UConn senior, Katie Cavanaugh is pursuing a dual degree in Management Information Systems (MIS) and Political Science. Although, when she began her college career, she only had one major: Political Science. It was through her work in social science research that Katie discovered her interest in information systems.

“At the time, I had no technical knowledge of how any of this worked: I was essentially just following directions with little ability to understand why a result was the way it was. I became interested in learning more about the ‘why,'” Katie said.

In her research, Katie worked extensively using databases, performing data management and cleaning functions, and conducting data analysis. Because of this, Katie said she was intrigued to learn more about technology, particularly in data management and analytics, and she saw the MIS major as the perfect way to do so.

On campus, Katie is involved as a project leader for the UConn Consulting Group and representing the student voice in the School of Business Undergraduate Curriculum Revision Task Force.

In information technology, Katie is interested in exploring how businesses can align unique products or services with the use of technology to succeed. The dynamic of business processes has completely shifted because technology is so available and financially obtainable, she said.

“I firmly believe the most pressing strategy question facing any business today is how to leverage technology, specifically data, to gain a competitive advantage,” Katie said.

This past summer, Katie worked as a Data Analytics BLP-Intern for Synchrony Financial at their Innovation Station in Chicago. Katie said this real-world job experience allowed her to take the technical skills she has learned in classes and apply them at the next level.

“Working in the Innovation Station influenced me to really think of technology as a driving force for innovation within an organization, instead of the support function it once was,” Katie said of her experience.

After graduation, Katie will be working as a Management Consulting Analyst for Accenture’s Strategy division in Hartford. She said that she is very excited to begin her work in the field and to gain an even greater understanding of how technology affects different organizations. Additionally, Katie said she hopes to get involved in the startup community because it is where the majority of new technology development and application is happening.

As for her ultimate goal in the field, Katie hopes to pursue an advanced degree down the line and become a professor. She said, “I’m not joking when I say I love college and never want to leave!”

She encourages younger MIS students to take advantage of internship opportunities to build skills and get hands-on experience in different areas of the field. MIS is unique in that it offers students a chance to build technical skills in a variety of areas, which is great, she said.

“I would suggest looking at internships as a chance to explore these different areas in depth and, ultimately, discover which area interests you most in terms of your long-term career goals,” Katie said.

Katie attributes much of her success to UConn. She said it has uniquely prepared her for her career in ways that no other university would have.

“The realities and, at times, challenges of navigating a large, research institution have prepared me to face my career with the same grit and passion I see on campus every day,” Katie said.

Over the past four years, UConn has given Katie many one-of-a-kind opportunities, such as – taking part in a multidisciplinary academic program to build an uncommon skill set, working with a diverse group of students as a student leader, and connecting with dedicated alumni who she believes have been instrumental in shaping her career path. Katie is looking forward to her life as a UConn alum and bringing the skills she’s learned at the university into her professional life.

Dani Licht began her career at UConn in the Business School, but her major was undeclared. Her interest in the Management Information Systems (MIS) major began by joining the Information Management Association (IMA) as a freshman. Dani said she got involved in IMA because she wanted to explore the MIS major as an option by connecting with her peers and learning more about career opportunities in information systems.

Now in her second year at UConn, Dani is even more involved with IMA, as she holds the position of Marketing Officer. Dani communicates with IMA members through the organization’s online and social media outlets. Additionally, she promotes the club by creating fliers for different events throughout the semester.

Dani said she was motivated to hold a position in IMA because of her interest in the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) department as a whole.

“I am very interested in the OPIM department and wanted to be a part of expanding the interest of their events and curriculum. Because IMA was so helpful with my decision to declare my major, I wanted to be a mentor to help others,” Dani said.

Dani’s goals as Marketing Officer are to increase members’ attendance at meetings, as well as to recruit potential new members through promotion of IMA events on social media.

On a more personal level, Dani hopes to get an internship this summer in the MIS field. She said IMA has prepared well to begin her professional career by networking events with different companies, developing her professional appearance and resume, and informing her of the MIS-related positions available at these different companies.

