Mike Colbert

Professor of Practice
Department of Business Analytics
Tippie College of Business

I am passionate about helping students learn to break large, difficult problems into small, manageable tasks and use technology to solve them. It is my goal for students to be prepared for real world execution on the job today and to also be equipped to learn as new technologies emerge.

Teaching

BAIS:3400 - Cloud Computing

In this class students learn fundamental networking concepts and how the Internet works. We tackle topics such as IP addressing, firewalls, ports, DNS, etc. After learning basic concepts students dive into Microsoft Azure. In Azure, students get hands on practice with virtual machines, storage, web & static applications, and databases. The final in this class is the "AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals" certification exam. Thanks to donations from alumni, students can take this certification exam on campus, for free.

Achievement: In fall 2021, 14 students (25% of class) earned their certification at the end of class.

BAIS:6280 - Cybersecurity (hybrid-online)

While participating in this class, students get a broad exposure to information security topics including introductory concepts, physical security, access controls, attacks, and defenses. We also discuss management issues surrounding information security as well as current topics and ethical scenarios. Throughout the class we frequently change perspectives from the IT administrator to the CEO, to the casual home user, to the hacker. The class seeks to make students aware of a broad range of topics and develop a security mindset regardless of their career choices.

BAIS:3250 - Data Wrangling

"Data wrangling" encompasses collecting, cleaning, transforming, integrating, and describing data. It is estimated that data scientists spend up to 80% of their time on data wrangling tasks. In addition to being the most time-consuming step of most analytics workflows, wrangling is critical, as it impacts the outcome of all subsequent experiments/analyses. This course introduces essential R programming skills for data wrangling.

BAIS:3300 - Digital Product Management

This course is designed to teach you much of the technology and many of the theories for managing a digital "product". This could be a website or application, but it can also be a machine learning model or digital dashboard.

BAIS:3025 - Business Process Automation

You will learn to map, measure, and improve backstage business processes that align with customer touchpoints along their journey. We will consider automation to improve both the customer and the employee experience associated with these business processes. We will learn both application automation using Excel VBA as well as robotic process automation.

Professional Timeline

AY 2026 - 2027

Milestone: 🥳 20th year at the University of Iowa! 🎉

Teaching

  • Fall:
    • Computational Thinking (2 sections)
    • Cybersecurity (undergrad)
  • Spring:
    • Digital Product Management
    • Cybersecurity (undergrad)
    • Cybersecurity (graduate)

AY 2025 - 2026

Milestone: First year as a full Professor of Practice.

Teaching

  • Fall:
    • Computational Thinking (2 sections)
    • Digital Product Management
  • Spring:
    • Digital Product Management
    • Cybersecurity (undergrad)
    • Cybersecurity (graduate)

Course Development

  • Updated BAIS:302 - Computational Thinking: removed MindTap, created assignments and labs similar to Data Wrangling, and updated ICON site to 100% accessible.
  • Updated Digital Product Management to include vibe coding and updated ICON site to 100% accessible.
  • Redeveloped and updated the graduate Cybersecurity class from the 11-week to an 8-week format and updated ICON site to 100% accessible.
  • Taught undergraduate Cybersecurity and updated ICON site to 100% accessible.

Service & Committees

  • Elected Faculty Council Chair, 06/2025 - 05/2026
    • Clinical track faculty policy & promotion updates
    • Representative to the college strategic plan committee
  • Instructional Track Faculty Promotion Committee
    08/2025 - 05/2026
  • Internal Peer Evaluation Committee
    • Michael Altemeier
  • Faculty mentor
    • Mike Lash

Professional Development

  • Certified Scrum Developer, technical
    10/15 - 16/2025 online w/ Paul Moore
    Certified Scrum Developer (CSD) certification
  • Wild West Hacking Fest - Mile High (virtual)
    • (02/10 - 11/2026) Secure Coding & API Hardening - Hands-On Secure Design, Development, & Threat Modeling w/ Tanya Janca
  • Intro to AI Agents, 1-day intensive online w/ Liz Howard (01/30/2026)
  • Passed Security+ (SY0-701) certification (03/2026)
  • AI Agent Mastermind
    (04/15/2026 - 05/07/2026) online w/ Allie K. Miller

AY 2024 - 2025

Milestone: Promoted to Professor of Practice in May 2025.

Teaching

  • Fall:
    • Data Wrangling (2 sections)
    • Cloud Computing (Azure)
  • Spring:
    • Digital Product Management
    • Cloud Computing (Azure)
    • Cybersecurity (graduate)

Service & Committees

  • Elected Faculty Council Secretary, 06/2024 - 05/2025
  • Entrepreneurship Programs Advisory Committee
  • Instructional Track Faculty Search Committee - Chair
    03/2025
    • Jim Chaffee
    • Shelby Dudgeon
    • Mike Lash
  • Internal Peer Evaluation Committee
    • Dr. Patrick Johanns
    • Dr. Hassan Rafique
  • Faculty mentor
    • Hassan Rafique
  • Tippie 21 Under 21 Committee

Professional Development

  • Wild West Hacking Fest - Mile High (virtual)
    • (02/4 - 5/2026) AI for Cybersecurity Professionals

AY 2023 - 2024

 

AY 2022 - 2023

 

AY 2021 - 2022

 

AY 2020 - 2021

 

AY 2019 - 2020

 

AY 2018 - 2019

 

Get In Touch

michael-colbert@uiowa.edu

S292 John Pappajohn Bus Bldg · The University of Iowa · Iowa City, IA 52242-1994