Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology

A new Bachelors of Applied Technology (B.A.T.) degree program has been approved by the Arkansas Board of Higher Education’s Coordinating Board. The approval allows UALR’s Donaghey College of Information Science and Systems Engineering to offer the new B.A.T. degree with options in Industrial Computing and Manufacturing Management. The goal of the new degree program is to provide students with a new path to a baccalaureate degree that utilizes work they have done in the Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S) degree. The new program accepts 60 credit hours of transfer credit from the A.A.S. towards the B.A.T. Articulation agreements are in development with key feeder colleges. As an example, students with a closely aligned program from Pulaski Technical College would be eligible for admission to the new B.A.T. degree program at UALR.

Many students in Arkansas currently pursue an Associate of Applied Science degree for immediate entry into the job market. Many then seek the next step in their professional development. The opportunity to apply associate degree course work toward the requirements of a baccalaureate degree will provide those students with the ability to expand their job-related skills, as well as enhance their professional careers without the loss of course credits already earned. The new B.A.T. program at UALR will uniquely provide such an opportunity. Currently there are eight two-year colleges in Arkansas that offer A.A.S. degrees that closely align with UALR’s new B.A.T. offering. While no other institution in Arkansas, other than UALR, now offers a Bachelor of Applied Technology, the degree is offered by at least five Texas institutions and by Rogers State University in Oklahoma.

The College now offers the nation’s first Master of Science Degree in Information Quality, with classes starting this Fall.  Based in the Information Science Department of College, students in this program will gain the knowledge and training necessary to improve the quality of the vast amounts of data held in computer systems worldwide.  As public and private organizations increase their reliance on information for all aspects of their operation and decision making, the real costs of “dirty data” are becoming increasing as well.  Inaccurate, incomplete, inconsistent, and out-of-date information create operational errors, poor decisions, and damaged customer relations that cost government and industry billions of dollars a year.

The curriculum for the new master’s degree at UALR’s Donaghey College of Information Science and Systems Engineering was developed in collaboration with the MIT Information Quality program.  The curriculum encompasses the concepts, principles, and tools essential in measuring, analyzing, and improving information quality, as well as, the development of enterprise information quality policies and strategies.  Program sponsors include Acxiom Corporation and Flake Wilkerson in Little Rock, Cambridge Research Group, Inc. in Newton, Massachusetts, FUZZY! Informatik in Ludwigsburg, Germany, and Informatica Corporation, in Redwood City, California.

The College continues to add faculty to broaden its offerings to students – directly answering the needs identified by the region’s corporate community. The list below includes new faculty additions for the Fall 2006 semester.

Dr. Alex Biris
Applied Science - Assistant Professor

Dr. Tansel Karabacak
Applied Science-Assistant Professor

Dr. John Talburt
Information Science - Visiting Professor

Dr. Richard Wang
Information Science - Visiting University Professor

Dr. Daniel Berleant
Information Science - Associate Professor

Dr. Elizabeth Pierce
Information Science - Associate Professor

Thomas Wallace
Information Technology - Instructor

Dr. Guoliang Huang
Systems Engineering - Assistant Professor

Dr. Radu Babiceanu
Systems Engineering - Assistant Professor

Al Hampton, the College’s Director of Recruitment and Diversity since its creation, has left the College for retirement at the end of the summer.  His years of service were responsible for helping the College grow its student enrollment dramatically, while always retaining a strong effort to recruit female and minority students.  Mr. Hampton’s statewide visits to schools resulted in students being recruited from 68 of the 75 counties in Arkansas — a remarkable accomplishment!  The College will miss Mr. Hampton and wish he and his wife, Sybil, much good luck as they enjoy retirement years ahead!