As Vice President of the Information Management Association (IMA), Marissa Mazurok works along side the president, Luke LaBranche, and acts as a liaison between the club and other outside businesses.
Marissa told me about her position in IMA, why she chose to major in Management Information Systems (MIS), her future plans, and offered advice for students just starting out in the major.
Although now Marissa is an MIS major, she said she originally planned to major in Speech Pathology. She said it was not until her sophomore year that she applied to be an MIS major. Marissa said that an internship at Peoples United Bank Headquarters in the Quality Assurance department coming out of high school prompted her to enter the business field. She said she absolutely loved the work she was doing there.
“I really enjoyed business setting as a whole and was intrigued by the IT side of things there,” Marissa said.
She said that she loved working with computers and with people. MIS was the perfect combination of the two.
Marissa says that being a part of IMA has given her many great friends and she loves working with the other members in the club and on the executive board. She said she joined IMA because she wanted to meet other MIS majors, like herself. She said that IMA has been a great experience for her, giving her the opportunity to network with many different companies.
Marissa encouraged any students interested in business to join IMA, not just MIS majors. She said that IMA is a great way for students in the School of Business to network with great companies and to learn many valuable skills.
As for advice, Marissa would tell other MIS majors to take advantage of all of the helpful resources that the OPIM Department has available. Because the major is so small, students have the ability to make close connections with their professors and other students within the major, she said.
Marissa plans to graduate in December and she was excited to announce that she has accepted a full-time position at Travelers in their Information Technology Leadership Development Program (ITLDP) starting in June. In the time between her graduation and the start of her new position, Marissa said she plans to enjoy the time off by travelling Europe for a few weeks.