(From left to right) Thomas Ross, Senior Associate Dean, Faculty and Research, Sauder School of Business, with Erin Townley Smith, Development Officer, Sauder School, and Bill Sayles, Senior Vice-President and Chief Information Officer of Business Transformation at Telus.
The Sauder School of Business is pleased to announce that TELUS has made a donation of $60,000 over three years to support the creation of the new TELUS Excellence in IT Award. This is the largest award ever created for Management Information Systems students and will significantly offset tuition costs for up to five students each year.
“The Sauder School of Business is deeply honoured by TELUS’ support,” said Daniel Muzyka, Dean of the Sauder School. “This gift is a tremendous investment in future generations of business technology professionals and managers, and will encourage our students to pursue and achieve their full potential.”
TELUS and the Sauder School share a valuable connection, with TELUS having been an active recruiter of Sauder students from graduate and undergraduate programs—particularly in the areas of Finance, Accounting, Marketing and, of course, Management Information Systems. For many years, TELUS has also been a host to students from the co-op program. This reciprocal relationship has benefitted students, business professionals and the business technology industry as a whole.
The Management Information Systems Division at the Sauder School offers two key undergraduate specializations open to Bachelor of Commerce students: the Business Technology Management (BTM) option; and the Business Computer Sciences (BUCS) option. Students graduating from these options are in high demand by companies that need to recruit for business technology management positions, such as TELUS.
Bill Sayles, senior vice-president and chief information officer, Business Transformation, has been Chair of the Sauder School’s MIS Advisory Board since 2010. During this time, he has influenced the redesign of the BTM and BUCS programs, helped develop student recruitment initiatives, been instrumental to the integration of a student mentorship program, and played a significant role in the implementation of a new scholarship program for Management Information Systems students.
“It’s been extremely rewarding for me,” said Sayles. “We rely on the talent of new graduates and I believe that nurturing and mentoring students throughout their education is very important. The TELUS Excellence in IT Award reflects our company’s ongoing commitment to developing future stars and I’m proud to be a part of that.”
Awards totaling $20,000 will be given out annually to students who have demonstrated academic excellence or leadership relating to the BTM and BUCS programs. This award will be given for the first time in the fall of 2011.
This gift enables Management Information Systems students to continue to pursue and achieve their full potential. The Sauder School of Business is deeply honoured by TELUS’s support—it is a remarkable investment in future generations of business technology professionals and managers.