In addition to her involvement in IMA, Dani is a member of the Undergraduate Business Association (UBA). She participated in the PwC challenge, as well. Outside of business, Dani is a sister of Pi Beta Phi and she is the Director of Outreach for the Greek Community Affairs Board at UConn.

As the Secretary of the Information Management Association (IMA), Alex Martinez is dedicated to maintaining communications with members, make sure the organization’s calendars are up-to-date, taking attendance at meetings and recording meeting minutes.

Alex, a junior majoring in Management Information Systems (MIS), said his involvement with IMA began two years ago when he attended the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) Department’s technology workshops on 3D printing, Raspberry Pi and Linux.

Alex said that as he progressed in his academic career, he began to see more of the benefits that IMA provided – building key career skills and making connections in the information technology field.

The following year, Alex said he began to attend more of IMA’s events and meetings to get acquainted with his career plans, OPIM classes and IT tools. This year, Alex became even more involved with IMA by holding the position of Secretary, through which he hopes to build upon his leadership and organizational skills. He said that becoming more involved in IMA will allow him to gain relevant knowledge in the MIS field and help other students to do so, as well.

This semester, Alex said his main goal for IMA is to enhance the membership experience.

“One of my main goals for IMA this semester is to help facilitate an active, productive, and fun experience for our members, and hopefully get them even more interested and aware of where their major can take them after UConn,” Alex said.

For students interested in joining IMA, Alex said not to be shy. As a shy individual himself, Alex said he hesitated to get involved on campus at first.

“I can say from my own experience that pushing yourself to join an organization you’re interested in is one of the best decisions you can make for yourself and your education,” Alex said.

On a personal level, Alex wants to gain a better understanding of common information technology tools to maximize his experience while interning at Travelers this upcoming summer. He said that IMA has and continues to help him meet these goals through understanding many important tools used in the IT field. Ultimately, Alex said he would like to work at a technology firm, helping design and implement key pieces of the firm’s business.

With the start of a new year, so begins Zach Regan’s new job of IMA Treasurer. As a junior Management Information Systems (MIS) major, this is Zach’s first position in IMA. He began his involvement with the organization at the beginning of his sophomore year.

As an MIS major, Zach said he joined IMA as a way to get involved, for career development and to meet other students in his major. After his first year in IMA, Zach decided to run for a position because he said he wanted to get more involved with the inner workings of the organization.

Zach said that in addition to information technology, he is interested in finance and accounting, which is what intrigued him about the treasurer position. Additionally, Zach said he thought it would be beneficial for him to gain financial experience to make himself more well-versed in the different areas of business.

As the new treasurer, Zach hopes to drive interest in IMA amongst students and ultimately raise attendance at meetings. For his position in particular, he hopes to seek more funding so the club can put on more events and workshops for members.

As for Zach’s personal future goals, he is interested in pursuing a career in Information Security. He said an internship he had last summer in Information Security at 1-800-FLOWERS really sparked his interest in the field.

“It’s something that’s always changing and very interesting to me, I love reading the articles when companies get hacked and I want to see what I can do to improve in that field, to see what I can do to help,” Zach said.

Zach said that IMA has allowed him to see the different career opportunities available in his major and to network with different companies throughout his time in college. He said that having face-to-face time with professional recruiters through IMA events has given him practice with informal interviews.

One of Zach’s goals for the year is to grow the organization through additional members and resources. Zach encourages students to join IMA because he believes it guides you in your career, gives you exposure to all of the different opportunities available and gives you the tools for successful a career development.

Tyler Lauretti is a junior at UConn, majoring in Management Information Systems (MIS) and minoring in Computer Science. He is the UConn Campus Representative for Apple, an Advanced Technician at the University Information Technology Services (UITS) Help Center, and the incoming president of the Information Management Association (IMA). This past summer, Tyler held an IT internship at Travelers Insurance Company in Hartford.

Information Technology plays an important role in Tyler’s life and work.

“I have always had a passion for technology and I am fascinated by finding new ways to improve our lives through technology,” Tyler said.

The interesting thing about technology for Tyler is how much our lives revolve around it. People are constantly interacting with technology, sometimes without even realizing it, he said. Many large businesses are starting to invest millions of dollars into IT departments with the intentions of discovering new ways to improve efficiency, he said.

