AIS STUDENT CHAPTER
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS ANNUAL REPORT 2014-15
“To promote the study and utilization of information systems”
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Summary: Letter From The President __________________________________________________________________ 1
Professional Development ______________________________________________________________________________ 3
Community Service ______________________________________________________________________________________ 5
Fundraising _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 6
Membership ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 7
Communications _________________________________________________________________________________________ 8
Careers in “IS” ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 9
Chapter Operations _____________________________________________________________________________________ 11
Budget/Financial Statement ___________________________________________________________________________ 13
Metrics and Demographics _____________________________________________________________________________ 14
SUMMARY: LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
Page 1
Summary: Letter From The President
08 May 2015
Dear AIS Members, Officers and Administrators:
As I end my second and final year as President, I am proud to write to you concerning the
events and initiatives of 2014-15. This past year has been exciting and challenging for the
Association for Information Systems chapter at the University of Arkansas’ Sam M.
Walton College of Business. Certainly, not the least part of our excitement has centered on
the fact that we began our very first year as a member organization of AIS. There have
been transition challenges but these were handily met by the passion and energy of our
new AIS Board of Officers. And, perhaps there is no better place to start that with the
initiative of expansion.
Prior to joining AIS, our Information Systems student group was led by only four officers.
We quickly learned that, in order to properly serve our student community, we needed a
larger, more diverse leadership team. With that goal in mind, we expanded from four to
nine officer positions. Furthermore, we reached beyond the Information Systems (ISYS)
discipline in search of leaders. For example, our Treasurer was a Finance & Economics
major, and our VP of Professional Community Development was a Management major.
Finally, by happy accident, we achieved a racial, gender and age diversity across the
leadership that gave us a wonderful sense of synergy.
Our intentions for this new AIS chapter flowed from our newly crafted mission
statement: “to promote the study and utilization of information systems through programs
of professional development, social networking, and community development.” With that in
mind, we planned eighteen events and executed on thirteen of them. These ranged from
career and networking events with organizations like Phillips 66, technology events like
an afternoon trip to Walmart’s Innovation Laboratory in Bentonville, AR, career fair
SUMMARY: LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
Page 2
readiness events with Walton College’s Career Center, technical skills events like our
series of Excel workshops, and social events like our Nite-Out at Arkadia Retrocade.
It has been a year of testing out new things and building a framework for the future.
Every single activity undertaken by this new AIS leadership team was a learning moment.
And, I am encouraged to see several of this past year’s leaders carrying those lessons
forward in leadership positions this coming year. With solid funding and mentoring from
both academia and industry, I know they will have the support they need to exceed the
accomplishments of the outgoing leadership – and that is an imminent fact that I
personally look forward to boasting of in the coming years.
Even the composition of the Annual Report that you are about to peruse was a learning
experience. We were inspired and awed to see the example of AIS chapters from around
the country when we read through their annual reports in preparation for our own. In
these closing weeks, we realize now the nascent lesson of this past year: there is still
much work to do; there are still more leadership positions to establish and explore.
So, for the future, we invite all leaders that move through the information systems world
to bring their passion, creativity and humanity to bear in every moment of their lives.
Specifically, we say to the AIS chapter at the University of Arkansas, “keep going …
because there is greatness over that next mountain.” And, to the AIS members and alumni
in the wider world we say, Greetings! We cherish and covet your friendship and support
as we move forward to what’s next.
Respectfully,
Radclyffe L. George
President, Association of Information Systems
University of Arkansas - Fayetteville
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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Professional Development
The University of Arkansas AIS chapter prides itself with having provided its members
and students of the Sam M. Walton College of Business with opportunities to better
themselves. In 2014-15, we sought to offer a broad array of events ranging from technical
skills development through business communication etiquette to career fair navigation.
One of the events that we hosted this year was a Career Fair Readiness event.
Every semester approximately 100+ companies send their recruiters to the University of
Arkansas. Our Career Fair Readiness event focused on key soft skills that are necessary to
differentiate students in the eyes of HR professionals. During this event we invited our
career center assistant director, Renee Clay, and Jeff Mullins, Executive in Residence and
Associate Director of the Master of Information Systems Programs, to prepare students
for the upcoming Career Fair. They taught the students about the do’s and don’ts of
resumes and interactions in the corporate world. They also provided in-depth tips on
Figure 1: PMI (Project Management Institute) Event
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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how to highlight a student’s strongest assets so that an employer is given the best
possible first impression. Jeff brought industry perspective and details for the
Information Systems field. We provided tips on how to perfect one’s “elevator speech.”
We also highlighted key factors that employers are looking for and the value of ISYS
majors and minors in the marketplace.
