Spears School launches new analytics certificate program for MBA students
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
With the explosion in the availability of business data and the need for professionals who can analyze this information, the demand for technically-savvy managers has increased greatly in recent years. To keep up with the times, Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business has worked with SAS, a leading provider of business analytics software, to create a new certificate program to train managers for just this purpose.
The program, called the SAS and OSU Business Analytics Certificate, will be offered to full- and part-time MBA students starting this summer. The program commencement was announced by Larry Crosby, dean of the Spears School, at the inaugural SAS Analytics Day Conference at OSU on Friday, April 22.
“The Spears School of Business is very proud of its partnership with SAS and the success of our current SAS and OSU Data Mining Certificate,” Crosby said. “With the launch of the new SAS and OSU Business Analytics Certificate, we have even more reason to be excited. This new program fits a market need for graduates who are technically sound but are particularly strong in their capability to bridge the gap between analysis and strategic decision-making.”
Crosby said the certificate program will be unique because it will explain how to solve complex business problems by analyzing data and it will show students how to integrate the results of these analyses in action planning. Students who earn this certificate will be adept at leading teams of IT, marketing and strategy personnel in any organization.
The business analytics certificate was modeled after the SAS and OSU Data Mining Certificate, which is targeted at graduate students with some technical and programming background. Compared to the data mining certificate, Crosby said this new certificate program will be focused on students who aspire to more managerial positions. The development of both certificate programs was led by Goutam Chakraborty, a professor of marketing in the Spears School.
“We continue to get requests at SAS from companies in many different areas for help in finding qualified candidates with analytical skills such as those provided by this joint certificate in business analytics,” said Jerry Oglesby, senior director for Global Academic Programs and Global Certification at SAS. “This program will be a strong addition to the highly successful joint certificate in data mining that SAS and OSU created in 2004.”
A broad range of courses have been approved for the analytics certificate and will give MBA students flexibility in customizing their coursework. Most of the courses will be offered both on campus and through distance-learning classes online.
For more information about the SAS and OSU Business Analytics Certificate, visit http://analytics.okstate.edu or contact Chakraborty by calling 405-744-7644 or sending an email to goutam.chakraborty@okstate.edu.