Christine Bullen wins Stevens' 2009 Provost Award for Excellence

During the 140th Convocation Ceremonies held earlier this month, Christine Bullen, Ph.D, received the coveted Stevens Institute of Technology Provost Award for her work in teaching and advising in the university's online WebCampus program.

This fall semester, Bullen began using the Wimba Classroom technology, which she tested during the summer. It's the latest product that allows simultaneous live class meetings where all students and the instructor are connected using the Internet for full audio and video sessions. She also uses Pronto, which allows students to share screens and instantly help with any troubleshooting needs.

"One of the unique things I have done is to create "hybrid" classes where WebCampus students and on-campus students are combined, using our live classroom technology," said Bullen. "I have had students connect into these classes from all over the world - India, France, and Mexico - and all over the US. My classes involve presentations, so students have an opportunity to control the audio and video themselves."

Bullen, who had been doing research in outsourcing since her days at MIT, launched the IT Outsourcing program at Stevens when she perceived the dramatic growth of outsourcing in that field. She also observed that most managers who oversaw outsourcing activities had no formal training in what they were doing, and only gained experience through on-the-job training.

Bullen points out that outsourcing has had a history of many failed engagements and much of this can be attributed to the lack of experience and education in managing outsourcing. For all of these stumbling blocks, Bullen sees great growth-potential in IT outsourcing. Despite the economic meltdown, she said, "this industry was estimated to be greater than $55 billion in 2008 and researchers estimate a 20% per-year growth over the next five years."

In her research, Bullen has had confirmation from top management that access to the IT-related skills is of growing importance to organizations all over the world. However, in the U.S., the graduate pipeline has dwindled, leading managers to seek more capability through global sourcing. A focus of the IT Outsourcing courses at Stevens is the need for a well-defined corporate strategy surrounding global sourcing, leading to careful decision-making and implementation of sourcing when required. "When I discuss this program with companies," she said, "they are always very interested and amazed that there is nothing like it at other universities!"

The IT Outsourcing program at Stevens stands on its own because "no one else offers what we have," explained Bullen. "Some schools have one or two specialized courses, offered periodically, but we are the only one with a four-course program: Governance, Legal Issues, Relationship Management, Organization Change and Development. Our four courses cover key areas that people must understand in order to manage well."

Bullen's graduate students, who are employed by major companies such as Citigroup, Accenture, Prudential, UBS, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Unilever, Merck, Verizon, and ADP, have taken these courses and report that the material has been invaluable in improving their ability to manage global sourcing.

Christine Bullen, who has been teaching at Stevens Institute of Technology since 2002, is currently conducting research in IT outsourcing and has been working with a team under the sponsorship of SIM (Society for Information Management) since 2005. They are looking at how IT workforce skills change in the context of outsourcing, reflecting what skills companies hire and develop as opposed to gain through outsourcing to providers. She is also a founding member and current president of The Global Sourcing Council, a non-profit, all-volunteer group focused on social responsibility in outsourcing, including the implementation of sustainable practices. Bullen is also writing a book about global sourcing practices with two co-authors, due out next year from Van Haren Publishing.

Source: Stevens Institute of Technology