California State University at Chico Adopts the SPSS Data Mining Certificate Program; CSU To Add Certified Data Mining Professional Program To Technology Curriculum.

Business Editors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 30, 2000

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To better prepare its students for today's technology-oriented business environment, California State University, Chico (CSU) will begin offering the SPSS Certified Data Mining Professional program in Summer of 2000. The CDMP curriculum is founded on the CRoss Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM) methodology, and teaches the critical skills necessary to conduct successful data mining initiatives. The curriculum features practical hands-on training using SPSS' Clementine software.

"We created the CDMP program to give more students access to the skills today's business world requires," said Fiona McKenna, SPSS industry marketing manager. "Data mining is essential to conducting one-to-one marketing -- the crux of e-commerce. By teaching data mining skills, the program gives students a competitive edge in business and answers the increasing need for analytically trained graduates."

"As the world's number one school in ERP program initiatives, we realized two years ago that data mining would be a logical extension of our Marketing Engineering course," said Dan Toy, Ph.D., professor of marketing at CSU. "SPSS' curriculum and award winning software products are a great fit with the technological orientation of the College of Business and our ERP, CRM, data warehousing and World Wide Web programs. We believe that with partners like SPSS, we can provide a very unique environment for our students and faculty -- the front of the curve on exciting conceptual and technological changes in the business landscape."

The CDMP curriculum teaches the critical skills necessary to conduct successful data mining initiatives. Using a variety of SPSS' software products, including Clementine, the certificate program will feature data mining applications in manufacturing, health care, higher education and insurance/financial services industries, attracting participants from those disciplines as well as business and IT programs.

The objective of the CDMP is to establish national competencies in data mining. The certification offers employers assurance that those completing course and lab work from a college or university involved in the CDMP have been trained in the necessary data mining skills established by the industry standard CRISP-DM methodology. In addition to the strong focus on a data mining methodology, participants will receive instruction and evaluation in data analysis as well as in-depth software training. Upon completion of the CRISP-DM assessment and three application/software certificates, participants will be awarded a continuing education certificate recognizing them as a "Certified Data Mining Professional."

About CRISP-DM

CRISP-DM is a comprehensive data mining methodology and process model created by a consortium of industry experts. The CRISP-DM model makes large data mining projects faster, more efficient and less costly by enabling users to take advantage of an already-proven process. It offers step-by-step direction, tasks and objectives for every stage of the process, including business understanding, data understanding, data preparation, modeling, evaluation and deployment. CRISP-DM began as a European Commission-funded project for defining a standard process model for carrying out data mining projects. SPSS Inc. joined NCR, DaimlerChrysler and OHRA on the initiative in January 1999, after acquiring consortium member Integral Solutions Limited (ISL).

About SPSS

SPSS Inc. provides solutions that discover what customers want and predict what they will do. The company delivers solutions at the intersection of customer relationship management and business intelligence that enable its customers to interact with their customers more profitably. SPSS' solutions integrate and analyze marketing, customer and operational data in key vertical markets worldwide including: telecommunications, health care, banking, finance, insurance, manufacturing, retail, consumer packaged goods, market research and the public sector.

Headquartered in Chicago, SPSS has more than 40 offices, over 900 employees and 1999 revenues of $140 million. The company also has won the following awards: No. 70 on Forbes 1999 list of the "200 best small companies" and as the 22nd most profitable company on the Nasdaq exchange by Equities magazine; 1999 World Class Solution award in business intelligence and named "best decision support system for business intelligence " in the 1999 RealWare award competition; No. 14 in DM Review's 1999 Data Warehouse Top 100; placed No. 23 on the 1999 Softoletter 100, a ranking of the top 100 personal computer software companies in the United States; and No. 97 in the 1999 Software 500, a ranking of the world's largest software vendors by Software Magazine. For more information, visit www.spss.com.

About California State University, Chico

The California State University, Chico campus has made information technology its distinctive advantage. The College of Business offers students an integrated network of information resources, enabling full integration of the computer into their curriculum. The quality of both their faculty and facilities has been recognized by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) which has accredited both the undergraduate and graduate programs. The College of Business was first awarded accreditation by the AACSB in 1972, and it has remained fully accredited since that time -- one of only 280 accredited schools of business of the 1200 in the nation.

Founded in 1887, California State University, Chico is a comprehensive university serving more than 15,000 students from Northern California and other regions of the state, as well as the nation and the world, through instruction, research, and public service. For more information, visit www.csuchico.edu.