Big Data Speakers

Dr. Mark Wilder is Dean and KPMG Chair of Accountancy in the Patterson School of Accountancy at The University of Mississippi. His educational background includes an associate’s degree from Tyler (Texas) Junior College, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama, an MBA from the University of South Alabama, and a Ph.D. in accounting from Florida State University. Wilder is a CPA and has been on the faculty at the University since 1993, serving as dean since 2006. His expertise is in financial accounting and he continues to teach the two intermediate courses as well as a doctoral seminar in financial accounting. He has published in a variety of journals including Accounting Horizons, Advances in Taxation, the Journal of International Accounting Research, the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, the Journal of Computer and Information Systems, Current Issues in Auditing, the CPA Journal, and others. Dr. Wilder has been instrumental in the development of the School of Accountancy’s highly successful internship program. He has also been active in the Mississippi Society of CPAs, previously serving as president of the Northeast Chapter, as state-wide Treasurer, and an appointment on the Board of Governors.

Wilder has received the top two campus-wide faculty awards at Ole Miss including (i) the prestigious Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teacher Award in 2005, and (ii) the Faculty Achievement Award in 2004, which is an all-around faculty award recognizing outstanding teaching, research, and service. In 2006, Mark was honored as the MSCPA Outstanding Educator and was also the UM HEADWAE Faculty Honoree for 2006.  He is also a two-time winner of both of the Patterson School’s top faculty awards.

Deb Halpern Wenger is Assistant Dean for Partnerships and Innovation and an Associate Professor in the Meek School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi. Wenger conducts multimedia training in newsrooms around the country and is a trainer for the SPJ/Google News Lab program. She is also co-author of two books, Advancing the Story: Journalism in a Multimedia World (Sage, 2014), which is about to be published as a fourth edition, and Managing Today’s News Media: Audience First (Sage, 2015). Her thoughts about new media can be found at www.advancingthestory.com.

Wenger’s research is focused on identifying journalism industry trends and hiring practices and then applying those findings to the development of more relevant journalism curriculum.  She is currently analyzing social media data from U.S. television stations to determine whether there is a correlation between success on social platforms and higher newscast ratings, as well as analyzing the characteristics of the content posted.  The study is part of a Knight Foundation research grant.

Her work has been published in multiple academic journals, including Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, Journalism Studies and Electronic News, as well as a number of industry-focused publications, including MediaShift, RTDNA Communicator and SPJ’s Quill magazine. After a 17-year career in local television news, Wenger received her Ph.D. from Kingston University in London and was named a top journalism educator by NewsPro magazine in 2017.