telecommunications, databases, the Web, programming, project management, and more.\u201d said Accardo, who currently performs systems analysis and project management.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s confident about her prospects in what\u2019s still a male-dominated field\u2014an imbalance reflected in the classroom and as well as in the workplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t encountered any gender-based obstacles in the IT industry thus far, but I feel that my education and work experience have prepared me to face any competitive challenges that may arise in the future,\u201d she said. \u201cI anticipate that my knowledge of a variety of technical areas will continue to be rewarded throughout my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MSMIS program takes one year and meets on Saturdays to accommodate the busy schedules of working professionals. For more information, visit http:\/\/business.fiu.edu\/chapman\/master_of_science_in_mis.cfm<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Master of Science in Management Information Systems (MSMIS) program in the College of Business Administration evolves continuously in response to a changing environment, but one factor remains constant. \u201cWe want to graduate students who are qualified to take leadership positions in IT in South Florida,\u201d said Irma Becerra-Fern\u00e1ndez, associate professor in the Decision Sciences […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[444,1433,3398,1957,2629],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4167"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4167"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24332,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4167\/revisions\/24332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}