An Introduction: The MIS PhD Student

Hello to anyone reading this blog. My name is Teagen Nabity. I am currently the only PhD student in MIS at the University of Alabama (not to be confused with the first, which I'm sure that person graduated many years ago). The good news is, I am not the only person in my classes, as Marketing and Management have graciously allowed me to take many of their 600-level courses - and Marketing, at least, is trying to convince me to convert. Also, we are looking to add one or two more MIS students to the program in the fall, so that's exciting.

Before I go more into my program and what I hope to take away from this course, a little background. My father was in the navy when I was born, so we traveled around a lot for the first six years of my life. After that, he retired and moved the whole family to Grand Island, NE, where I lived until attending college at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO. There, I studied marketing in the business school and spent a semester abroad in England. My study abroad was a learning experience very different from my undergraduate classes and has had an enduring impact on how I approach paper writing.

While in undergrad, I met my now fiance; we met online (but not from online dating - I know, I'm a confusing person; I'll only be more so if you ask about my family). We have been long distance for our entire relationship as he lives in Alabama, and I did not until recently. Even now, we still live on opposite sides of the state.

After undergrad, I worked for TSU as an Admission Counselor in the Kansas City area for a couple of years. I loved working with the students (and sometimes their parents - some parents make it hard to like them, though I understand they're looking out for their kid's interests), but it wasn't a role I wanted for a long time. Traveling all the time and never really being "off the clock" - even on vacation - is hard. Thus, the search for grad school and a career change. At the time, I thought I'd want a specialized masters in marketing analytics or marketing research, as that was a class I adored in undergrad. But UA's MBA won me over, and that's what I pursued.

Through the MBA, I was introduced to MIS and project management for IT teams, which ended up being something I really came to love. It's also how I met Dr. Raja, who approached me with the idea of pursuing a career in academia. She brought me in on one of her current research projects, encouraged me to work with another student to write a conference paper (which was accepted and we presented our poster last month in Dublin), and has thus far mentored me through my first semester of the PhD.

So that's the highlight reel. Now to clarify something you may have been wondering since the beginning: what is MIS? Management Information Systems is a discipline arising from management and focused specifically on information technologies or information systems. It considers how these are developed/implemented/maintained, how people interact with them, data issues (such as quality, cleaning, transformation, etc.) relating to these systems, and so on within a business setting (at least, this is how I've come to understand it to this point). It is a relatively new discipline in the world of business, but one that is growing quickly.

It may be surprising to you that UA has an MIS PhD. That's another fun (see: confusing) explanation. Although the program has existed before now (really, I'm not the first one in it), when they created the program, it was created as a track under Operations Management. Why? I don't really understand it beyond grasping that this was somehow easier to set up quickly. This means, officially, I'm a PhD student in OM; however, aside from the MBA courses I took, I haven't taken OM courses, and I'm not sure I will in the next academic year. Besides, all of the research related work I do is with my beloved MIS faculty - and they are pretty awesome if you've never met them. (And I'm being serious; they're a big part of why I stayed to do a PhD here instead of going out into the great unknown or going back into the work force.)

I realize, at this point, I've already waxed on about myself enough. I want to make one last point, though, and that's to address why I'm taking this course. I've heard from a lot of people in the past year about how academics should focus most of their energy on publications and teaching is a "necessary evil" to earning tenure. I don't prescribe to that line of thinking (about teaching, not about publications). I am in the program because I do enjoy my experience with research and I love the idea of learning something new that will be new to someone else. But I'm also here because I care deeply about education and about influencing students. As I mentioned, working with students was my favorite part of working in admissions (even if they decided to go somewhere else). I loved being that person they were comfortable emailing with questions and asking advice on making their final decision. I've also been very blessed to have had so many great educators throughout my academic career, some of whom I've been able to keep in touch with over the years. They influenced, mentored, and nurtured me as I grew into this person I am today. I know it will be hard (I've been a student long enough to realize what many students are like), but I want that chance to ignite someone's passion, provide guidance, or even just lead by example - for both women and minority students. But to accomplish that, I believe I need to be a competent educator in the classroom. I'm enrolled in this class in order to learn more about what it takes to educate and work on that skill set.