UMKC - The Bloch School

I'm Sidne Ward and I'm an associate professor of management information systems at the Bloch School of Business and Public Administration at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. I received my Ph.D. in management from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, then headed east to the Bloch School in 1995.

In Fall 2008 I'm teaching a brand new course for the Bloch School, MIS 402, Information Management. I previously taught BIS 302, Introduction to Management Information Systems. I love technology and really enjoy the chance to discuss everything from the uses of business intelligence in organizations to the impacts of new technology on society.

I also teach BIS 5529, Decision Support Systems (formerly BDS 528: Decision Support and Expert Systems) typically in the Spring. Decision support is a particular interest of mine. The course covers topics ranging from biases in the decision making process and groupthink to multi-attribute decision making to the use of Excel and Visual Basic for Applications for decision support.

In addition to decision support, I've conducted research on online auctions, the design of web-based applications and impacts on users, and information technology and education. I also have a keen interest in the impacts of information technology on individuals, organizations, and society. In particular, globalization and connections between countries have been facilitated and accelerated through information technologies and I want to explore this trend.

 

On a more personal note, I'm always ready to use my passport! I've been to more than 30 countries and I'm always read to visit additional places. For my first trip abroad I visited the Soviet Union and Poland back during the Iron Curtain days. Later, in college, I did the backpacking around Europe bit with friends a couple of times.

I visited South Korea for the 1988 Olympics. The next few years comprised a few short return trips to Europe. Then in 2003 I took a 5 week trip to Vietnam and Cambodia by myself and ended up riding more than 1,000 kilometers on the back of a motorcycle. In Spring of 2004, I guest lectured in Berlin, Germany and also visited Olomouc and Prague in the Czech Republic. During the summer of 2004 I took a trip to Thailand, Laos, and returned to Vietnam. In the spring of 2005 I taught a course at Euromed in Marseilles, France. Then in Summer of 2005 I visited Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. The trip included a couple of safaris, an upclose visit with mountain gorillas, and a dip in the Indian Ocean.

During Spring Break 2007, I participated in a site inspection visit to the Republic of Korea. The purpose of the trip was to explore opportunities for Bloch School students to visit the ROK as part of a Bloch study abroad program. The trip encompassed Seoul, Jeju Island, Busan, and Ulsan. Companies and organizations visited include Samsung, Hyundai, the stock exchange, and the US Embassy.

In 2007 I accompanied a group of Bloch students to Sweden and Finland for a short term study abroad program. Dr. Christina Heiss was teaching the course. I assisted with logistics during the trip. And afterwards, I headed to Russia on my own for a couple of weeks hitting St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the Solovetsky Islands on the White Sea.

Then in 2008, I taught a section of a new course, "International Study in Business: Vietnam" during the Spring 2008 semester. The class was open to all Bloch School students. We met on three different Saturdays during the Spring semester then at the beginning of June we headed to Hanoi and HCMC in Vietnam for a week. We visited companies and organizations including the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, Vina Capital, Manulife, Sacombank Securities, VietFund Management, Binh Thanh Hospital, Dentsu Vietnam, FPT, and VNPT.

The next adventure I have planned is a 7 month stay in Kathmandu, Nepal. As a Fulbright Scholar, I'll be teaching at the Kathmandu University School of Management during the Spring 2009 semester.

I also love any and all technology. I've been using the Internet since 1991 and had my own web page since 1994. I love to get something working such as copying TV shows from one of my TiVos to my Treo 755p for mobile TV, exploring social networking sites such as Twitter, or subscribing and listening to podcasts.

Recently, my Fall 2006, Winter 2007, and Fall 2007 BIS 302 students created podcasts of their own! (If you'd like to listen to some of these podcasts, you can find the Winter 2007 podcasts at: http://bloch.umkc.edu/faculty/ward/bis302/podcasts.htm and the Fall 2007 podcasts at: http://bloch.umkc.edu/faculty/ward/bis302/BIS302PodcastsFa07.htm ) .

Contact me at: wards@umkc.edu

Perhaps you can't say "yes" to every opportunity that comes along. But if you say "no" to every opportunity, you'll lead a fairly boring life.

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