The Piedmont College Walker School of Business is adding a new concentration to its undergraduate business program for students who want to learn how to manage “big data.”
Called “Data Science for Business,” the concentration will focus on how businesses gather data and create useful business models, said Dr. John Misner, Dean of Piedmont’s H.W. Walker School of Business.
While the definition of “big data” continually changes, Misner said businesses use the term to refer to any collection of data that is too big to manage with traditional business software, such as spreadsheets. “Even small businesses are often collecting more data than they know what to do with,” he said. “So the big question businesses have, is ‘How do we use the data we have to inform our strategy for what we want to do.’”
The new concentration will give graduates the ability to use that flood of information. “One of the fastest growing areas of need that businesses have is to hire graduates who are experienced in gathering and sorting data and can do modeling analysis,” he said. “In the next 10 years, data analysis is going to be one of the areas of greatest demand.”
Misner said there is a movement at many major universities to offer courses in analytics in executive MBA programs. “But I am not aware of any undergraduate programs in the state that are doing this,” he said.
“This program grew out of some recent special research projects that our students completed for area businesses,” Misner said. “These experiences have shown us that many of our undergraduate students have the foundation and the ability to use the sophisticated software and statistical techniques required for this type of modeling,” he said.
Piedmont’s Bachelor of Arts program in business currently offers concentrations in accounting, finance, general business, management, and marketing, Misner said. “The new concentration will be especially valuable for students interested in market research, quality management, econometrics, and financial analysis, he said. “We created this program for students who are strong in math and computer technology, who also think creatively,” he said. “It is perfect for the student who wants to work on a dual concentration in business and a minor in mathematics.”
One of the most dynamic small colleges in the Southeast, Piedmont is an independent liberal arts college of more than 2,260 students. The college’s four schools—Arts & Sciences, Business, Education, and Nursing & Health Sciences—develop tomorrow’s leaders by engaging students in the classroom, in their community, and around the world. Founded in 1897, Piedmont offers bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, and doctoral degree programs at its Demorest residential campus in the foothills of the northeast Georgia mountains and at its Athens campus in the heart of Georgia’s Classic City.
