The Darla Moore School of Business, a highly-ranked business school for public universities across the country, is currently refocusing its undergraduate business curriculum to include the use of statistical software.
The new curriculum is designed to give students experience in data analysis and provide a basis in business analytics for the future. Business analytics is a concentration usually seen in graduate curricula, but the Moore School has integrated R, a programming software for statistical graphics, and other tools into its undergraduate program. The Moore School claims to be the only undergraduate business school to do so.
The change is an effort to give students a competitive edge against other interviewees who have not yet learned how to analyze data using platforms like R.
“We’ve really seen that a lot of companies are looking for students who are comfortable with using statistical programming, and so we really just saw that it would be a good thing for students ... to really just be more competitive,” said Stacey Mumbower, director of the Center for Applied Business Analytics.
The use of R was first introduced in the Moore School by clinical assistant professor Leslie Hendrix. After teaching an advanced statistics class using Excel, Hendrix realized that her students would benefit more from learning to use R in place of the Excel program. She piloted the first Moore School courses using R in the spring of 2018.
“It’s really important to learn the computer coding with R because part of what we want to teach is something that can lead into other opportunities for the students,” Hendrix said. “Once they learn the language of R, they'll pick up on any other language very quickly.”
Hendrix said that the program was a success, and that soon after, Dean Peter Brews made the use of the program in the class a requirement.
“We are drowning in data. People know that there is data out there, but they are not sure what it tells you, what knowledge can be gained from it or how decision making can be improved by deeper analysis of the data,” Brews said.
Learning the basics of coding and business analytics are now part of the regular sequence for Moore students. Program leaders see this as a necessary step in preparing students for success in the workforce.
“Virtually every business executive I meet, when I mention data and I mention that we are trying to train our students to do better analytical work than has been the case up until now, it’s almost uniform, ‘That’s wonderful, when can I talk to them?’” Brews said.
Fourth-year real estate student Patrick Nealon was able to use his background in business analytics from the Moore School to earn a position at a company over the summer.
"It's another skill that I guess a lot of students don't have," Nealon said. "It definitely helps to have some technology knowledge because that's what they want to see out of young kids coming out of school."
Brews hopes that students will see the benefits of the statistics courses and complete a full concentration in business analytics. In theory, students will be able to use their knowledge of business analytics to keep up with the fast pace of the field as it evolves.
"In five years' time they may be teaching themselves something else," Brews said. "They’ve got to learn how to learn and have the confidence that they can actually keep themselves going, and that’s what we are trying to do in our four years that they have here.”