Another event that we hosted during the year involved an IT specialist named
Todd Cox. Mr. Cox is a small business owner and IT specialist who helps run the IT for
local companies. He demonstrated to the students how important it was to maintain
confidence and ease customers through conversations related to systems requirements
and development.
Every semester we host a series of multi-level Excel workshops. For many
undergraduate business programs, providing ongoing Excel training and practice is a
challenge. AIS recognized this need at Walton College and decided to create a curriculum
to teach Intermediate and Advanced skills in Excel. Pivot tables, V-lookup, Subtotaling,
Conditional Formatting, Slicers, Macros and more are addressed during four installments
of training that are two hours in duration each.
The Northwest Arkansas Project Management Institute gave us street-level
insights into day-to-day project activities and tactics. These were just some of the key
events that we hosted during the year. A full list of events held can be found in “Metrics
and Demographics” on page 14.
Figure 2: Fall 2014 Intermediate Excel Workshop
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Page 5
Community Service
CHRISTMAS FOOD DRIVE
For the Fall 2014 Semester, we initialized our annual food drive. This food drive consisted
of members creating and decorating donation drop-off boxes to be placed throughout
Walton College’s various buildings. The proceeds went to the local Salvation Army as well
as the Full Circle Pantry, a food bank on campus.
EXCEL WORKSHOP
These events consisted of 3 levels of topics: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. This
workshop is a part of our Professional Development Certificate. It was interesting to us
that, although advertising for this event was internal to Walton College, we had a few
employees from Tyson Foods attend. They had heard about the event from their daughter
and were looking to pick up a few more Excel tricks and tips.
LOOKING AHEAD
We hope to broaden our sights in the community and team up with the Fayetteville Public
Library (FPL) to create a set of events designed to educate and empower citizens through
the use of computer software and social media trainings. Relationships have already been
formed with the outreach personnel at FPL, and we look forward next year’s to including
opportunities where AIS members can share their computer skills and knowledge the
Fayetteville community through this joint venture with FPL.
FUNDRAISING
Page 6
Fundraising
The AIS Student Chapter at the University of Arkansas has been entirely funded by
industry sponsors and by the Department of Information Systems at the Sam M. Walton
College of Business. To this point, we have not so much as collected even dues from our
members. The only fundraising event proposed by the leadership this past year was an
AIS t-shirt initiative. We marketed these shirts at cost ($ 15.00 per shirt) but as of this
writing, the only shirts known to be in circulation are those that are worn by AIS Officers.
Obviously, this is an opportunity to increase the visibility of AIS on campus. For that
reason, the current leadership recommends that a more concerted effort be made to
promote t-shirts. Furthermore, the future leadership is encouraged to create their “AIS at
Walton” t-shirts – perhaps it can be an annual tradition; an iterative model for t-shirt
design and production, if you will.
As a further consideration, since the University of Arkansas chapter of AIS is so fortunate
to have consistent funding, perhaps future AIS leadership teams might create fundraising
efforts that would benefit the surrounding community. It had been stated many times in
the past year that community service was an area that this chapter wished to expand its
capabilities and efforts. For that reason, the outgoing leadership strongly encourages
future AIS leaders at Walton to think of those in need around them, and to focus some of
AIS’s energy in that direction.
Ultimately, we AIS leaders at the University of Arkansas humbly acknowledge that we
could not have done what we have this past year without the support of some key
financial supporters. To that point, we extend our deepest thanks and appreciation to
Conoco Phillips, Phillips 66 and the Sam M. Walton College of Business Department of
Information Systems for their support and faith is us.
MEMBERSHIP
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Membership
Total Members: 35
RECRUITMENT
Methods of recruitment for our organization has been, but not limited to:
Walton Block Party
o Organizations and clubs of the Walton College set informational booths along
the courtyard to recruit membership and give information about their
organization. Free food, games, music, and freebies are included.
Class Presentations
o Members of leadership visit ISYS courses and give an informational
presentation about the benefits of membership within AIS.
Kick- Off Events
o At the beginning of each semester we will hold a “kick-off” event to socialize
and inform current members about upcoming events.
Advertising
o Create flyers for events and display them along high traffic areas within the
Walton College and within ISYS classrooms.
Networking
o We encourage members of leadership to get the word out about AIS by talking
to classroom peers, friends, and utilizing social media.
INVOLVEMENT
To keep members involved we like to provide them with events that benefit them for
their future careers. These events include professional development workshops,
company networking events, computer skills workshops, volunteer opportunities, and
social events. By providing them with opportunities for personal and professional
development members will be more willing to participate and continue their
membership with AIS. To communicate these events to our members we use email, flyers,
bi-weekly updates, and Facebook.
