ISU expands graduate business program in D.M.
In a move that anticipates further growth to come, Iowa State University’s College of Business will offer additional graduate-level business courses in downtown Des Moines with the hiring of a full-time resident professor.
|
| Rahul Parsa |
The college announced Thursday that it has hired Rahul Parsa, who fills a newly created position as faculty fellow of Des Moines programs. Parsa, who joins the supply chain and information systems department, will teach a variety of graduate-level management Information systems courses at ISU’s downtown office space at Capital Square, the college said in a release.
Most recently, Parsa was the Principal Financial Group distinguished professor of statistics and actuarial science at Drake University. He was also director of the School of Actuarial Sciences at Drake and is a member of the steering committee of the Global Insurance Symposium.
“We’re growing our higher education opportunities in Des Moines, and we are fortunate to have someone as experienced and knowledgeable as Rahul join our faculty,” said David Spalding, Raisbeck endowed dean of the ISU College of Business. “He is a well-known, respected educator and he is very connected to major businesses in Iowa.”
Beyond the new courses that Parsa will teach, ISU may add additional courses and professors next year in Des Moines, Spalding said, but that decision will wait on the results of a local needs study recently commissioned by the Iowa Board of Regents.
“It’s certainly our intent to respond to the needs of the Des Moines market,” Spalding said. “It’s easy for our faculty to get to the Des Moines market.”
The study, to be completed by February, will ask Greater Des Moines businesses and others what programs are needed that Iowa State, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa could offer at the AIB College of Business campus on a collaborative basis.
Parsa, who lives in Greater Des Moines, will have a full-time presence at the Capital Square office and will be ISU’s senior faculty representative in Des Moines, Spalding said.
ISU has offered a part-time executive MBA program in the leased downtown space for a number of years. Currently, about a dozen ISU professors travel from the ISU campus to teach evening classes.
Courses that Parsa will teach in Des Moines include advanced software development, foundations of business analytics, insurance analytics and quantitative business analysis. In addition to his role in analytics education in Des Moines, Parsa will have an important role in the analytics program in Ames.
Parsa earned a Ph.D. in statistics from Texas A & M University, and a Master of Science in applied mathematics and a Bachelor of Science with honors in mathematics from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.
To learn more about the Iowa State College of Business opportunities in Des Moines, contact Rahul Parsa at raparsa@iastate.edu or call 515-243-2593.
Trending News
