Molly Wasko

Director, Online Master's MIS Program

Molly Wasko has made a living out of using technology to solve problems. Now she teaches future managers what she’s learned.

“I don’t like teaching tools because they change all the time,” Wasko said, “but I do like teaching about how technology can make you a better manager.”

A former production manager for two plants – Pepsi-Cola, a bottling company, and Ronile, a textile company – Wasko has seen first-hand how technology revolutionizes businesses. She’s dealt with the transfer of records from paper to bytes. She’s tackled moving business processes, from payroll to purchasing, to computer-based applications. She’s been on the frontline of the Y2K conversion.

“I realized there is no strategy without technology, so I was very interested in that intersection,” said Wasko, who earned an MBA from Averett University at night while working as a manager. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Wasko now directs FSU’s Online Master of Science in Management Information Systems program. She teaches MIS and MBA students two courses: Project Management and Information and Technology Management.

Wasko says she likes seeing her students gain immediate value in their workplace from what they learn in class. She also likes that technology continues to change how each semester is taught. Just think of what’s come to the forefront in the last five years, she said: Web 2.0, using Internet as a platform; YouTube videos in class presentations; pictures in PowerPoints.

Everything in business is affected by technology, Wasko said. “You can’t be good at marketing, management, finance … without understanding that technology adds value.”