2018-19 Annual Report
The 2018-19 Annual Report, published by the College of Business and Economic Development at The University of Southern Mississippi, tells stories of outstanding achievements made by our faculty, students, staff, donors, and alumni over the course of the academic year.
The 2018-19 Annual Report, published by the College of Business and Economic Development at The University of Southern Mississippi, tells stories of outstanding achievements made by our faculty, students, staff, donors, and alumni over the course of the academic year.
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ANALYTICS INITIATIVE<br />
GAZELLE/MSED<br />
The University of Southern Mississippi became the first<br />
institution of higher education to deploy the advanced AIenabled<br />
economic data analytics platform, Gazelle.ai, within<br />
its curriculum in the College of Business and Economic<br />
Development. Both graduate and undergraduate students<br />
have access to the platform that mines and curates data<br />
collected from millions of business establishments and uses<br />
trained algorithms to forecast growth.<br />
“The ability to harness and interpret the ever-increasing<br />
amount of data available to decision-makers has become<br />
an increasingly important differentiator in the business<br />
world,” said Steven Jast, president of Gazelle.ai. “We’re<br />
thrilled that The University of Southern Mississippi will be<br />
using our tool to help equip students and prepare them<br />
for a rapidly evolving business environment.”<br />
ANALYTICS IN THE MPA PROGRAM<br />
Master of Professional Accountancy courses such as Advanced Auditing,<br />
Audit Analytics & IT Auditing and Advanced Cost/Managerial Accounting have<br />
integrated analytics tools, such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, Sage 50<br />
<strong>2018</strong>, General Ledger Software, CaseWare IDEA Data Analysis Software, and<br />
Tableau Data Analytics and Visualization Software into the curriculum.<br />
100% of MPA students achieved both<br />
Specialist and Expert Certification in<br />
Microsoft Excel during spring 20<strong>19</strong>.<br />
Named for “gazelles,” a term<br />
used to denote rapidly<br />
growing companies, the<br />
platform was created for<br />
economic development<br />
professionals whose role<br />
is to identify and attract<br />
growing companies that bring jobs and investment to<br />
communities. Gazelle.ai are being integrated into courses<br />
focusing on economic development, entrepreneurship,<br />
marketing, marketing research and management.<br />
Dr. Chad Miller, professor of economic development,<br />
added, “In keeping with our mandate to innovate and<br />
encourage fresh thinking, we are looking forward to<br />
becoming the first college to use Gazelle.ai. I’m very<br />
confident that our students and faculty will come to find<br />
the platform to be an indispensable resource.”<br />
Mr. Mike Skinner, with Horne Cyber in Memphis, spoke to MPA students during the<br />
spring semester about data analytics, cybersecurity, big data, artificial intelligence and<br />
automation, and other technological initiatives impacting the future of the accounting<br />
profession. Mike was joined by Blake Pittman, a cyber risk analyst with Horne Cyber<br />
and a 2015 graduate of the MPA program at Southern Miss.<br />
Other guest speakers include Kyle Stoner with PWC New Orleans and Mario Perez<br />
with Audimation Services.<br />
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