School of Business Administration

For many future college students, the big college question isn’t just where to go. It’s how to do it. Live on campus? Commute from home? Is it really possible to be a commuter and still feel fully immersed in campus life?

Allison Shelly, a School of Business Administration senior double-majoring in Management Information Systems (MIS) and Business Analytics, answers with a confident yes.

Choosing the University of Dayton and choosing to commute

Allison grew up hearing about the University of Dayton. Family members are alumni, her grandmother gave her a UD shirt long before she applied, and the campus was only about 25 minutes from home.

“Since it was within commuting distance, that was kind of a no-brainer,” she said. “But beyond that, I knew UD was a great school. We’re a top-50 business school. I knew it had so many great opportunities, and I’d always wanted to go into business, so I just thought it was the perfect combination.”

Staying home meant maintaining her family’s emotional support and saving money while still getting the full experience of a nationally ranked business school.

Cutting-edge academics in business tech

Allison arrived at the School of Business Administration interested in business and quickly found her home in MIS, inspired by her family’s IT background. When the business analytics major launched in 2023, she added it, and it is now her favorite.

In BAN 482: Foundations of Machine Learning, Allison is building a machine learning model, experimenting with AI app development and creating a portfolio website to showcase her projects. While she never thought she would be coding so much, her professor, Dr. Lakshmi Nittala, is available for one-on-one support in the classroom and during office hours.

During her time at the SBA, she has become fluent in multiple programming languages, including VBA, Java, SQL, Python and R, which has made her competitive for internships and full-time positions.

“When you find job applications for a data analyst or a business analyst, it never just says, ‘proficient in Python only,’ she said. “It always says experience preferred in Power BI, Tableau, SQL and R. You realize how important it is to have a footing in all of these languages and platforms.”

Allison admits she thought coding was just for computer science majors. “In management information systems and business analytics, it is interesting to see how that translates into business concepts,” she said. “You’re doing this back-end coding, coming up with outputs and having this technical knowledge. You’re actually interpreting how those outputs can help a company.”

Learning by doing: campus jobs, cybersecurity and AI

As a first-year student, Allison joined the UDit Service Center, answering tech support calls for students, faculty and staff. Within months, she was promoted, first to analyst, then to student project manager. She trained peers, built dashboards to track key performance indicators and even led tough coaching conversations with more senior student IT workers.

“Being promoted so quickly was definitely a big challenge,” she said. “But it helped me grow and to be able to do these other great opportunities at UD.”

Today, she leads Cyber Flyers, a student team backed by UD’s Center for Cyber and Data Intelligence. Her group runs phishing awareness campaigns, outreach and events to help students stay safe online.

She also competed in UD’s inaugural Responsible AI Case Competition in collaboration with IBM. Her team took first place.

“It was really validating to have professionals from IBM, EY and McKinsey serve as judges, see our work and say, ‘Yes, this holds up in the real world,’” she said. “It also deepened how I think about AI ethics and privacy in my future career.”

Outside the classroom, she has been part of Crochet Club, Data Analytics Club, Sign Language Club, Culinary Club and the Dean’s Student Leadership Advisory Council.

Turning campus into a second home

So what does all of that look like as a commuter?

Allison’s drive to campus is about 25 minutes each way. On days when she has a morning class and an evening meeting or club, she does not rush home. She leans into campus.

She studies in the honors student space in Alumni Hall (there is even a coffee machine), grabs sushi at Virginia W. Kettering (VWK), works and meets friends at Heritage Coffee and walks the paths around the chapel and central campus.

“People used to ask if commuting feels like being in high school again,” she said. “It doesn’t. You have so much more freedom — where to study, where to eat, who to talk to. You just have to be intentional about using that time.”

That intentionality has paid off in internships, too. After a hands-on IT help desk internship at Trimble, she moved into an IT business analyst role at Dayton Freight Lines and its affiliate Kelley Logistics. There, she bridges the gap between business stakeholders and technical developers, working with APIs, cloud data and agile methods she first encountered in her SBA classes. She continues to intern with Dayton Freight as a full-time student and plans to join the company full-time after graduation in May 2026.

Community as a commuter

UD talks a lot about community, and Allison will tell you it is more than a marketing word.

“It’s not just the student neighborhood,” she said. “It’s the people you run into in Miriam Hall, the conversations in Heritage, professors who know your name and care about you.”

Commuter-specific support helps, too. There is a commuter lounge, a commuter student organization and faculty who are understanding when weather or traffic complicate travel, especially when students communicate early.

Her biggest piece of advice for future commuter Flyers?

“You’ll probably have to put yourself out there a little more than students who live on campus — and that’s OK,” Allison said. “Don’t talk yourself into feeling like a ‘lone wolf.’ If you stay, get involved and really use what UD has to offer, you can have just as rich of a college experience as anyone living on campus. It’s all worth it in the end.”