CHAMPAIGN, Ill (August 16, 2023) -- Dr. Kim Mendoza has been appointed as the new director of the University of Illinois-Deloitte Foundation Center for Business Analytics at the University of Illinois’ Gies College of Business. She succeeds Dr. Jessen Hobson, who served as the Center’s director for nearly three years before passing away unexpectedly in January. Mendoza, who has served as the Center’s associate director since March, will officially take the role on August 16. She is currently an assistant professor of accountancy and Grant Thornton LLP Faculty Fellow. She joined the College in 2017.

“The University of Illinois-Deloitte Foundation Center for Business Analytics is a powerful engine by which we can deliver life-changing access to business education, and I’m honored to have the opportunity to guide the Center through its next phase,” said Mendoza. “I have seen the impact this type of education can have at the most granular, personal level, and I am looking forward to further expanding our content to impact as many lives as possible.”

The Center, which was established in 2016, provides leading-edge ideas and curriculum materials that aim to revolutionize how schools teach business analytics to future business professionals. Faculty Fellows use their expertise and experience to help develop innovative curricula that will provide students with the data science knowledge, skills, and abilities to take on leadership roles in the quickly evolving world of business analytics.

While new to this leadership role, Mendoza has been involved with the University of Illinois-Deloitte Foundation Center for Business Analytics for the past three years. She was named an RC Evans Innovation Fellow in 2020 and developed a Robotic Process Automation case study, which was released through the Center in 2021. She was a 2021 Dean’s Impact Award recipient and earned the 2021 Innovation in Accounting Education Award from the American Accounting Association.

“The Center is an important extension of our purpose at Gies, which is to expand life-changing access to education and bring value to society through excellence in scholarship, teaching, and innovation,” said Jeffrey R. Brown, Josef and Margot Lakonishok Professor in Business and Dean. “Kim Mendoza personally lives out that purpose in her work, and she exemplifies everything we could want in a colleague, scholar, and leader.”