College of Business Opens New Business Analytics Lab

DSU President Harry L. Williams and the College of Business (COB) officially dedicated the new Business Analytics Lab that will be a premier research center for data analytics and as a cutting-edge workspace for the analysis of big data.

Joined by Donna Covington, the dean of the College of Business, and other officials, Dr. Williams cut the symbolic ribbon at the new lab during a Nov. 6 ceremony.

“I’m excited about this space and what it will do for our students,” Dr. Williams said. “With our priority on student success, this is a clear example of how we are here for our students.”

The Business Analytics Lab, located in Room 309 of the Bank of America Building, is equipped with several mobile computer stations, curved monitors, a cabinet full of laptops with charging stations, the latest software and other tools. The dry erase painted walls promote creative thinking with its writable/erasable surfaces that allow thoughts and ideas to be jotted straight on the wall.  

Dean Covington, who has led the integration of new analytics curriculum and technology in the undergraduate and graduate degree programs of the COB, noted that business analytics is one of the fastest growing skill sets in the world today. She said the ability to analyze data, predict outcomes and improve performance to guide decision making is now essential for all students in higher education to ensure that they graduate with a skill set that will allow them to be successful in the workplace.

“In addition, ensuring our students are knowledgeable in examining big data to uncover patterns and predicting outcomes is not enough. We want to ensure our students are also well-versed in the application of analytics technology,” Dean Covington said. “We want them to have hands-on experience in using the leading-edge tools that can be used to make business, companies, organizations, government and academia help to anticipate and solve critical problems.”

She added that that lab will be the classroom of choice for courses teaching concepts in business analytics and will be used to teach and instruct other HBCUs in the most current analytics software.

The College of Business dean expressed appreciation to the DSU Office of Development for funding the purchase of 40 laptops for the lab, and also to SAP, which donated the analytics software as part of its partnership with DSU.

“Of course none of this would be possible without the teaching, effort and direction of this great (COB) teaching staff,” Dean Covington said.