TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2021 - IT CAN’T BE DONE - PART II

 TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2021 - IT CAN’T BE DONE - PART II

Continuing the “It Can’t be done” story at Dakota State.

So, the governor and legislature in South Dakota passed bill 1357 to make Dakota State College into an Information Systems University.  Citibank lent the college a President (Chuck Luke), faculty members went to the IBM training institute in Dallas Texas - and (somehow), I was appointed Acting Dean.

I did have some skills in information systems.  One Saturday after returning from the IBM school, Chuck Luke, Eric Johnson, Melanie Stopfer, myself and two Citibank executives met to make a curriculum.

For an Information Systems Major, we opted for:

Introduction to Programming 1 (PL/I)

Introduction to Programming 2 (PL/I)

Business Programming 1 (COBOL)

Business Programming 2 (COBOL)

Assembler Language

OS Interfaces and Utilities (JCL)

Systems Analysis and Design

Reasoning and Logic

Database Systems

Two Elective Information Systems Courses

Internship / Practicum

As mentioned before, the curriculum really was designed on paper napkins at the cafeteria (while we drank oodles of coffee) on a Saturday.  

BUT, we needed staff.  Some existing faculty members were going to be cut, particularly in the physical education and social sciences.  Existing programs would be phased out and the newer programs added.  Some existing faculty members opted for the training - in particular Tom Farrell, athletic director and coach or assistant coach of almost all of the sports at DSC over the years, and Lynette Molstad, faculty member in business education.  A music faculty member was also invited and was sent to the IBM training facility but that was not a good match for him or the institution.  Melanie Stopfer, the other main computing instructor, went to IBM for training, and IBM hired her, so we started the program with one lead instructor (me), some newbies (Tom and Lynette) and hired others to join us.  

Meanwhile on campus, the old Kennedy Hall had been hit by lightning and was considered unsafe by the state engineers.  That building was demolished and a new, one-level building called Kennedy Center was built.  As the acting dean I was on the committee that met with the architects and engineering team.  (Aside, I think the biggest action we were directly involved with was the color schemes for the men's and women's restrooms!!!) 

The campus reorganized the academic units to be: Business and Information Systems, Liberal Arts, Sciences, and Education.  In the BIS program was the information systems program, business administration and the health information management programs (formerly medical records).  The first fall of the new curriculum saw Citibank paying for full scholarships for about eight full-time students. These were to be the best of the best - and it was absolutely true!!

Another faculty member from Math, Connie Daniel, moved over to BIS and eventually became “Connie COBOL”.  (She also worked for a year at Citibank).   

Being a mathematician at heart, I taught the PHIL 270 Reasoning and Logic class - with computer logic as the basis for a philosophy class!!! (Fun class).  

The rest of the campus was in a bit of a turmoil as programs were being phased out.  So, programs with the names: Biology for Information Systems, Math for Information Systems, Chemistry for Information Systems, and English for Information Systems were developed and added to the majors offered.  In 1985 a Federal Department of Education Grant was funded that allowed me to receive 1/3rd of my salary to go to the University of Nebraska to work on a PhD.  

So, for the 1985-1986 academic year, I was at the University of Nebraska taking graduate classes, serving as a graduate teaching assistant.  (No, I did not get rich that year).  I came home most weekends to see my family, and on Sunday afternoons drove the five hours back to Lincoln and my dormitory room and spent most nights in the lab or in the library.  I took a full load of courses, and by July 1986 was almost “all but dissertation”.  I had two independent study classes that I could do back in Madison, SD.  And, I was back full-time as Dean of a growing department.  At times I lost sight of the degree - there was work to do, people to hire, students to advise, and more.  But by the 1988-1989 academic year I did my original research on the topic of “Expert Systems for the Advisement of Undergraduate Business Majors”.  (I had learned that the longer the title on a dissertation, the better it looked!!!).  I had six groups - three (experiences, average and below average faculty advisors) who did not use the expert system I had programmed, and three that did use the expert systems.    As a good researcher, I did all the statistical analysis (and was so very happy that I had taken several statistics courses in my math major as an undergraduate and on the master’s level.

In December 1990, I received the Doctorate in Management Information Systems (technically a Doctorate in Business Administration with a concentration in Management Information Systems).  

Shortly thereafter I was promoted to Full Professor (I had started as an “Instructor”, and had been promoted to Associate when I became Dean, then Associate when I finished the PhD and then Full Professor about 1993 - so through all the ranks in ten years!!!  (I had an administration that wanted the dean to be a Full Professor and pushed me through as a special case!!!)

The Citibank students were hired at Citibank (as were many others).  Other companies in Sioux Falls hired our Information Systems graduates, as well as Schwan’s Enterprises in Marshall Minnesota, Federated Insurance in Owatonna Minnesota, and Mutual of Omaha in Omaha Nebraska.  

OUR EXPERIMENT WAS WORKING!

*****

Take-aways from today’s blog.  1) It takes a village.  There were some excellent people at Dakota State.  Lynette took over for me while I went off for my PhD work.  (She later got her doctorate degree).  2) Work with the experts to prepare what they want. The Citibank people knew the education they wanted of students and we worked with them to deliver it; 3) Get more education - Tom, Lynette, and Melanie continued to take IBM courses and really brought the “punch” to the program.  4) Don’t sit still (more on that tomorrow).  5) Keep the attitude and enthusiasm going!!!

Continued tomorrow!!!

LOVE WINS!!!

Karen