Professor David Wang wants students in his audit analytics classes to be creative problem solvers. It’s clear that he’s leading by example.
Wang, who is KPMG/Neil F. Casson Endowed Professor and associate dean of faculty and research, believes in the power of applied learning, and designs courses in which students work directly with business leaders in Chicago to help address challenges senior managers face. Most projects focus on internal audit, in which students analyze and recommend solutions, culminating in a report and presentation to senior managers. Opportunities like these, he says, are a big perk of DePaul’s ties to the business community. “I believe that a business education needs to be tightly connected with a business world,” he says. “So I always try to bring the practices to the classroom or take our students out to the business world.”
The Chicago-based companies that sponsor the projects include Aon, Discover Financial Services, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, Ferrara Candy Company, Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) and Zebra Technologies. Several students secured full time jobs as a result of their project, says Wang.
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In addition to understanding challenges faced by local business leaders, Wang wants students to understand inter-cultural challenges. This goal stems from his being born and raised in Taiwan. He recalls that when he came to the United States in his 20s he was taken aback by how blunt conversations could sometimes seem. “In the U.S., people are more likely to get right to the point,” he says. “In our culture, one spends several minutes establishing rapport. To those in the States, that often seemed irrelevant. But establishing that rapport is crucial for building relationships. I want my students to have the opportunity to navigate intercultural differences.”
Wang—who received a Fulbright Specialist Award to Taiwan this year— creates that opportunity for students. He initiated the Global Learning Experience projects between his DePaul accounting students, and accounting students in Taiwan and Amsterdam. He wants to enhance students’ understanding of cross-cultural differences, and does that through team formation. Teams include students from two universities and two different countries. Teams need to be productive, while members need to address differences in education, culture, technology and communication preferences. Students go beyond recognizing cultural differences, he says; they need to address them and collaborate, in order to complete the project.
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Wang extends this belief of different approaches to problems and applies it to his teaching. Unlike debits and credits that need to balance, he teaches data analytics, in which there can be many correct approaches. “A lot of times I’m teaching a class of 25 students who can get 25 different answers, and they’re all correct,” he says.
In the 10 years he’s been teaching data analytics, Wang has watched an exponential growth in its impact on research and careers. He believes that business schools offer a unique opportunity for students to study and apply data analytics concepts in a wide variety of business settings.
Wang believes that we have only begun to explore the potential offered by data analytics. This year he led an inter-disciplinary team of faculty from five departments to create a new undergraduate business analytics major, which launched in the fall. He says he is excited to watch this new major develop. “I believe it will offer unique opportunities for students, ranging from research and courses, to new career prospects,” he says.
By Kate Silver