Decision Sciences Institute
# Decision Sciences Institute

The Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) is a professional association of university professors, graduate students, and practitioners whose interest lies in the application of quantitative research and qualitative research to the decision problems of individuals, organizations, and society. Many of the members of this academic organization are faculty members in business schools. The DSI currently is hosted in the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston.

Members of the institute share their research findings at DSI's annual meeting (DSI's main academic conference), international DSI meetings, or regional conferences. The Decision Sciences Institute also publishes two journals and hosts annual award competitions for contributions to innovation education, the best case study, and best doctoral dissertation. In addition, the Institute offers job placement services, doctoral student and new faculty consortia, and a variety of professional development activities.

## Journals

The Decision Sciences Institute publishes two academic journals, Decision Sciences (journal) and Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education. Both journals are printed and distributed by Wiley-Blackwell and have subscriptions totaling over 5,000. In addition, the publication Decision Line, includes a wide range of practical and educational feature columns (international studies, ecommerce, academic research, production/operations management issues, information technology, doctoral studies, and classroom instruction), as well as news items that inform the membership of past, present, and future events.

## Regions

There are currently eight (8) regions. There are five regions in the United States and four outside the U.S. (Europe, Mexico, Asia-Pacific, and the Indian subcontinent). The regions operate independently within the institute. Each region elects its own officers and one representative who serves on the institute’s board of directors.

## Location

DSI's home office is located in Atlanta, Georgia, where it receives support from the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. Dennis E. Grawoig founded the organization in 1968 and served as its first president for two years and as its executive director until 1986. The executive director of the institute from 1986 until her untimely death on June 3, 2013, was Carol J. Latta.

As of April 19, 2014, DSI was moved from the GSU campus to the University of Houston.

## History

In November 1968, a small group of faculty members met in Atlanta, Georgia to propose an academic society that would encourage interdisciplinary (now cross-disciplinary) participation in the new field of decision sciences.

The first annual meeting of the American Institute for Decision Sciences (AIDS) was held in New Orleans in 1969. About 100 charter members were in attendance.

The institute's first journal, Decision Sciences, was first published in 1970. In 2003, DSI began publishing a second journal, the Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education (DSJIE). DSJIE publishes research on teaching and learning issues.

In 1986, the name of the organization was changed to the Decision Sciences Institute "once the name AIDS became linked in the public's mind with a newly emerging disease."

Since 1986, Carol Latta has served as the institute's executive director. She was made a Fellow of DSI in 2003.

DSI is one of a handful of organizations that address solving real-world business problems. One way in which DSI distinguishes itself from similar organizations is in addressing educational issues including curriculum, pedagogy, and careers.

Attendance at the annual meetings is now in the range of 1300 to 1400 attendees. The institute is an independent non-profit educational organization.

In order to further research in the decision sciences, the membership of the Decision Sciences Institute has been asked to participate in studies and surveys and the research papers published in DSI conference proceedings have been studied.

In March 2008, the Decision Sciences Institute Wikipedia entry was developed.

The honor of Fellow is occasionally awarded to DSI members for outstanding contributions in the field of decision sciences in at least two (2) of the following: research and scholarship, teaching and/or administration, and service to the Decision Sciences Institute.

## Presidents

Presidents of DSI have included:

2016–2017 Funda Sahin, University of Houston

2015–2016 Morgan Swink, Texas Christian University

2014–2015 Marc J. Schniederjans, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

2013–2014 Maling Ebrahimpour, University of South Florida-St. Petersburg

2012–2013 E. Powell Robinson, Jr., Texas A&M University

2011–2012 Krishna S. Dhir, Berry College

2010–2011 G. Keong Leong, University of Nevada-Las Vegas

2009–2010 Ram Narasimhan, Michigan State University

2008–2009 Norma J. Harrison, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)

2007–2008 Kenneth E. Kendall, Rutgers University

2006–2007 Mark M. Davis, Bentley College

2005–2006 Thomas E. Callarman, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)

2004–2005 Gary L. Ragatz, Michigan State University

2003–2004 Barbara B. Flynn, Wake Forest University

2002–2003 Thomas W. Jones, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville

2001–2002 F. Robert Jacobs, Indiana University-Bloomington

2000–2001 Michael J. Showalter, Florida State University

1999–2000 Lee J. Krajewski, University of Notre Dame

1998–1999 Terry R. Rakes, Virginia Tech

1997–1998 James R. Evans, University of Cincinnati

1996–1997 Betty J. Whitten, University of Georgia

1995–1996 John C. Anderson, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

1994–1995 K. Roscoe Davis, University of Georgia

1993–1994 Larry P. Ritzman, Boston College

1992–1993 William C. Perkins, Indiana University-Bloomington

1991–1992 Robert E. Markland, University of South Carolina

1990–1991 Ronald J. Ebert, University of Missouri-Columbia

1989–1990 Bernard W. Taylor, III, Virginia Tech

1988–1989 William L. Berry, Ohio State University

1987–1988 James M. Clapper, Aladdin TempRite

1986–1987 William R. Darden, Deceased

1985–1986 Harvey J. Brightman, Georgia State University

1984–1985 Sang M. Lee, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

1983–1984 Laurence J. Moore, Virginia Tech

1982–1983 Linda G. Sprague, China Europe International Business School (CEIB)

1981–1982 Norman L. Chervany, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

1979–1981 D. Clay Whybark, University of North Carolina-Charlotte

1978–1979 John Neter, University of Georgia

1977–1978 Charles P. Bonini, Stanford University

1976–1977 Lawrence L. Schkade, University of Texas-Arlington

1975–1976 Kenneth P. Uhl, Deceased

1974–1975 Albert J. Simone, Rochester Institute of Technology

1973–1974 Gene K. Groff, Georgia State University

1972–1973 Rodger D. Collons, Drexel University

1971–1972 George W. Summers, Deceased

1969–1971 Dennis E. Grawoig, Deceased

## Annual meetings

The Decision Sciences Institute offers an annual meeting open to anyone who wants to participate in the dissemination of knowledge concerning the decision sciences.

DSI also sponsors subgroups referred to as regions. Each of the following regions has their own constitution and bylaws and hold regular meetings: Asia-Pacific, European, Indian subcontinent, Mexico, Midwest U.S., Northeast U.S., Southeast U.S., Southwest U.S., and Western U.S.

