Master of Science in Information Systems
Purpose
To meet the demand for designers and developers of software-intensive systems, regardless of the application domain. The major can be described as applied computer science with a systems engineering perspective. The curriculum stresses the importance of the end user in the development of systems. The goal is to apply technology to real data-processing problems in real organizations.
The program can accommodate students with a thorough understanding of computers, as well as those with a less-developed sense of applied information systems. Enrolling M.S.I.S. students are asked to demonstrate competency in
- basic descriptive and inferential statistics;
- basic software packages such as word processing, spreadsheets, and database management systems; and
- third-generation programming language, including Pascal, C, Cobol, Ada, or Fortran.
The first competency may be demonstrated by one college-level course, grade B or better; the second by work experience; and the third by two years of professional programming experience or appropriate college level courses (grade B or better). Those who lack one or more of these competencies may enroll in up to three foundation courses (INFO 501 Quantitative Methods, INFO 502 Information Management Tools, INFO 601 Computer Programming for Information Processing), which do not count toward degree requirements.
The standard requirement for completing the M.S.I.S. degree is 60 credits (or approximately 15 courses). Previous coursework in a related discipline or substantial professional experience in a curriculum-related field may allow a student to qualify for a master's with a minimum of 48 credits. Work experience concurrent with a student's program of study may also qualify for a reduction in requirements.
A core of five courses totaling 20 credits is required of all students:
- INFO503 - Introduction to Information Systems Analysis
- INFO605 - Database Management I
- INFO609 - User Interfaces for Information Systems
- INFO620 - Information Systems Analysis
- INFO628 - Information Systems Implementation
Students then fulfill program distribution requirements by selecting 28 credits spanning the areas of technology of information systems, principles of information systems, software engineering, information and organizations, and research. Students select 28 credits from among the list below:
- INFO602 - Text Processing by Computer
- INFO606 - Database Management II
- INFO612 - Knowledge-Based Systems
- INFO614 - Distributed Computing and Networking
- INFO616 - Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)
- INFO623 - Abstracting and Indexing
- INFO625 - Cognitionand Information Retrieval
- INFO626 - Language Processing
- INFO630 - Evaluation of Information Systems
- INFO643 - Information Services in Organizations
- INFO646 - Information Systems Policy and Administration
- INFO693 - Survey Research
- INFO780 - 24 - Artificial Intelligence
- INFO780 - 25 - CognitiveEngineering
- INFO780 - 27 - Developing Multimedia
- INFO780 - 28 - Introduction to Systems Dynamics
- INFO780 - 29 - Software Engineering I
- INFO780 - 30 - Software Engineering II
- INFO780 - 33 - C Programming
- INFO780 - 39 - Software Project Management
- INFO780 - 40 - Formal Methods and Models for Software Systems Design
- INFO780 - 41 - Software Systems Verification and Validation
- INFO780 - 42 - Requirements Modeling and Prototyping
- INFO780 - 43 - Database Management III
- INFO866 - Seminar in Information Systems Research
- INFO 895 - 26 - Introduction to C++
- INFO 895 - 44 - Workshop: Data Warehousing
An additional 12 credits of free electives are drawn from among College-approved courses. These credits may include any master's-level IST course, or courses from a pre-approved list (which is available from IST). Academic advisors can make exceptions. These credits may be chosen from such Information Science and Technology offerings as: INFO 780 Special Topics, INFO 799 Independent Study, INFO 887 Research, and INFO 895 Workshop.
