I earned the Capella University Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree in 2020 with a specialization in Business Intelligence (BI). The program’s requirements required 84 doctoral credits across a general doctoral-level curriculum focused on finance, marketing, leadership, logistics, and research methodologies, with the core classes focused on business intelligence, and the result was a published five-chapter dissertation. I selected a qualitative research approach for my dissertation versus a quantitative one. I passed my coursework with a cumulative 4.0 GPA. For some, a degree is a degree regardless of the end GPA. For myself, I set a personal goal to achieve nothing less than an “A” grade and a 4.0 GPA for my standards.
My qualitative dissertation is titled: Determining Critical Information Asset Identification, Classification, and Valuation, ProQuest Number: 28256138. My design and methodology implemented an exploratory, descriptive common single-case study design. The dissertation consisted of 169 pages, and the analysis of the research questions was:
Research Question 1. How are critical information assets identified and classified and a valuation determined within financial services organizations?
Research Question 2. What are the decision criteria used to differentiate a critical information assets from a non-critical information asset?
Research Question 3. How is knowledge of critical information assets collected, maintained, and shared within financial services organizations?
The University of Minnesota Master of Science in Industrial Systems Engineering (ISyE) degree focused on the design, planning, and management of complex, large-scale systems such as global supply chains, healthcare delivery systems, financial services systems, and other critical business infrastructures.
As an ISyE professional, I am trained to be a systems-level thinker with a unique – and marketable – ability for problem-solving background, which integrates science, engineering, management, and mathematics.
My professional and personal reason for acquiring an MS ISyE graduate degree was the opportunity to increase further my depth of knowledge in complex systems, operations research decision-making methods comparable and compatible with machine learning, and complex systems architecture and project management. In addition, I built upon my prior academic achievements in software engineering and computer information systems.
The University of Minnesota Master of Science in Software Engineering (MSSE) degree focused on establishing a foundation for software engineering ways of thinking and fostering personal and professional growth in software engineering.
The MSSE program during my attendance focused on software engineering theory and best practices, systems analysis, systems architecture, project management, software architecture, software quality engineering, managing software processes, data modeling, database systems design, and software abstractions.
My professional reason for acquiring the MSSE degree had been to continue my educational journey and learn all that I could while at the same time officially earning the degree. Earning the degree set me in motion to continue forward in honing my academic skill set and listening ability.
The College of St. Scholastica degree a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Computer Information Systems (CIS) focused on analysis, design, and construction of solutions. Evaluation, selection, and application methods and software tools. Practical communication skills, oral presentations, written documents, and software documentation.
My reason for earning the bachelor’s degree was to finalize my initiation into academia by earning an official four-year college degree. I had already had more than four years of post-secondary education; however, I had not finalized my education with a four-year degree. I have also acquired seven years of technology work experience in technology marketing, software implementation, software design and support, relational databases, user interface design, graphic arts, and hosting private cloud solutions in a secure data center. I completed my bachelor’s degree with a cumulative 4.0 GPA set as my personal goal to demonstrate what I had personally and professionally learned and applied to my course work.