Next Lives Here: Forging Academia–Industry Partnerships in Analytics at the University of Cincinnati

Abstract

In 2018, the Department of Operations, Business Analytics, and Information Systems (OBAIS) in the Carl H. Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati (UC) celebrated its 50th anniversary, and in 2019 the OBAIS department won the INFORMS UPS George D. Smith Prize. The OBAIS department has a long history of excellence in fostering academia-industry collaboration in the area of analytics as well as a track record of continued innovation. In this article, we summarize some of the history of the OBAIS department and describe many of the department’s innovations that enabled the department to win the 2019 Smith Prize. We provide an overview of the department’s curriculum of analytics-focused degree programs, and we explain how the UC Center for Business Analytics serves as the culmination of the department’s efforts to provide a supportive ecosystem in analytics for students, faculty, business leaders, and practitioners. We conclude with some lessons learned along our journey.