Although it is one of the newest departments in the Tippie College of Business, business analytics at the University of Iowa is quickly establishing itself as a driving force in the field.
In 2021, Tippie was recognized with a UPS George D. Smith prize as one of the top colleges in the United States at preparing undergraduates for business analytics careers. Last academic year, four Tippie undergrads took home a first place award in the AXS National Collegiate Sports Analytics Championship.
Now, Tippie is also becoming known as one of the best places to learn about business analytics faculty careers—not merely for jobs in Iowa, but across the globe. This past August the college hosted it’s third Future BAProf workshop, with a goal of encouraging some of the best and brightest students from multiple disciplines to consider a career in the academic business analytics field.
This year’s workshop—which accepted 28 participants out of 79 applicants—drew a postdoctoral researcher in anthropomorphic technology major at the University of Michigan, a statistics Ph.D. student from Berkely, two transportation and logistics researchers from MIT, a doctoral candidate in operations from Harvard, and a couple dozen other distinguished scholars to Iowa City.
The intensive three-day workshop was hosted by Professors Ann Campbell, Kang Zhao,and Beste Basciftci on Aug. 11-13, 2024. Campbell conceived of and launched the first workshop three years ago, after recognizing a need to boost the pipeline of talent into business analytics.
“In my years on the Tippie recruiting committee, I noticed we just weren’t attracting a very large or diverse number of applicants in a variety of areas,” Campbell said. “There were few women, few people of color, and just an overall lack of variety of expertise and backgrounds. And it isn’t just a problem at Iowa, it’s everywhere.”
Campbell is not the type of person or professor who identifies a problem and then stops working. She is solutions oriented.
What if business analytics careers could be pitched to non-business school students, whether at Iowa or not, she wondered. After all, smart folks in disciplines ranging from computer science to mathematics to engineering and beyond often make great business analytics students, and eventually, professors.
Campbell planned the first workshop for 2020, but it had to be postponed until 2022 due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Despite the delay, interest in the first event was high, with 22 participants coming to the Iowa campus to learn what it takes to succeed in business analytics and to “demystify” the field for those less familiar.
“It can be hard for people in different majors to know how or if they could fit in at a business school,” Campbell said. “We give them an idea of what research at a business school would look like and what teaching would be like.”
The pitch often gets a warm reception, she said, because there can be less pressure to secure grants compared to other disciplines, leaving more time for pure research and instruction.
One of this year’s workshop presenters was Anna Nagurney, Chair of Integrative Studies in the Department of Operations and Information Management at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was so enamored of the event, she wrote a blog post about it.
“What impressed me was the enthusiasm and passion of the participants for their research, which I found uplifting and inspiring,” Nagurney said. “This group has established a very nice and supportive network and I warmly thank Professors Campbell, (Kang) Zhao, and (Beste) Basciftci.”
Arjun Arunasalam, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science from Purdue, took part in the workshop and called it an incredible experience.
“I left knowing a lot more about business analytics faculty life and positions,” he said. “I will definitely share this opportunity with fellow computer science students at Purdue for them to apply should the workshop be held next year.”
Building a broader business analytics community is the goal, so those words are music to Campbell’s ears.
“This event has resulted in more applications and improved our applicant pool,” she said. “I think we’re definitely a better-known program now among non-business schools than we were without it.”