“I am looking forward to using my creativity and technical abilities to make a difference in the world,” He said.

Out of all areas of information technology, Tyler is most interested in artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence was previously known to be science fiction, but Tyler said there have been major breakthroughs with cognitive computing platforms, such as IBM’s Watson.

Tyler said he was initially unsure what he wanted to do with his MIS degree because of the many different career options. He decided to join IMA to get informed about the different career opportunities available in information technology and about what IT companies are looking for in potential candidates. He believed that it would give him the information and tools to succeed in his professional life.

Now, as the future leader of IMA, Tyler hopes to expand the organization’s reach to other schools at UConn. Tyler believes that information technology has something to offer everyone. He said that the initiatives that the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) Department is working on for the upcoming semester can be beneficial to all students. Tyler wants to reach out to all majors because he feels that there will be something that interests everyone.

After his time at UConn, Tyler would like to start out working for one of the major insurance companies in the Hartford area. During his internship at Travelers, Tyler experienced many different areas of the insurance industry, as well as, corporate information technology. One of his goals is to gain exposure to as many different areas of information technology as early in his career as possible. As for a long term goal, Tyler hopes to move to California and work in Silicon Valley someday.

UConn Senior, Anna Hack currently serves as the Marketing Officer for the Information Management Association (IMA). After starting out at UConn as a Marketing major, Anna realized her interests in technology and added a Computer Science minor during her freshman year.

Through taking Computer Science classes, Anna realized that technology was her greatest interest. She said she liked the challenge of Computer Science. Anna wanted to keep her business degree but she wanted to focus more on technology. She said that Management Information Systems (MIS) was the perfect fit for her.

As for her focus in information technology, Anna said she is most interested in application development.

“I really enjoy the creative process and seeing ideas come to life,” Anna said.

Anna said that she joined IMA to meet more MIS students and learn about the major, as it is one of the smallest majors in the School of Business. IMA has been very beneficial in networking with other students and with potential employers through career development events, she said.

As the Marketing Officer, Anna is responsible for communicating with students about the different events being held by IMA and maintaining IMA’s social media pages. Anna said the best part about IMA for her has been meeting so many people and having access to the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) Department’s new technologies, such as virtual reality.

As for students considering an MIS major, Anna’s advice was to get to know upperclassmen in the major. She said it is very helpful to know people who have gone through the same classes as you and to use them as a resource. IMA provides a platform to network with these students.

After graduation, Anna will be moving to Boston to work for Accenture as a Consulting Analyst. She attributes this opportunity to UConn’s OPIM Department. She said that she is very excited to start this next chapter in her life.

A junior at the University of Connecticut, Jenny Tang serves as the Information Management Association (IMA) Secretary. As Secretary, Jenny does a lot work behind the scenes for IMA by organizing the group’s information.

Jenny told me about her journey to becoming a Business major, the reason she became involved in IMA, her involvement at UConn, and her future plans for her senior year and beyond.

Jenny started out at UConn as a Computer Science major and she is now in the process of pursuing a Management Information Systems major. She said she is working on creating her own individualized major that combines MIS, Computer Science and Communications Technologies.

This individualized major includes classes based in the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) and Communication Technology departments. Her reasoning for pursuing a specialized major is to understand human interaction with technology and how people design and develop systems, as a result.

After hearing about IMA at the Involvement Fair and speaking with members, Jenny decided to join. At the time, Jenny was a Computer Science major, which is not in the School of Business. Jenny encourages any students, business majors or not, to join IMA. She said that the meetings and events held by IMA apply to anybody that is interested in technology.

Jenny noted that the recruitment events held by IMA are especially beneficial for Computer Science and MIS majors. On the other hand, the workshops held by the OPIM Department throughout the semester appeal to anybody that is interested in technology.

When asked about the best part about being involved in IMA, Jenny said it is the people. She said she has met a variety of people in your classes that she never got the chance to meet before IMA. She said it is a great place to meet and network with people that have similar interests.

Jenny said that she wants to continue to be involved in IMA next year, whether it is with the same position or a different position. She said she does not care so much about what position she has, she just wants to help IMA grow by spreading awareness about the organization and the MIS major.

