Whitman Student Advances Learning and Leadership Through Business Analytics Program

Before attending Syracuse University, Haig Chakamian ’24 was always interested in working with numbers. However, once he took an introductory statistics class his first year with Professor of Finance Practice Penelope Pooler, he realized he enjoyed working with statistical analysis and data. The Whitman School allowed him to advance his passion for statistics through the recently introduced undergraduate business analytics major, while also double majoring in finance.

Chakamian has taken advantage of his business analytics major through leadership opportunities in extracurricular organizations, including serving as the current president of Whitman’s Investment Club and being a member of professional fraternity Delta Sigma Pi. Through these experiences, Chakamian has worked on professional development skills, become a confident leader for a large group of students and discovered his passion for creating his own business before he graduates.

He describes this idea as a professional clothing service to help provide students with business attire to help them succeed in interviews and internships. Utilizing business and data analytics, Chakamian hopes to implement this program at the University through his involvement at the Syracuse University Student Association and leave a “final stamp” before he pursues his career goals after graduation.

“Short-term, one of my goals is to get a return offer from my internship at Credit Suisse,” he says of the future. “A long-term goal would be to succeed. My definition of success is maintaining happiness. I get a lot of happiness from my family and friends, so I will continue to build upon those relationships, while still having an excellent professional network and career growth.”

Chakamian appreciates the variety of experiences from his time at Whitman and hopes to pass along his knowledge to those just beginning their undergraduate journeys.

“One great way to become involved as a first-year student is by joining different clubs, as well as attending the Goodman IMPRESS events,” he says. “For example, I remember attending the etiquette dinner. It was an extraordinary experience just seeing how to butter bread. I know people who've had interviews over a meal, so it was cool to see how to prepare for a real-world situation.”

Chakamian gives this advice to other students as he continues to practice it himself. He says that through various clubs and courses, he was able to find the program best suited for him and his interests. Business analytics has provided him with new career goals that he hopes will inspire other Whitman students to join the major, too.

By Charlie Wenig ’24 (NEW)