In a move to become one of the nation's leading high-tech business research centers, officials at Brigham Young University's Marriott School announced the formation of a new center for electronic business. Dell Vice Chair and Marriott School alumnus Kevin Rollins and his wife, Debra, contributed $3 million to establish the center.
The university's Board of Trustees approved the donation along with the creation of the Kevin and Debra Rollins Center for eBusiness@BYU. Rollins also expressed a commitment to help the Marriott School raise the additional $9 million needed to fully fund the new center.
"Debra and I are excited with the potential this new center has to generate new technologies and train technology-savvy business leaders," Rollins said. "We invite other individuals and corporations to join us in this endeavor by contributing some of their resources to the center. Additional support is essential for the school to become a focal point for electronic business education."
The Rollins Center for eBusiness@BYU will foster the study and teaching of how information technology is changing business and management processes. It will also serve as an intermediary between the high-tech business sector and the faculty and students at the management school — building new partnerships and undertaking joint research projects. The center is being designed to attract and maintain the highest quality faculty and staff, develop new course materials, expand the number of e-commerce classes and provide students with new employment opportunities, internships and field study projects.
"We greatly appreciate the generosity of Kevin and Debra," said Ned C. Hill, dean of the Marriott School. "We have also benefited from Kevin's vision. He has been closely involved with the development of the center and is truly an outstanding leader in this field."
J. Owen Cherrington, director of the Master of Information Systems Management (MISM) program at the Marriott School and new head of the Rollins Center for eBusiness@BYU, said, "We have been working on an eBusiness center for a long time. This is an exciting step that we believe will help us capitalize on several competitive advantages: 1) our geographic location in one of the hottest areas in the nation for high-tech businesses, 2) the high caliber of our information systems faculty and students, and 3) lower costs for high-tech business development."
First, the Marriott School is located in close proximity to the Salt Lake City/Provo area, a region that has been recognized by Newsweek and Fortune magazines as one of the best places in the country for firms involved with e-commerce. According to a 1999 survey sponsored by the Utah Information Technologies Association (UITA), nearly 2,500 information technology companies are located in Utah.
Second, the Marriott School was recently ranked by Computerworld as having one of the best programs to develop would-be chief information officers and technology-savvy executives. The school's MISM program is ranked 20th in the nation after graduating its first class in 1998.
Finally, "Development costs continue to rise in the high-tech industry," Cherrington said. "However, these high costs can be lowered by partnering with recognized academic institutions. Not only do these partnerships benefit the industry, but they also help infuse the school's faculty and students with instruction and experience that will help them keep on the leading edge of technology."
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Writer: Peter Carr
