Recent Alumni

Meet the graduate

Marissa Petrusek literally works with rocket scientists at her job at the Missile Defense Agency in Washington, D.C. As a Contract Acquisitions Specialist, Marissa has worked with some very important people in the U.S. government and uses her technology skills to procure everything from missiles to launching facilities.

Answering Uncle Sam

After 9/11, Marissa was feeling patriotic and wanted to move to D.C. to"do some good." Internships and consulting work with Deloitte & Touche, a Chicago supply chain management company, and the Navy gave Marissa a résumé strong enough to impress the Missile Defense Agency. By then, Marissa had developed web pages to support company processes, worked the support desk, and dabbled at government procurement buying supplies for troops.

MIS matters

Although Marissa started as a finance major, her interest in management information systems (MIS) was piqued after taking a programming class. Her dad works in information technology as well, so her geeky side was exposed at a young age. "I was always interested in technology and the glitz and glamour of computers," she says. "I would get up early to finish code for a project. It was fun to take a requirement and make something out of it."

Secret agent woman

Marissa can't give too many details about her job, which she says is good because she never brings her work home with her. On a daily basis, she deals with millions of dollars in weaponry, facilities, and software that keep the government's military operations running smoothly. And surprisingly, politics doesn't play a factor. "It's neither here nor there how you feel about the war," Marissa says. "It's just helping the troops; everyone knows the mission, and they're completely on board with it."

School is cool

She might be in middle management already, but Marissa isn't done beefing up her skills—she's taking night classes to earn her law degree at The Catholic University of America. She's interested in Internet law and ultimately wants to be an attorney for the government doing contract law for the Department of Defense. Maybe it will help that she lives down the street from Chief Justice John Roberts.

Make yourself useful

Marissa says MIS is a great major because it's so diverse. "Technology is so integral to every aspect of business. You can really be an asset to a firm," she says. Because technology is always changing, she claims you can't get bored, and you'll always continue learning and expanding your skills.