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If SMU was not an especially good setting for School of Information Systems, we would not be where we are today. Something must be working right.
From the outset, SMU's senior management has given SIS exceptional leeway and support to experiment with an alternative approach to education and research at the interface between Information Systems Technology & Management and Business.
SMU has given SIS the ability to do several essential things that have contributed to the success of the school. These include the ability to
• establish and maintain the strategic partnership with Carnegie Mellon University to advise and guide the evolution of the school;
• build a faculty under one roof that spans the SIS five areas;
• have both first-rate research as well as first-rate practice faculty who collaborate together on research, projects, teaching and service;
• have first rate instructors with deep industry experience who are totally focused on enhancing the quality of the student educational experience in areas related to software applications and information technology;
• have a full suite of educational programmes, ranging from bachelors, to masters, to Ph.D.;
• have exceptional access to any type of private sector business or public sector government organisation, as well as to the executives who run the organisation;
• have resources to provide strong support for research, as well as for innovative educational curriculum design; and
• have a relatively small (but not too small) SIS community size (now heading towards 40+ faculty, 800+ students), giving all of our students, faculty and staff a sense of connectedness and community.
In the years to come, SIS is planning for a faculty size of 50 to 60 faculty members, and a student body in the 1000 to 1200 range. Similarly, SMU is evolving into a medium-sized university community (going on 350 to 400+ faculty members and 7,000 - 8000+ students).
For these reasons and more, SMU has been a great place to create and nurture SIS.
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