Bachelor of Science in Information Science Program – College Park

What is Our Program?

The Bachelor of Science in Information Science (BSIS) program is an innovative STEM degree that teaches students skills in technical areas such as database design, information architecture, web/mobile development, data analytics, and cybersecurity alongside areas of the social sciences, leadership, and the humanities – addressing the growing and unique need for information professionals who understand complex social and organizational issues. Building information systems, managing information resources, and designing interfaces are just a few of the things that BSIS students “do” — but what motivates them is addressing challenges of bringing together diverse groups of people, complex collections of information, and powerful technologies to create solutions to problems that make the world “work better.”

The BSIS curriculum blends theory, practical skills, and hands-on learning, preparing our graduates to apply their skills directly and immediately in their careers. Our students work on projects with the UMD iSchool's 400+ top industry partners and have opportunities for hands-on learning at the college's world-renowned research centers and labs. BSIS graduates go on to careers in data science and analytics, database administration, UX/UI, technology development, digital curation, cybersecurity, web content and development, systems architecture, and more.

What Do Students Learn in Our Program?

• Articulate, discuss and critically analyze information design and management: the interrelationships among information consumers or creators, information content, and the conduits through which information flows.

• Apply basic principles to the design, development, and management of information to meet the needs of diverse users.

• Assess the impact of existing or emerging technologies on information practices and the flow of information.

• Employ state-of-the-art tools and techniques to create, manage, and analyze information.

• Articulate, discuss, and critically analyze critical issues including the security, privacy, authenticity, and integrity of information.

• Explain and discuss how information technologies, processes, and practices are situated in and may reflect, reenact and reinforce broader social and organizational structures, and the ethics, diversity, equity, and inclusion issues engendered by those structures.

• Critically evaluate information technologies, processes, and practices to identify biases they involve and design technologies and processes that minimize those biases.

What Courses Do Our Students Take? 

The Bachelor of Science in Information Science program requires successful completion of five benchmark courses or their equivalents, and 45 credits in 15 courses in the major, 10 of which are core courses, and five of which are upper-level major electives. At least 30 of the 45 major credits must be in INST-coded courses. Students may propose relevant upper-level courses from other UMD programs/departments to be considered as major electives. If approved, those courses count toward the proposing students' upper-level major electives.

Benchmark Courses

The following benchmark courses introduce the preliminary skills and competencies students need as they start the Information Science major. These courses must be completed with a grade of C- or higher within the student’s first 30 credits (Benchmark I) or the first 60 credits (Benchmark II) within the major unless completed before joining the major.

Benchmark I

• MATH115 - Precalculus (or higher)

• PSYC100 - Introduction to Psychology

Benchmark II

• STAT100 - Elementary Statistics and Probability

• INST126 - Introduction to Programming for Information Science

• INST201 - Introduction to Information Science (serves both as a benchmark, and core course in major)

Core Courses

The following core courses introduce the broad range of disciplines relevant to information science and provide the necessary background and skills for more specialized courses and for employment in the field: Core (10 Courses = 30 credits)

• INST201 - Introduction to Information Science

• INST311 - Information Organization

• INST314 - Statistics for Information Science

• INST326 - Object-Oriented Programming for Information Science

• INST327 - Data Modeling and Manipulation

• INST335 - Teams & Organizations

• INST346 - Technologies, Infrastructure, and Architecture

• INST352 - Information User Needs and Assessments

• INST362 - User-Centered Research and Design

• INST490 - Capstone in Information Science

Major Elective Courses

All BSIS students are required to complete five information science electives. Sample topics could include (5 courses = 15 credits)

• INST341 - Introduction to Digital Curation

• INST354 - Information for Decision Making

• INST364 - Human-Centered Cybersecurity

• INST366 - Privacy, Security and Ethics for Big Data

• INST377 - Dynamic Web Applications

• INST401 - Design and Human Disability and Aging

• INST402 - Designing Patient-Centered Technologies

• INST414 - Data Science Techniques

• INST441 - Information Ethics and Policy

• INST443 - Tools and Methods for Digital Curation

• INST447 - Data Sources and Manipulation

• INST452 - Health Data Analytics

• INST462 - Data Visualization

• INST464 - Decision Making for Cybersecurity

• INST466 - Technology, Culture, and Society

• INST467 - Fundamentals of Cybersecurity for Policy Makers

Who Are Our Students? 

BSIS students come from a wide variety of personal and academic backgrounds. While the program directly admits freshman and external transfer students, many of our students are internal transfers who either choose BSIS as their first major after spending one or more semesters at UMD as major-undeclared students or switch from other UMD majors to BSIS. We also have a growing number of double-major and double-degree students. The student population of the BSIS program involves a high level of ethnic and gender diversity, especially when compared to its peer programs, (i.e., STEM and computing-focused bachelor's programs offered by iSchools in North America). About 30% of the BSIS student population are female, and about 30% are URM students. The details of the ethnic composition of the BSIS student population as of Fall 2021 are given below.

There is also considerable diversity among BSIS students in terms of their focus areas and career interests. While some BSIS students aim to build careers where they would make use of their technical skills, others are more interested in careers that would focus on human factors, administration, or consulting.

Where Do Our Students Go? 

The College Park BSIS program graduated its first cohort of alumni in May 2018. Since then, more than 950 individuals successfully completed the College Park BSIS program.

The following table provides a list of companies and the most typical position titles our graduates are working in:

The following table provides placement data based on the annual graduation survey conducted by the UMD Career Center:

*2017-2018 includes data on Spring 2018 graduates only. Subsequent years include data on Summer, Fall and Spring graduates of the given academic year.

** ‘Placed’ includes graduates who were hired for full-time or part-time jobs, started a graduate study, started a business, and served in the military.