Rate My Professor Michelle Chen

Michelle Chen is an Associate Professor in the School of Information at San José State University, where she joined as a Full-time Lecturer in Fall 2012, was promoted to Assistant Professor in Fall 2013, and to Associate Professor in Fall 2019. Her academic background includes a PhD in Information Systems from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin in 2008, with a dissertation on network dynamics and informational value of virtual communities; an MS in Computer Science and Information Engineering from National Taiwan University in 2004; and a BS in Computer Science and Information Engineering from the same university in 2002. Before SJSU, she served as Term Assistant Professor at the University of San Francisco School of Management from Fall 2010 to Spring 2011, Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Business from Fall 2008 to Winter 2009, and held positions including Assistant Instructor at UT Austin and Marketing Planning Consultant at Dell.

Chen's research focuses on big data mining and visualization, online social network analysis, online user behavior in social networks, and the role of information visualization in education, libraries, and research. Key publications include 'The Allure of Homophily in Social Media: Evidence from Investor Responses on Virtual Communities' (Information Systems Research, 2014, with Gu, Konana, and Raghunathan), related to a 2008 Best Paper Award; 'How are we doing in tribal libraries? – A case study of Oglala Lakota College Library using information visualization' (Library Management, 2017, with Ducheneaux, 2018 Emerald Literati Award); 'Voices in the Cloud: Social Media and Trust in Canadian and U.S. Local Governments' (Records Management Journal, 2018, with Evans and Franks, 2019 Emerald Literati Award); and 'Information visualization skills for academic librarians: A content analysis of publications and online LibGuides in the digital humanities' (Library Hi Tech, 2019). She has received the SJSU School of Information Outstanding Professor Award (2019), Distinguished Scholar Award (2017), and Outstanding Teacher Award (2016), along with fellowships such as ICIS Doctoral Consortium Fellow (2007) and Dean’s Fellowship (2004-2008). Chen contributes editorially as Section Editor for Open Information Science and on the Editorial Review Board of Journal of Information Technology Management, supervises doctoral theses, coordinates programs like the Advanced Certificate in Big Data, and has presented keynotes including 'Preparing for the data storm: LIS meets data visualization' (2014 Special Libraries Association).