Kennesaw State’s Coles College of Business held a ceremony to honor the inaugural graduates of the Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics program on Friday, Aug. 3 at the Georgian Club in Atlanta.
Dr. Sweta Sneha, founder and executive director of the MSHMI program, kicked off the banquet by congratulating the graduating class and thanking all of the board members, industry partners, faculty members and students for the work they put into the program.
Sneha also gave a special thanks to Dr. Kathy Schwaig, dean of the Coles College of Business, who was also in attendance. She said that Schwaig has been in total support of the program since its inception two years ago.
“She has been the leader, the vision behind it, and I cannot thank her enough,” Sneha said. “If you’re here today and if I’m standing tall, it’s because she’s holding us high.”
Schwaig also spoke at the banquet, and took a moment to speak specifically to the faculty and the students in attendance that graduated from the program the week before.
“I always say there is no prouder time for us than graduation,” Schwaig said. “The reason the university exists is for that moment when many of you were on a stage last week and our president shook your hand and you accepted a diploma that really summarizes and captures so much energy, and effort, and work, and commitment and sacrifice that our students make.”
The MSHMI program merges technology, computing, data analytics, and health care delivery processes with leadership and management principles and is a collaboration between KSU’s Coles College of Business, the WellStar College of Health and Human Services, the College of Science and Mathematics and the College of Computing and Software Engineering.
“I can think of no better program at Kennesaw State University, or certainly any program that I have been affiliated with, that has been more collaborative than this program,” Schwaig said.
Sneha worked with her team to build up the MSHMI program as a way to meet a need for information technology professionals in the healthcare industry.
“A few years back, we started this journey with really a vision, a really warm and fuzzy vision, of creating a program that would empower young men and women to make a strong contribution in the health IT and the health informatics field,” Sneha said.
John Brennan, the executive vice president and chief clinical integration officer at WellStar, was the keynote speaker at the banquet. He spoke to students about the increasing need for IT professionals in the health industry and offered his own insight into how healthcare professionals could be using technology to help patients. Candice Saunders, the CEO and president of WellStar Health Systems, was originally scheduled to speak, but could not make it to the event.
Sneha and Schwaig presented awards during the banquet to the industry partners who helped the program with professional practice opportunities. They also presented awards to the graduates that they felt were leaders within the program.
The college offered a complimentary dinner to the faculty, staff, students and industry partners that attended. After the awards were handed out, guests also helped themselves to a complimentary dessert table before the banquet ended.
