Dr. Linda Ettinger, Sr. Academic Director for the UO AIM Program, and the three Capstone Award recipients for 2010: Jason Stearns ('10), Cecilia Tomory ('10), and Connie Atchley ('10).
Recognition Awards Presented to AIM Masters Students
The University of Oregon Applied Information Management (AIM) Master’s Degree Program is well known for the progressive research conducted by students in the final phase of study. AIM is a part-time program and students work full time while engaged in the course work. Writing a research paper provides students with an opportunity to select a topic in the larger field of information management and build a clearly defined link between their professional activity and an academic inquiry.
Most professionals have little time to conduct research as a regular part of their workday, although many would benefit from the opportunity. While developing a research study, AIM students take time to step back and reflect on the complex issues they face every day—to think more deeply about their work in a way that is necessary of all who aspire to leadership in the information management field. It’s a rigorous process, and one that is often transformative.
Defining the field of information management has been an ongoing challenge for the past forty years. AIM student research studies are focused on a set of topics that clearly describe the relevant questions and issues in the field today, including data management, security, business continuity, communications, growth of the Internet, evolving technology, and green IT. Studies are also grounded in a variety of contexts, including higher education, government operations, and private industries (both the US and within a global context). For a list of titles and abstracts of the research papers produced by AIM students, click here.
Each year an award is presented to recognize excellent research, with focus on three categories: execution of the overall research process, depth of the research design, and quality of the research outcome. This year, awards were presented to Connie Atchley, Jason Stearns, and Cecilia Tomory.
Connie Atchley is the Enterprise Computing Services associate director at Oregon State University. The title of her research study is Communication Tactics that Describe Innovation Advocacy Leadership as a Way to Inform Organizational Strategic Planning by Leveraging Networks and Building Consensus. This study presents six communication tactics that describe innovation advocacy leadership. It examines differences in communication abilities and behaviors represented by divergent processes, which develop new directions necessary to support innovative ideas, and convergent processes which represent the dominant organizational view necessary to support formal strategic planning. Tactics provide advocates with a procedural bridge to the new ideas they propose and include defining innovation context, developing dynamic networks, channeling opportunities, and framing perceptions.
Jason Stearns is corporate vice president and corporate records manager at New York Life Insurance Company. The title of his research study is Employing the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles® (GARP®) to Identify Practices for Efficient and Compliant Electronic Records and Information Management. Information technology and records and information management (RIM) professionals must work together to manage the expansion of electronic records and information. This study, based on literature published between 2005 and 2010, employs the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles® (GARP®) to identify twenty-three practices for effective and compliant electronic RIM. Practices, framed in relation to eight GARP® principles, are presented as a comprehensive guide for RIM and IT professionals tasked with recordkeeping responsibilities.
Cecilia Tomory is principle data base administrator at PacifiCorp. The title of her research study is Lowering the Carbon Emissions Footprint of Enterprise Data Centers through Energy Efficiency Gains. Selected literature published between 2004 and 2009 is mined for emerging trends and best practices regarding green IT and data centers. Environmental issues are becoming a serious industry concern, spurred by local and global initiatives. Steps are identified for enterprise data center managers, in order to measure, manage, and improve power consumption efficiency within their facility. Data center energy efficiency gains save power, lower energy costs, and decrease overall corporate carbon footprint.
For more information on the AIM master’s degree program, please view the website. For specific questions, call 800-824-2714 or e-mail aim@uoregon.edu.