Industry/Alumni Support Yields Marketable Skills for Isenberg Students
October 14, 2009
"Over the past ten years, IBM software and consulting expertise have made a critical difference in my teaching and in my students' development of marketable skills," observes Kaimei Zheng, Director of Information Management at the Isenberg School. Zheng employs IBM WebSphere Commerce software donated by the firm for her MBA and undergraduate courses in e-commerce. Students have rare hands-on opportunities to explore enterprise software, which allows for tight integration of store creation, online marketing, customer care, supplier sourcing, and distribution channels. At the same time, mandated by IBM, students embark on e-commerce projects on behalf of small businesses in the local community. A second Isenberg School professor, Shirley Shmerling, also deploys software donated by IBM. In her MBA course, Information Management in the New Economy, students use IBM software in serious gaming that teaches them skills in business process management.
"During the past decade my students have designed web sites and e-commerce applications for over 130 small businesses," notes Zheng. "They learn e-commerce skills while interfacing with the business community. WebSphere Commerce," she continues, "is a remarkable teaching tool for business students." The courses prepare them with a broad repertoire of useful e-commerce skills, while their local small business "clients" gain their first footing in the e-business arena.
Mark Hanny \'78Critical Alumni Support. "We are grateful, above all, to Isenberg School alumnus and IBM executive Mark Hanny '78 for IBM's extraordinary support," emphasizes Zheng. "Mark has continually enriched my classes with updated software and hardware, teaching assistantships, internships, and faculty training." A member of the Isenberg School's Business Advisory council, Hanny joined IBM after graduating in 1978 with a degree in marketing. He has remained with the firm ever since. Today, as IBM's Vice President of ISV & Developer Relations, he spearheads IBM's Global Alliances and Academic Initiatives.
IBM Consultants at the Isenberg School. Near the end of the spring semester, three IBM consultants visited the UMass Amherst campus to help Zheng and Shmerling fine-tune IBM software and related coursework. Representing IBM's volunteer academic ambassador program, the consultants spent the entire day on campus, arriving separately from Cambridge, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Minnesota. Over the last several years, IBM ambassadors from all over the world have helped the Isenberg School in setting-up its e-commerce server and in trouble-shooting-often after normal work hours and in their own spare time.
"We came as volunteers-part of a network of 4,000 IBM ambassadors," observed Cambridge-based Robert Bry, who is the Relationship Manager with IBM's Academic Initiative. Bry and his fellow ambassadors propagate IBM courseware at universities and high schools. "So far, we've reached over 2 million students and thousands of faculty members," he remarked. "We are committed to life-long, open source learning. With the boomers retiring, there's a widening skills gap in IT and general technology skills. We aim to close that gap by introducing today's generation of digital natives to IBM software and to careers in information technology."
