[Hasan] Pirkul “was one of the founding fathers of the Conference of Information Systems and Technology and helped kickstart the ISS community in its early days …”
– Jason Chan

Naveen Jindal School of Management Dean and Caruth Chair, Dr. Hasan Pirkul, and longtime JSOM faculty member, Dr. Sumit Sarkar, are the inaugural recipients of the INFORMS Information Systems Society (ISS) President’s Service Award for their lifetime contributions and services to the organization. The winners were announced during the 2021 Conference on Information Systems Technology, held Oct. 24 and 25 in Newport Beach, California, and virtually

Both Pirkul and Sarkar were nominated “for their contribution towards the Information System Society,” according to Dr. Jason Chan, vice president of ISS and ex officio member of the awards committee. Pirkul “was one of the founding fathers of the Conference of Information Systems and Technology and helped kickstart the ISS community in its early days,” Chan wrote in an email

“I have benefited tremendously from this community right from when I was a graduate student, not only professionally but also in being able to work with wonderful people over the years.”
– Sumit Sarkar

Sarkar, Chan wrote, “has faithfully represented the ISS community in his role as the secretary at INFORMS from 1999 to 2005 and has helped to grow the WITS (Workshop on Information Technologies and Systems) community through his role as president in the workshop.”

Pirkul said he was especially pleased to receive this award this year after celebrating more than a quarter of a century at the helm of the Jindal School.

“Ever since I was a young assistant professor at The Ohio State University, I have been a vocal advocate for information systems programs in business schools,” he said. “It was particularly meaningful that I received this award at a conference that I started 25 years ago after I came to UT Dallas as the dean of the Jindal School.”

CIST is an annual gathering of society members who are researchers and practitioners of information technology. Members gather to discuss research that focuses on the use and impact of information technology in organizations.

Sarkar, a professor in the Information Systems Area and director of the Jindal School’s PhD programs, holds the Charles and Nancy Davidson Chair. He said he is “absolutely delighted” to receive the award

“I am truly glad to have been able to serve the information systems community, and more broadly the INFORMS community, over the last several decades,” he said. “I have benefited tremendously from this community right from when I was a graduate student, not only professionally but also in being able to work with wonderful people over the years.”

Sarkar said he felt an obligation to give back to this community in whatever way he could, so he got engaged with many of the activities at ISS. After serving as the Information Systems Society secretary, he then was the society’s representative to the INFORMS Sub-Division Council from 2005 to 2010. He has served in that same role again since 2018.

Sarkar said he is not motivated by awards, especially considering that this one did not exist until this year. “Nevertheless,” he said, “any recognition by my peers is wonderful, and I will always cherish that.”

ISS Vice President Chan said that the awards committee nominated Pirkul. The committee consisted of Dr. Paul Pavlou, dean of the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston;

Dr. Olivia Sheng, Presidential Professor, Emma Eccles Jones President’s Chair in Business at the University of Utah; and Dr. Galit Shmueli, Distinguished Professor of Business Analytics in the College of Technology Management at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan.

Dr. Jianqing Chen, professor, information systems at the Jindal School, nominated Sarkar.