The Department of Applied Information Technology has operated the University’s successful Bachelor of Science in Information Technology Program for the past five years. The program has been successful – in theory, but as important, in practice – because it fills a gap for computer-related study between systems engineering and software engineering, and equips graduates to fill IT industry roles in project development, network operations and/or quality control. Many of the more than 700 graduates of our BS IT program seek a master’s-level IT education to build on their undergraduate foundation. They are not candidates for existing Volgenau School master’s programs in that they have different career paths and lack the core engineering and quantitative prerequisites.

In addition to demand by students for the program, the MS in Applied IT can show strong evidence of employer demand, locally as well as nationally. As with the BS IT before it, this program assembles a curriculum based on the needs of the region, with specific focus on the federal sector. In fact, leading area employers have provided guidance to the department during the development of the curriculum, and will continue their engagement with the program as reviewers of students’ Capstone Projects.