On September 21, at 5:30pm, in Room 333 Shepard, the local chapter of ASIST (American Society for Information Science and Technology) is holding its first meeting of the 2004-2005 school year. Refreshments will be provided. Chapter President, Shawn Coates, welcomes all graduate students in SLIS to attend and to consider joining the ASIST professional society. Discussion topics for students will include job searching ("Going Beyond the RTP Wasteland for IS Positions"), tips for survival as MIS and MIS/MBA students, and future meeting ideas.

The guest speaker, John McIntyre, is Market Intelligence and Analyst Director at SAS Institute, Inc. in Cary, NC. He will speak at 6:00pm in 333B. With 20 years experience as a statistician and with statistical analysis systems, Mr. McIntyre will describe his company and some of the programs and products that SAS offers customers to support business intelligence strategies, metadata analysis, and data mining. Why build a data warehouse and data marts? What are the current trends in data systems analysis?

In addition to directing analyst relations, Mr. McIntyre oversees all efforts to provide information for market opportunity, competitive analysis, and customer intelligence. Previously, he served as director of market strategy for SAS' Global Marketing Division, where he coordinated all global market initiatives.

For more details contact, Patience Eze (Vice-President for Membership), Eno Akanem (Secretary), or Dr. Deborah Swain (faculty advisor).