ITHACA — Ithaca College recently announced it will establish a pair of business analytics laboratories in its School of Business this fall. The two dedicated business analytics lab spaces at the college will “provide students with hands-on experience to help them thrive in a world that relies on data to drive innovation,” it said in […]
ITHACA — Ithaca College recently announced it will establish a pair of business analytics laboratories in its School of Business this fall.
The two dedicated business analytics lab spaces at the college will “provide students with hands-on experience to help them thrive in a world that relies on data to drive innovation,” it said in a news release.
The endowment to create the lab spaces, in the Roy H. and Dorothy D. Park Center for Business and Sustainable Enterprise, was established by John J. Neeson, a 1984 Ithaca College School of Business alumnus. Neeson’s gifts support the creation of the Neeson Business Analytics Lab and the Neeson Digital Marketing and Analytics Lab and establish the John Neeson ‘84 Endowed Software and Database Fund to support software updates and future upgrades to the Neeson Business Analytics Lab, the college said.
One of the two forthcoming lab spaces is currently an electronic classroom that will be upgraded with modern workspaces. Business administration students will use the classroom, as will students who choose to take advantage of the School of Business’s minor in analytics, the release stated. Classes in the new lab space will be open to all students at Ithaca College, not only those who are enrolled in the School of Business, the college noted.
The second space will also receive an upgrade, “transforming from a technology-free conference room to a robust analytics lab where students can conduct research and develop projects.”
“The analytics labs in the School of Business will provide students with resources and hands-on experience that will empower them to understand and adapt to evolving business trends across all industries,” School of Business Dean Sean Reid said in the release.
Students will study “how to apply customer relationship management (CRM) systems, making marketing decisions based on customer activities and communications,” added Scott Erickson, a professor and chair in the college’s Department of Marketing. “They will also develop skills in using predictive tools such as regression, neural networks, decision trees, and clustering, all of which will help prepare students for the new, data-driven environment in marketing.”