COMMUNICATIONS
Page 8
Communications
The AIS chapter at the University of Arkansas utilized many channels of communication
in the past year. The key modes of communication to internal constituents included
digital flyers and newsletters sent from the AIS exchange email at Walton, paper flyers
posted on the business campus, and notices on the AIS chapter Facebook page
(University of Arkansas AIS). External constituents (those who are not currently
identified as members) received occasional communication via the Walton College
listserv, the Career Center’s Leadership Walton Weekly Update, LCD screens throughout
campus administered by Advertise At Walton, and also through our Chalk-The-Walk
advertising initiative. One further initiative, and perhaps our most successful in terms of
recruiting new members, was the rotational classroom visit program. Officers would
solicit the permission of ISYS professors in order to give a two minute presentation on
AIS to freshman and sophomore ISYS classes. While very effective, this initiative was hard
to consistently maintain mainly because officers’ class and work schedules made these
class visits somewhat prohibitive.
Digital communication was directed to internal
constituents on roughly a bi-weekly basis. The
President issued a monthly (and often bi-weekly)
email serial, “AIS News & Events.” Approximately
two weeks prior to scheduled events, Officers
created, printed and posted flyers and distributed
a digital flyer through Advertise At Walton. Finally,
two to three days prior to events, Officers used
colored chalk to write the name, date and location
of events on sidewalks through the business campus.
Given the fact that this was a “formation” year for the AIS chapter at the University of
Arkansas, we feel satisfied with the fact that the Walton community was consistently
being made aware of the presence and operations of AIS. Furthermore, the relatively
consistent event attendance (approx. 14-23) evidences a core of members that are
committed to AIS chapter involvement.
Figure 3: Communication Example
CAREERS IN “IS”
Page 9
Careers in “IS”
Providing students an entrance into a career in Information Systems is a key goal to our
chapter and our organization. We strive to give our members many different outlets to
many different companies so that they may have more choices to better fit a company’s
culture and match their skills to the best fit. Throughout the year inviting companies,
local and worldwide, to host information sessions exclusively to our members so that
they can have a more intimate communication from student to recruiter is our most used
and valued avenue.
One of the events that we host involved inviting recruiters from Phillips 66, the
Fortune 500 crude oil specialist. During this event our members were given a look into
firsthand experience with Phillips 66 as a company and the culture that surrounds them.
They were also informed of the current state of the crude oil industry and how that
affects the common user. Then our members were briefed with internship opportunities
and career openings with Phillips 66 in their IT division. The members were given a
chance to ask about these positions and have a closer conversation with the recruiters
themselves so that they may fair better throughout the hiring process.
Figure 4: Phillips 66 Event Flyer
Another event that we hosted involved touring the Walmart Innovation Lab.
During this session we drove to Walmart’s main campus in Bentonville, AR and our
members were given an exclusive opportunity to see some of the innovations that
Walmart is embracing in their business. From 3D printers to robotic stockers our
CAREERS IN “IS”
Page 10
members could look and ask questions about these projects that were being utilized. This
gives the members a look into some of the projects that they may be able to participate in
throughout their careers and an upper hand through questions with those working on
the projects themselves. This event also gave our members a chance to network with
those in the IT and innovation industry so that they may have contacts and advisors for
future reference.
These were some just a
few of the events that we
provided our members
with. These events gave
our members a firsthand
looking into a career in
Information Systems and
the many positions that
they may choose as a
career. These events also
aloud our members
intimate and personal
relationships with the
recruiters themselves so
that they may
differentiate themselves
from other students
whenever they are seeking a career or an internship.
Figure 5: AIS at Walmart’s Innovation Laboratory, Bentonville, AR
CHAPTER OPERATIONS
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Chapter Operations
Officer Positions:
President: Radclyffe George
Vice Presidents of Operations: Michael Ma & Calvin Carl
Treasurer: Ted Cunningham
Secretary: vacant
Vice President of Professional Community Development: Marlo Gohla
Vice President of Membership Development: Madison Wall
Vice President of Sophomore Relations: Rupal Bohra
Vice President of Freshman Relations: vacant
Weekly Leadership Meetings:
Throughout the year, the leadership team met weekly to discuss objectives, planning, and
opportunities. The meetings have proved beneficial to our organization’s success with
events both on- and off-campus.
Monthly Member Meetings:
These meetings are aimed at providing AIS members insight to possible internships or
other job opportunities through local and regional companies coming to visit.
