3 minute read
‘IDEAL INCUBATOR’
A closer look at the goals and next steps for Belmont’s $60M push into data programs
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CHARLIE APIGIAN
elmont University President Greg Jones in
B August announced the launch of the Belmont Data Collaborative, an initiative that will develop curricula and programming for both Belmont students and local technology-oriented professionals. Belmont intends to invest more than $60 million in the next five years to build the BDC, a sum that will include the effort’s own physical space on campus. Leading the push is Charlie Apigian, the founding director of the Data Science Institute at Middle Tennessee State University who also is now a Belmont professor of business and system analytics. Apigian, who is charged with building partnerships to connect the BDC to various parts of Belmont’s campus as well as Middle Tennessee’s economy more broadly, spoke with Kathryn Rickmeyer about his plans and some of his team’s next steps.
What degree program(s) will be involved with the BDC? The ability to use complex data to solve problems is crucial in today’s world. Everybody should have data literacy. Our goal is for all Belmont students to enroll in one or more of the courses we design. There are different layers of data skill and different needs for different programs. Business majors will benefit by using industry financial softwares to assess and calculate risks whereas a journalism major may take a course on Excel to identify trends to tell a story.
Data and computer science majors will take more traditional and specific coursework for their degree programs. However, I really want to emphasize that all students and degree programs will benefit from the BDC.
How will the coursework and curriculum be designed? Who will be teaching the courses? The courses will be collaborative and create opportunities for hands-on learning within our community. The primary goal of the curriculum is to teach students how to identify practical applications of data to solve problems. This includes identifying data sources, manipulating data to understand patterns and trends and extrapolating the data to find solutions.
We will partner with local nonprofits and community organizations to give students an opportunity for experiential learning and to do good within our community. Within these real-world courses, we will be teaching students how to be good stewards of data — refraining from bias and building a foundation of ethics and inclusivity.
As far as instructors are concerned, we are looking at recruiting both full-time and adjunct professors. I believe there is a benefit to having a healthy blend of academics and industry professionals. More often than not, traditional academic professors provide a strong foundation of data fundamentals and skills while adjunct professors guide students in employing those skills to problem-solve.
What organizations/corporations will the BDC partner with? It goes without saying synergies are a good partner of data science. We will primarily be partnering with nonprofits and community organizations to give students the opportunity to solve real problems. We will partner with a few corporations but our focus is more on finding opportunities for students to gain practical experience. Nonprofits and community organizations are the ideal incubator for our courses.
What is the timeline for the launch of the BDC? We’re really excited about this project and we have hit the ground running. We are planning on integrating and offering new data science coursework at the university within the next year. However, BDC facilities won’t be complete until 2023.
