REAP Team Members (left to right): Jason Hensel (web team), James Allen (Proj. Mgmt-PM and scripting teams), Vivian Guo (web team), Nathan Stobaugh (PM and web teams), Sotoku Tomotsugu (PM team) and Brian Wan (PM and scripting teams)

In Fall 2017, MIS students designed and implemented a real-time tracking application for student extra-curricular activities.  Named Report Engagement and Participation (REAP), the system provides a simple means for students and faculty to enter real-time activities and participation, storing the information for retrieval by faculty and students.  The primary purpose of the system is to track events demonstrating student success.

The system was designed with a front-end webpage, which allows both students and faculty to log in securely.  Once logged in, students can easily enter information about internships, externships, volunteer hours, meetings and other engagement activities.  Students can enter information by phone, tablet, or any other device that connects online.  QR codes for meetings and other formal proceedings make it easy for students to register their participation in multi-student events.  The information can then be retrieved by faculty for class/grading purposes (as needed) and by others as indicators of success by students.  This system will aid the College of Business in telling the story of student achievements and allow students to track their own activities.

The design for REAP included the creation of an extensive database to store the information, a webpage as the entry point to the system, and a server that binds them together.  There were three teams of students who participated in this project; each team participated as part of a semester-long class.  The project management team, headed by James Allen, also included Brian Wan, Nathan Stobaugh, and Sotoku Tomotsugu.  This team, under the direction of Dr. Kaye McKinzie in MIS 4355 Project Management, designed the system and monitored progress through to its completion.  Another team developed the front-end webpage, guided by Carla Barber in her MIS 4366 Advanced Web design course; this team included Nathan Stobaugh, Jason Hensel, and Vivian Guo.  The server-side scripting, using PHP, was completed by Brian Wan and James Allen.  Brian and James also designed and implemented the database used in the project.  This team was directed by Dr. Jeff Hill (in MIS 4370), who was also the overall leader of the entire project.  Dr. Stephanie Watson served as project champion, meeting with teams to provide key system requirements.  Three of the students were members of two of the three teams, contributing a significant amount of time and effort into the success of the project, including Brian Wan, James Allen, and Nathan Stobaugh.

The REAP system has been migrated from the MIS Department servers (used for testing and on-campus design) to UCA’s IT Department, where it is now available for use.  Training will be held in January for faculty to learn how to enter new events and use the system to track student success activities.  Overall, the project included a significant MySQL database, a complex website, and over 12,000 lines of code to integrate it.

The Business & Information Technology (BIT) Club is having its last meeting of the fall semester on Tuesday, November 14th.  The event, which will be held in Room 214 at the College of Business during X-period (1:40 – 2:30 p.m.), is open to all majors on campus.  Dr. Joe Thomas, a new Assistant Professor in the MIS Department and a 23-year cyberspace veteran of the US Air Force, will be the featured speaker.  Dr. Thomas has held a wide variety of IT related positions from coding satellite software to Director of Operations for the world’s largest fully meshed VPN.  Prior to coming to UCA Dr. Thomas was an Assistant Professor at the US Air Force Academy and then the Dean of Squadron Officer School, the Air Force’s primary leadership school for young officers.  Refreshments will be served (PIZZA!) and door prizes will be awarded.  All students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend.

Dr. Jeremy Horpedohl, Assistant Professor of Economics, shares insight on the GOP’s expected unveiling of its long-awaited tax plan on November 1, and then the real battle that will begin over how it will be paid for. And nearly every deduction is on the line. To listen, click the link below!

https://www.marketplace.org/2017/10/27/world/hey-hands-my-deduction

The Business & Information Technology (BIT) Club is having its second meeting on Thursday, October 12th.  The event, which will be held in the College of Business Auditorium (Rooms 107/208) during X-period (1:40 – 2:30 p.m.), is open to all majors on campus.  Dr. Jeff Standridge will be the featured speaker.  Dr. Standridge helps organizations and their leaders generate sustained results in the areas of innovation, strategy, profit growth, organizational effectiveness, and leadership.  Formerly a Vice President for Acxiom Corporation, he has led established and startup business units in North & South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  Jeff serves as Chief Catalyst for the Conductor (www.ARConductor.org), is Co-founder of Cadron Capital Partners, and teaches in the College of Business at UCA.  Refreshments will be served and door prizes will be awarded.  All students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend.

