Carnegie Mellon University
August 04, 2021

Students in IS Class Lend Hand, Help Community

By Kirsten Heuring

The Information Systems Consulting Project Course is a focal point of the Information Systems (IS) major, and it allows students to help the community. The course involves groups of students working with a nonprofit, government organization or small business to offer them services to help the organization grow and have a positive impact on the community.

The course has been a highlight for students while providing benefit to the Carnegie Mellon University and Pittsburgh community ever since the Information and Decision Systems major, the predecessor of the IS major, was created in 1982. As the program grew, the focus was always on helping CMU departments and local nonprofits. In 2014, the course was redesigned to take a consulting, as opposed to a software development, approach, while improving student learning, client outcomes and making more efficient use of faculty advisor time. This change set the stage for managing the rapid growth in the program, with nearly twice the number of students, student teams and community partners compared to prior years. For over thirty years, it has been the keystone experience in the major and a valuable benefit to the community

Julia Poepping, associate director of partnership development for information systems, coordinates the community clients.

“We really try to focus on mission-focused organizations, so whether it's a nonprofit or a government entity that has a mission to improve the outcomes of society,” said Poepping. “We see how we can provide these smart student resources to an organization that wouldn't normally be able to afford it to help further their mission.” 

IS students take the course during their junior year. They work in groups of three with an assigned community organization. The teams are advised by a professor in the IS program, with all the faculty in the department offering support. Over the course of the semester, the students coordinate with their adviser and their client, creating a sustainable software solution that the clients can use well after the class ends. 

“We ask community partners really to talk about their experience, the benefits that their organization got from it, what they learned,” said Poepping. “I think it's really gratifying for the students to see how much value they've brought and how important the work that they've done is to the community partner.”

IS publishes past projects on their website. Their projects cover a diverse array of organizations from across the country, though most are from the Pittsburgh area. Over the years, clients have ranged from the Phipps Conservatory to the Kodiak Island Borough School District in Alaska. Many groups return as community partners in subsequent years for further assistance. 

David Domalik (DC 2022), a double major in IS and human computer interaction, and his team created a new website to encourage businesses and alumni to partner with Dietrich College. He appreciated not only the opportunities this course provides, but also that the course is required for the major.

“I think the most valuable thing for the students is really just getting that experience working as a team and learning how to work a project from start to finish,” said Domalik. “I'm glad that [the course] is required for the major. It's one of those things that you should have to do before you graduate and get into the workforce.”

Though the pandemic shifted the course online for the spring semesters in 2020 and 2021, Mertz and Poepping have taken advantage of the changes. They were able to expand their reach to help organizations across the country, like Red Cloud Indian School in South Dakota and Piedmont Community Services in Virginia.

“We had worked with a couple remote organizations pre-pandemic, but the pandemic forced us to do everything remotely,” said Mertz. ”We’re going to continue to some degree, and it also allowed us to expand where we built our partnerships, which has helped us.” 

Mertz and Poepping care deeply about creating an experience that serves students, organizations and the surrounding community.

“These organizations serve the community with very limited resources,” said Mertz. “We try very hard to make sure that we provide lasting value to them, and I think that the testament is that they come back and work with us.”

Jointly administered by both Dietrich College and the Heinz College, CMU’s Information Systems program is a unique blend of technology, business, humanities and social sciences that builds on the university’s world-renowned strengths in information technology and analytics.