SAS Awards Educators for Data, AI Teaching
Analytics software company SAS has recognized university educators worldwide with its 2026 SAS Educator Awards. The awards spotlight faculty members who are advancing data and artificial intelligence education. The initiative aims to acknowledge those shaping the next generation of analytics talent.
- One of the 2026 SAS Educator Award recipients, Simone Borra, is an Associate Professor of Statistics and directs a master's program in customer experience, statistics, and machine learning at the University of Rome "Tor Vergata," developed in partnership with SAS. His work focuses on business analytics and the application of machine learning. - Another winner, Tomáš Hlavsa, is an Associate Professor at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, where he teaches statistics and data mining and coordinates SAS Academic Specializations in Statistical Analysis and Programming. - The awards are part of the SAS Global Academic Program, which partners with universities to offer students resources like joint certificate programs, free access to SAS software, and hands-on learning opportunities to prepare them for the job market. For example, some universities offer a SAS-recognized academic badge in "Statistics and Data Mining for Business Intelligence". - In marketing, SAS is widely used for its Customer Intelligence 360 platform, which helps with tasks like predictive analytics to forecast consumer behavior, A/B testing of digital campaigns, and managing and analyzing customer data from various sources to personalize marketing efforts. - For students targeting agency or consulting roles, experience with SAS Viya is valuable. This platform is used for advanced analytics and AI, allowing marketing analysts to build predictive models and use data visualization to present insights to clients. - Entry-level marketing analyst and data analyst positions frequently list SAS as a desired skill alongside SQL and Python. These roles often involve tasks like analyzing large datasets to identify market trends, tracking campaign performance, and creating reports to inform marketing strategy. - SAS offers a "Marketing Associate Program," a two-year entry-level program with three eight-month rotations across different marketing teams, providing broad experience in areas like digital marketing and communications. - Universities like the University of Bridgeport and those in the SAS Global Academic Program offer joint certificates that can give students a competitive edge in the job market, with tens of thousands of job postings listing SAS as a required skill.
