As construction continues on the nearly 150,000 gross square foot Crawford Hall on East Main Street, the building is getting set to accommodate the growth of the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship – which includes a new department.

The Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics is now the sixth department within the college, and the search to find leadership for the department is finalized. Prior to the semester starting, the college announced Jose Benitez as the inaugural chair. His position began Aug. 1.

“[Benitez] is a full professor of information systems and highly regarded worldwide,” Deborah Spake, the dean of the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship, said. 

Before arriving at the university, Benitez’s higher educational background spans across multiple countries in Europe. As a professor of information systems, he previously taught in France at EDHEC Business School and Rennes School of Business, along with the University of Granada in Spain.

Along with his work in higher education, Benitez’s knowledge and research on the disciplines he specializes in can be seen within numerous journals, such as MIS Quarterly, the Journal of Business Research and the Journal of Information Technology, among others.

“He is well known for his research in information systems and serves either as the senior editor or associate editor on a number of academic journals that are highly valued in higher education, specifically in colleges of business,” Spake said. 

The search for the department chair position was a global search, and Spake did not want to limit the college’s search to this region or even the U.S. The search traveled its way to France, where Benitez was previously located and ultimately attracted him, Spake said.

“I was looking for new challenges and opportunities, and I realized that the challenges and opportunities of Kent State, specifically the College of Business offered to me, was well-aligned,” Jose Benitez, the new department chair of the Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics, said. 

Benitez said he is excited about not only his position, but what the new department will have to offer for the college and the emphasis that the college is applying to the department he now leads. 

“Not only the physical architecture (regarding Crawford Hall), the academic architecture with all the collaboration and engages the college with companies, that is super important,” Benitez said.

Benitez envisions finding ways toward implementing real-world technology and techniques of the information systems and business analytic realms into educational settings through research and data collection to best suit the college, he said. 

“We are called to humbly also, to make a significant contribution in the times of artificial intelligence, metaverse, digital transformation, digital innovation,” Benitez said. 

The college also announced that Benitez will serve as the Bridgestone Chair of International Business. This role is an endowed professorship which goes to faculty who have been successful in their careers, Spake said. It is an honorary title.

Additional compensation and allotted traveled funds act as benefits of this role. Benitez will have the opportunity in the future to speak at global or national conferences to audiences within his respective discipline, Spake said. 

With Benitez’s background of working and teaching in research across multiple countries, he is familiar with the systems of the U.S., Europe, Australia and China, he said. 

“This particular [Bridgestone Chair] specializes in international business, obviously [Benitez] has experience in international business and qualified for that chair,” Spake said. 

Information systems is an evolving discipline. The curriculum can be amended by Benitez and respective faculty and staff surrounding him to keep up those changes. With Benitez’s European experiences, Spake anticipates that he will see that through a new lens now being in the U.S., she said. 

“At this point, I don’t think we know what changes might occur but I expect that they’ll review the courses and make decisions that are appropriate to have leading edge curriculum into the future,” Spake said.

Digital transformation across various industries is a familiar concept to Benitez, he said, and relaying it into higher education is a task he looks forward to taking on with his new role as technology correlates with business.

Technological advancements will become visible within the new Crawford Hall through the “ample” budget the college had allotted toward technology. A few of the anticipated advancements in the new building will be a data wall in the business analytics lab and monitors with up-to-date financial information and exchanges in the financial trading labs, Spake said. 

“Pay attention because we are going to do great and exciting things in terms of teaching, research and engage as scholars,” Benitez said. 

Anthony Zacharyasz is a general assignment editor. Contact him at [email protected].