University Advancement

Public Relations and Strategic Communications

NEWS RELEASE

CSUN Information Systems Students Win First Place at Regional Competition

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., June 1, 2007) — Two teams of Cal State Northridge information systems students won first place honors at a regional competition that tested their ability to use technology to further business opportunities.

The Information Technology Competition, held recently at Cal Poly Pomona, is designed to showcase the skills of the students in all areas of information technology, including Web design, application development, telecommunications and business systems analysis.

In addition to Northridge, among the colleges who had teams competing were Cal Poly Pomona, University of California at Los Angeles, Cal State Fullerton, University of Southern California, University of California at Irvine, University of California at Riverside, California Institute of Technology, Loyola Marymount University, Cal State Los Angeles and Cal State Fresno.

Each team was asked to analyzed, develop and present a case study and recommend a solution to a panel of industry professionals. The CSUN team, made up of students Asma Al-thakafi, Tamara Hatley and Victor Seleskiy and coached by accounting and information systems professor Richard Ye, placed first in the telecommunication portion of the competition. CSUN students Michael Gomez, Manuel Morales, Ruben Muradian and Ramy Rahimi, coached by associate professor of accounting and information systems Dat-Dao Nguyen, placed first in the business systems analysis competition.

Cal State Northridge's College of Business and Economics is home to several nationally recognized programs where students gain valuable hands-on experience working alongside faculty members and business professionals in a variety of areas. Among its acclaimed programs is the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program in which CSUN students provide free tax preparation assistance to low income families and individuals. The college is also home to the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center, where students work with faculty in collecting assembling, analyzing, and disseminating economic, social and demographic data pertaining to the Valley.