Center for Information Assurance Studies
Faculty

Mark Schmidt
Founder & Director, Center for Information Assurance Studies
Professor of Information Systems
Ph.D., Mississippi State University
MSIS, Mississippi State University
MBA, St. Cloud State University
B.S. Southwest State University

Jim Q. Chen
Co-Director of the Master of Science in Information Assurance program
Professor of Information Assurance
Ph.D., 1995, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in management information systems

Tirthankar Ghosh
Assistant Professor of Information Technology Security
Ph.D., Florida International University, in Electrical Engineering
M.S., Florida International University, in Computer Engineering
B.E., Jadavpur University, India, in Electrical Engineering

Dennis Guster
Professor of Information Systems
Ed. D. University of Missouri-St. Louis
M.S., Bemidji State University
B.S., Bemidji State University

Susantha Herath
Chair & Professor of Information Systems
Ph.D. Keio University, in computer engineering
M.S. University of Electrocommunications, Japan, in industrial engineering management
B.S. Sri Jayawardenapura University, Sri Lanka, in business administration

Kate Mooney
Chair and Professor of Accounting
Ph.D. Texas A&M University
Mooney is the Dr. Norbert Lindskog Chair in Accounting at St. Cloud State University. She teaches courses on fraud and forensic accounting. She is a graduate of the Fraudwise Academy Bootcamp at Texas A&M University, where she earned her Ph.D. In addition to numerous articles, she has authored four books including: "Sound Investing: Uncover Fraud and PRotect Your Portfolio:. She is also active at the national level of several professional organizations including the AICPA, and served as a trustee for a multi-employer health and pensions benefits fund. As a CPA, she was appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty to the Minnesota Board of Accountancy, where she served as board chair.

Amos O. Olangunju
Professor of Computer Science and Information Technology
Ph.D. University of North Carolina, Greensboro
M.S. Queen's University
Certificates, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Bioinformatics, Cryptography and Information Security and Digital Communication Networks

Dien Phan
Professor of Information Systems
Ph.D., University of Arizona in MIS
MBA, University of Minnesota
B.S., St. Cloud State University
Before joining the faculty of the Minnesota State University system, Phan worked at IBM in Rochester, Minnesota, as a software architect in the IBM’s Distributed Data Management Architecture group.
His interests include software engineering, project management, group collaboration, IT security and electronic commerce. He published many research articles on many well-known journals such as Computerworld, Information & Management, Information Systems Management and the Journal of Information Systems Education.

Changsoo Sohn
Associate Professor of Information Systems
Ph.D., 2000, Southern Illinois University, Management Information Systems
MBA, Southern Illinois University
He joined the information systems department in the fall of 2000. Between 2003 and 2006, he served as associate dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration at The Catholic University of Korea.
His main research interests are electronic commerce and e-service quality management. His research was published in many journals and conference proceedings. His article, coauthored with Suresh K. Tadisina, won the “Kanji Prize for Best 2008 Article” in Total Quality Management and Business Excellence.

Erich Rice
Instructor of information systems
J.D., 2004, William Mitchell College of Law
MSIA, 2015, St. Cloud State University
B.A. 2000, St. John's University
Steve Minkler
Former CIAS graduate assistant