As director of the information systems faculty and programs at the Marriott School in the late 1990s, Dr. J. Owen Cherrington sought to expand research activities, curriculum development and internship opportunities for faculty and students in the Information systems (IS) and Masters of Information Systems (MISM) programs. As Dr. Cherrington’s idea of a research center grew, it became clear that creating a center to focus more broadly on e-business would have far greater influence on faculty and students within the Marriott School and better facilitate partnerships with outside professionals.
Due to the generous financial support of Kevin and Debra Rollins, the eBusiness Center became an approved center attached to the Marriott School of Management, with close ties to its Information Systems Group. However, the center had a mandate from BYU’s board of trustees to extend far beyond BYU and its various campuses. The eBusiness Center was officially formed with Dr. Cherrington as the director in April of 2000 and was named for its generous donors, Kevin and Debra Rollins. BYU President, Merrill J. Bateman advised the center not just to spend money on research, but also to address two challenges: (1) build alliances with key businesses, like Dell, who are leaders in the field, thus allowing us to learn in addition to teaching and sharing, and (2) use the Rollins gift to improve people’s lives- especially young people’s- and be effective in changing lives around the world.