Syracuse University Professor of Practice Art Thomas was appointed director of Global Enterprise Technology (GET) and related programs at the School of Information Studies.

The position currently involves managing the interdisciplinary undergraduate GET minor, and will also expand to include a planned GET graduate certificate program as well as the planned Systems and Information Science undergraduate dual degree with LC Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science. Thomas will serve as the primary point of contact for iSchool students interested in these programs, which will be collaboratively governed with faculty at the Whitman School of Management and LC Smith.

“This position creates a new model of curriculum governance, as these interdisciplinary programs will be governed with our peers in the Whitman and LCS,” said iSchool Senior Associate Dean Robert Heckman, who leads the JPMorgan Chase-Syracuse University Curriculum Committee. The GET curriculum was developed by a multidisciplinary group of faculty with the support and backing of industry collaborator, JPMorgan Chase.

“Art has been a lead developer and instructor on core courses in the GET programs since its inception,” Heckman said. “He has been a highly involved member of the Curriculum Committee and has brought a tremendous value to the development of the programs through his professional expertise and teaching experience.”

The GET curriculum seeks to prepare students from any academic discipline on how to develop and manage large-scale information systems used by many industries, including banking, insurance, medical, and retail. Topics covered in GET courses include global computing challenges, the business value of IT, effective collaboration in a globally distributed environment, and IT-enabled innovation.

An interdisciplinary undergraduate GET minor was launched in spring 2009, and already 105 students from a range of disciplines have enrolled. Twelve new courses have been developed, and 11 existing courses have been redesigned to complement the GET curriculum. More than 700 students have enrolled in GET courses.

A dual B.S. degree in systems and information science is currently being developed by the iSchool and LC Smith, and a graduate certificate of advanced study in global enterprise technology is expected to debut in the coming year. Thomas will take a leading role in helping these new programs come to fruition.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed working with our partners on the foundations of this unique curriculum,” Thomas said. “It is an honor to have now been given this terrific opportunity to help it to grow and develop, and I look forward to working with our colleagues from management and engineering to make this a truly powerful program of study for our students.”

Thomas began teaching as an adjunct faculty member at the iSchool in spring 2001 and was hired as a full-time faculty member in spring 2009. Thomas also brings practical IT business experience into his new role. He is co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Counterpoint Holdings LLC, an IT consultancy formed in 1992. With a special arrangement with 3M Corporation, Thomas co-founded LightYear Institute Inc. in 2005 to develop and market beginner-level 3M certification classes in fiber-optic data network technology.

Before coming to the iSchool, Thomas worked in IT positions ranging from programmer to CIO, and he has held positions in corporate training ranging from training specialist to chief learning officer. He has served organizations in manufacturing, banking, insurance, education, and government, and his work has taken him from North America to Europe and the Middle East, where he led two projects for the Ministry of Education in the Sultanate of Oman.

Thomas earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York College at Brockport with emphasis in both social science and computer science. He also earned his Master of Education (Ed.M.) degree in curriculum development and instructional media and his Ph.D. in research and evaluation/instructional systems design and management from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

For more information on GET programs, visit http://globaltech.syr.edu.

To learn more about the JPMorgan Chase-SU Collaboration, visit http://globaltechhub.org.