Meet Dr. Carlos Ferran, GSU Excellence Award Winner
Dr. Carlos Ferran, a Professor in Accounting and Management Information Systems at the College of Business and Director of Accreditation and Assessment, received an Excellence Award at Convocation 2022 along with two fellow professors. This award recognizes excellence in teaching, research, and creative activity.
Dr. Ferran received recognition for his more than exemplary assistance with the transition to online courses during the pandemic and his December 2021 denomination of Association for Information Systems (AIS) Distinguished Member, which very few faculty have received. AIS Distinguished Members are recognized for their impact on the association, which serves society through knowledge advancement and promotion of excellence in the practice and study of information systems.
GSU Newsroom: What is your favorite thing about teaching at Governors State University (GSU)?
Ferran: We have very special students at GSU. While I believe that everyone should have the right to education, our students understand that in the United States education is a privilege and not a right (which is very unfortunate) and our students are grateful to have the opportunity to obtain a great education which is what we provide at GSU. I am willing to bend over backward to help anyone who wants to learn. And most of our students want to learn. I love that.
GSU Newsroom: What do you uniquely bring to students at GSU?
Ferran: I am not unique. I am not special. I am simply one more hard-working individual who is part of this great community of faculty who is lucky to belong to GSU.
GSU Newsroom: As you helped GSU move to fully online courses during the pandemic, how did technology make teaching more simple or difficult?
Ferran: Technology is a great tool, but it is not for everyone. Lucky for me, I am in love with technology. My doctoral dissertation 22 years ago was related to the acceptance of information through videoconference. I brought Quality Matters to GSU. I have been pushing for online education at GSU. I am a proponent for online education at GSU and higher education. I believe in high-quality online education. But I also believe that the easiest online education is not quality online education and unfortunately that is the most common online education we find everywhere. High-quality online education is difficult and expensive, and we are a long way from accomplishing it. However, the College of Business is on a journey to high-quality online education. We have some examples of high-quality online education, but we need to invest much more. Our current online programs are good, but they can be better. They are better than most online programs, but with real investments, they could be much better than what they are today.
GSU Newsroom: You have published pieces of work. Can you share some advice for people hoping to publish research some day?
Ferran: My advice is to start looking at middle-of-the-road outlets and first get tenure. Then, go for the premium outlets. Premium outlets take too much time, and the tenure clock is too short. The gamble of waiting for the premium outlets is too high and not worth it. Get tenure first, and then go for the premium outlets.
GSU Newsroom: Can you share any topics of research that you hope to explore next?
Ferran:
· Aligning the type of knowledge with the type of technology used in online education.
· Infoenergy: Adding Information into the Energy Mass equation.
· Looking into the alignment of leadership expectations between the University President and Provost.
· A manual for Assurance of Learning in the Ivory Tower. (Book)
GSU Newsroom: Is there anything that you would like to share or to promote awareness of that was not mentioned?
Ferran: The College of Business of Governors State University is truly ahead of the curve in Chicagoland. It offers great education (Face-to-face and online) at the best price possible. It has a highly dedicated and diverse faculty that divides its time between teaching and research, placing students first without forgetting its commitment to the local community. It is also very innovative in its teaching methods and in what it teaches, but it’s limited by the budget that it gets.
I also believe that is very important and useful for all our students to do at least one travel abroad experience during their tenure at GSU. I have taken students to Poland and South Africa. And I hope to take some more to Greece this summer. Going abroad is not just a pleasure and an adventure but a fantastic learning experience that lasts a lifetime.