In addition to her position in IMA, Jenny is on the executive board of Kids and UConn Bridging Education (KUBE), where she mentors elementary and middle school students one Saturday a month.

Beyond her time at UConn, Jenny hopes to pursue a career in Information Technology. She said she is not sure what field of IT she wants to specialize in exactly, but she hopes to start out in a rotation program where she can figure out what area of IT she wants to focus on for the majority of her career.

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.

For Marc Senatore, treasurer of the Information Management Association (IMA), his passion for technology and pursuit of innovation started at a young age. I had the chance to talk with Marc about his role in IMA, his future goals, and the reason he chose to major in Management Information Systems (MIS).

Marc shared a story with me from when he was 14-years-old and his parents would not let him get an Xbox to play video games with his friends. Marc said he could not take “no” for an answer so he actively looked for ways around it. He learned about an alternative, PC gaming, but he said that he could not afford to buy himself a new computer at the time. Marc, then, tried to convince his parents to let him fix up their old Windows 98 Dell computer. After four months of negotiation and gathering of parts, Marc taught himself how to build a high-end computer.

Marc said that technology has always been something that he has enjoyed, which is why he chose to major in MIS. He said it allows him to be creative and innovative through various platforms – such as, gaming, graphic design, video editing, software, or hacking.

When asked about his favorite part of being involved in IMA, Marc said it is without a doubt the relationships he has formed as a result, along with free pizza at meetings.

Unfortunately, Marc said that he was unaware of IMA until his junior year when he joined, but he has been extremely involved ever since. Marc said he was able to get to where he is today within the organization through showing his interest and volunteering to help out as much as possible. Now as treasurer, he said that he has never been happier.

Marc highly encouraged all students who are interested to join IMA.“Technology is awesome. Information technology is no longer the support function in companies that it once was, it now drives most big businesses. Technology is already everywhere and everything, and it is only going to be expanding more…so why not be on the forefront of innovation?” He said.

Marc added that IMA is a great way for students to network with recruiters from many Fortune 500 companies and to engage in workshops involving different technologies – such as, 3D printing, introductory code, and data mining.

After graduation, Marc will be entering into Synchrony Financial’s prestigious Business Leadership Program. Specifically, Marc is in their two year rotational IT program where he will be working directly with senior leadership to gain exposure and knowledge about the business and information technology, as well as develop the leadership skills necessary to be in their shoes one day.

As for advice, Marc left a few words of wisdom that help him when he is having a bad day.

He quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson, saying, “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

Before becoming the president of the Information Management Association (IMA) here at UConn, Luke LaBranche had never really held a leadership position. Now, Luke runs IMA—leading weekly meetings, coordinating workshops with professionals in the technology field, and preparing involved students for careers in the information technology field.

This past week, Luke took a an hour off of his busy first week of classes and his job at Pratt & Whitney to tell me all about his role as the president of IMA, the perks of being in the MIS major, his future in the IT field, and even his humble beginnings as a restaurant dishwasher.

While Luke had a normal high school job like the rest of us, getting his hands dirty at a “Ma and Pop” restaurant in his hometown of Ellington, he moved up the line quickly and interned with the information security team at Pratt & Whitney this summer, and said he had the IMA to thank.

When he first joined IMA, Luke said the most helpful part was having the older members serve as mentors, advising him on which classes to take and preparing him for what to expect. When I asked him if he is a mentor to the younger students now that he’s a senior, Luke humbly said he is always open for questions and loves helping out the younger students.

As for the advice he would give to students considering majoring in Management Information Systems (MIS), Luke said he “would tell them not to be intimidated by what other people say about the major” and noted that while every major has its challenges, MIS offers the unique opportunity to focus on either the technical side or the management side of business operations.

Luke also let me know that having the support of the students in IMA can ease the transition into the MIS major, although the association is open to students of all majors who have an interest in information management. Luke said that interested students should go to IMA’s website and fill out the membership form. Once this is done, students can join in on meetings and experience all the benefits of IMA, which consists of about 30 students now—but Luke hopes someday, IMA will have enough students to hold their meetings in a lecture hall.