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DSU Students and Faculty To Attend ISECON Conference

(Madison, SD) Three Dakota State University students and faculty will be traveling to Philadelphia, PA on November 9, 2000 to take part in ISECON, a three day Information Systems Education conference. This year marks the first year students from DSU have attended the conference. PeopleSoft agreed to pay the expenses for three students to attend the conference.

Adam Popp, Jeff Rausch and Amy Brown have all been involved with the PeopleSoft software and will give a student’s perspective at the PeopleSoft booth during the conference. “We’ll be giving a student’s view on how to use the PeopleSoft software and how it could benefit students preparing for the work force,” said Rausch.

Also attending ISECON will be Tom Farrell, assistant professor of the Business and Information Systems and John Webster, assistant professor and assistant dean of Business and Information Systems. Webster will be part of a panel discussion on establishing links between higher education and the industry. Former DSU faculty member Bruce White will be at the conference teaching a session on the issues involved in starting and conducting electronic commerce programs at the bachelor level.

Farrell, attending ISECON for the fifth straight year, will be a program chair and will also give a presentation on teaching an Internet delivered general education programming course.

Farrell says this is the first time PeopleSoft has attended the conference and DSU students will be demonstrating two different modules of the PeopleSoft program-- the Human Resource Module and the Financials and Distribution Module.

“Our students will talk about the pluses of the program and give their own views on the integration of it at DSU,” said Farrell.

Rausch says because the program is so big, he and his fellow classmates will not be able to demonstrate the entire program.

“It’s a big program with a lot of capabilities,” said Rausch. “We’ll be demonstrating how to use certain aspects of the program.”

Farrell says ISECON will be a positive experience for the students attending. “Our students will have an advantage in the job search. They will know what some of the national trends are. It’s good exposure to the many technologies and information systems out there,” said Farrell. “One of the outgrowths of the conference will be exposing the students to national professional organizations.”

ISECON brings together information systems educators from around the world and is the longest, continuous running conference for IS educators. Highlights of ISECON include primary sessions by leading individuals from the computing community and presentation of the Distinguished Information Systems Educator of the Year award. Vendor exhibits will display their current textbooks and educational materials. ISECON is sponsored by the Educational Foundation and managed by AITP, the association of Information Technology Professionals.