Madison Ngafeeson, associate professor of Business, is one of Northern Michigan University's 2022 Individual Innovation Award recipients for the development of business analytics courses, as well as his scholarship, professional development, service, dedication and the elite partnerships he has formed.
Ngafeeson saw the College of Business' effort to add new and innovative courses as an opportunity to explore business analytics. He secured admission to Harvard Business School's graduate certificate program in business analytics and was awarded a sabbatical in spring 2019 to attend the nine-month program.
He graduated from the program in the summer of 2021 and returned to campus that fall to develop two business analytics courses that will be part of a new analytics program here at NMU.
In addition to the new course that was developed, Ngafeeson used his newfound network of Harvard alumni to invite two of the industry's top experts to NMU as guest speakers in the MBA program's management information system class.
This event gave publicity to NMU as an innovator in the business analytic space. Other Harvard alums indicated their desire to come to NMU and share their expertise with the analytics program.