Google Drive:
The officer-shared Drive is the hub for all organization information. Through this, each
officer has access to every essential document, from meeting minutes to membership
data to flyers for each scheduled member event.
CHAPTER OPERATIONS
Page 12
Dues:
The Information Systems Department provided funding for our annual dues. It’s a
gracious gift to allow all interested students the ability to join as a member.
BUDGET/FINANCIAL STATEMENT
Page 13
Budget/Financial Statement
The University of Arkansas AIS treats each school year as a fiscal period due in part to
our officer transition at the end of the spring semester. From this, we only have one
statement. The funds allocated are towards causes to spread the awareness of AIS on the
campus of the University of Arkansas, conducting weekly meetings, socials, and
professional development. To make sure our financials are always current, the University
of Arkansas AIS Chapter maintains monthly account summaries to track revenues and
expenses incurred throughout the school year.
REVENUE
DATE DESCRIPTION TOTALS
ConocoPhillips Donation $1,500.00
Phillips 66 Donation $1,500.00
AIS Travel Scholarship Award 150.00
TOTAL REVENUE $3,150.00
EXPENSES
DATE DESCRIPTION TOTALS
11-18-14 IT Communication $178.63
1-28-15 Information Meeting on AIS $149.80
3-3-15 Phillips 66 Meeting $240.90
4-9-15 – 4-11-15 AIS Conference (Birmingham, AL) $1553.80
4-15-15 Koch Information Meeting $52.62
4-22-15 Officer Transition Meeting $141.75
TOTAL EXPENSES $2,317.50
CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL CHANGE IN FUNDS
FALL 2014 – SPRING 2015
Beginning Balance (August 2014) $3,704.51
+ Revenue received (August 2014- May 2015) $3,150.00
- Expenses incurred (August 2014 – May 2015) $2,317.50
Ending Balance (May 2015) $4,537.01
METRICS AND DEMOGRAPHICS
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Metrics and Demographics
1. Total members and breakdown (breakdown by class level not available)
2. Number of meetings held: 13
3. Average Attendance: 15
4. Event/Activities held
a. Career Fair Readiness (9-25-14)
i. Attendance: 19
ii. Description: resume help, how to approach an employer,
elevator speeches, do’s and don’ts of interviews.
b. Christmas Food Drive (11-11-14)
i. Attendance: 9
ii. Description: built donation boxes so that students could
donate canned goods for the needy.
c. Communication Skills Workshop (11-18-14)
i. Attendance: 13
ii. Description: communication skills and customer service.
d. ConocoPhillips Information Session (10-28-14)
i. Attendance: 25
ii. Description: An information session where recruiters from
ConocoPhillips informed our members of the open IT positions they
are seeking and existing internships with the company.
e. Excel Advanced Workshop (11-9-14)
i. Attendance: 12
METRICS AND DEMOGRAPHICS
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ii. Description: a workshop dedicated to teaching students on
the advanced techniques of Excel information analysis.
f. Excel Intermediate Workshop (10-26-14)
i. Attendance: 10
ii. Description: a workshop dedicated to teaching students on
the intermediate techniques of Excel information analysis.
g. Phillips 66 Information Session (3-3-15)
i. Attendance: 17
ii. Description: An information session dedicated to inform
members of open opportunities with Phillips 66 along with the
history of the oil industry and how Phillips 66 is utilizing IT in this
industry.
h. Northwest Arkansas Project Management Institute Event (12-4-14)
i. Attendance: 15
ii. Description: During this session we discussed Project
Management and its impact in today’s business world, the processes
and challenges of current project management practices, and agile
approach methods.
i. Samsung Technology Presentation (2-18-15)
i. Attendance: 19
ii. Description: During this event Samsung representatives discussed
new innovations and ideas in their business sector and emerging
mobile technologies.
j. Spring Semester Kickoff (1-28-15)
i. Attendance: 17
METRICS AND DEMOGRAPHICS
Page 16
ii. Description: During this event we discussed with our
member upcoming events we had planned for the year, guest
speakers we were presenting, and company site visits.
k. Walmart Innovation Lab (2-19-15)
i. Attendance: 6
ii. Description: This event involved traveling to Walmart’s main
campus in Bentonville, AR and getting a look into emerging
technologies that Walmart is embracing in order to improve their
business processes.
l. Koch Enterprises (4-15-15)
i. Attendance: 16
ii. Description: A networking event where representatives
from Koch Industries’ Wichita, KS office discussed growth and
opportunities at the company.
m. Arkadia Retrocade – Nite-Out with AIS! (4-30-15)
i. Attendance: 15
ii. Description: A social event at a local working 80’s style
arcade that houses over 100 video games.
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