The Business & Information Technology (BIT) Club is having its Fall Welcome Meeting and Kick-Off on Thursday, September 21^st.  The event, which will be held in the College of Business Auditorium (Rooms 107/208) during X-period (1:40 – 2:30 p.m.), is open to all majors on campus.  Paul Bradley, a UCA alum who is the Conway Market Leader for Edafio Technology Partners, will be the featured speaker.  Paul is both an MIS and MBA graduate and we are delighted to welcome him back to campus.  Refreshments will be served and door prizes will be awarded.  All students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend.

The University of Central Arkansas College of Business is excited to announce a challenge match gift to the Excellence in Insurance Fund for students in the Insurance & Risk Management program. For every $1 given, an anonymous donor will triple its value for a maximum donation of $60,000 from the donor.

We are encouraging all program alumni and friends of the program to consider making a gift to help us meet this goal and receive a possible total of $80,000 for the Excellence in Insurance Fund.

The College of Business educates students to make positive contributions to the business community and society by maintaining a relevant and innovative curriculum, enhancing the learning experience and promoting life-long learning, all of which are only possible with your support.

Donations can be made online or by calling the UCA Foundation at (501) 852-2743. Checks can be made payable to the UCA Foundation, Inc. and mailed to or dropped off at Buffalo Alumni Hall, UCA Box 4986, Conway, AR 72035.

We hope you will consider making a gift today.

Mr. Isanhart was recently featured in 501 Life Magazine for his involvement with Winrock International’s Farmer-to-Farmer program in efforts to help address training/education needs worldwide.  Mr. Isanhart is heading out on his 11th trip as part of this program this summer.

To read the article, click on this link: Life’s Purpose: UCA Instructor Provides Help Worldwide

Dr. Doug Voss was recently featured in Arkansas Business. The article is entitled “Customer Demands Drives Final Mile Industry.” pg. 10 of the May 15th edition.

In addition, his contribution was also included in Lance Turner’s KTHV report. Follow this link to see the report: KTHV News Report.

Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame Inductees

The Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame was created to recognize leaders of the insurance industry in Arkansas. The goals are to remind the public of the important role the insurance industry plays in securing the well-being of both individuals and businesses, to inspire the next generation of leadership to reach these high levels of accomplishment, and to encourage young Arkansans to consider careers in the insurance industry.

The Hall is housed in the College of Business at the University of Central Arkansas, which has the only program offering a major in insurance and risk management in the state of Arkansas. Approved in 2000, this baccalaureate degree program serves as a valuable resource for the insurance and financial services industry throughout the region. For the 2016-17 academic year, the Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame awarded five scholarships to UCA students who are studying Insurance and Risk Management.

On April 11, 2017 the Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame hosted a ceremony in the lobby of the UCA College of Business. The ceremony unveiled the wall honoring the inductees from the inaugural 2015 class as well as the 2016 class of inductees for the Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame. The ceremony was a huge success with over 100 individuals there to honor the inductees. The Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame Board is accepting nominations for the 2017 Inductee Class, who will be honored on Thursday, October 5, 2017 at the Farris Center at 6:30pm. More information on the Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame, the Board of Directors and the 2017 Induction Banquet can be found at http://www.arinsurancehof.org/.

MIS and College of Business students tackled the biggest real-world project in memory in creating a sophisticated application for use by UCA’s Political Science Department to manage their Arkansas Model United Nations (AMUN), which UCA hosts annually for high school students across several states.  The current process is all paper and spreadsheet based, making updating and maintenance extremely time consuming.  The new process is completely streamlined, using database technology with a front-end Java application.

The new application was carried out by three separate teams, from semester-long projects in three separate courses.  The project was managed by a team of four from MIS 4355 (Project Management), who coordinated the entire process and effort; this included one MBA student.  All of the data for the Model UN (students, schools, meetings, awards, invoices, etc.) are now stored and managed using database technology.  A team of four from MIS 4329 (Database Management Systems) developed and implemented the database using two systems for versatility, Oracle and Microsoft Access.  An application manages the entire system, providing student and management access, with a convenient interface that users find easy.  This application was designed and coded by a team of four from MIS 4339 Programming in Java II.  The project consisted of over twenty thousand lines of code.

The entire project was supervised by Dr. Jeff Hill, the instructor for the advanced database course and Java II, as well as Dr. Kaye McKinzie, who is the instructor in Project Management.  Dr. Mark Mullenbach, the AMUN coordinator, provided the requirements and specifications.  The only student who was a member of all three of the student teams was Adam Davis, who described the entire effort as the “hardest project of my academic career”.  Two other students were members of two teams; Brian Wan was on the database and Java team, while Bobby Yost was a part of the Project Management and database team.

This project won first place for team projects in the first annual College of Business Research Days, held March 28, 2017.  The application was delivered to Dr. Mullenbach on April 19.