Department of Information Technologies

Kenneth R. Mayer, Assistant Professor

Christopher B. Simmons, Associate Professor

 

The Department of Information Technologies houses academic programs leading to degrees in the areas of Cybersecurity and Information Technology. Cybersecurity is concerned with solutions for securing an organization’s assets including, and especially data. The Information Technology degree program focuses on the design and management of IT infrastructure, such as computer networks, computer hardware, database systems  and other software systems.

Information Technology Majors

Cybersecurity

The field of cybersecurity has grown and evolved significantly in recent years. It is expected that in the U.S. alone, thousands of professionals in the field will be added to the workforce. Cybersecurity professionals are concerned with the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data regardless of the form the data may take: electronic, print or other forms. Governments, military, corporations, financial institutions, hospitals and private businesses amass a great deal of confidential information about their employees, customers, products, research and financial status. Most of this information is collected, processed, and stored on computers, and transmitted across networks for additional processing, use and storage. Protecting confidential information is a business requirement, and in many cases, is also an ethical and legal requirement. The cybersecurity degree program offers a deep grounding covering the breadth of security concepts from theoretical frameworks through models to policies and ethical practices. It focuses on security challenges, threats and requirements for operating systems, computer architectures, networking protocols and organizations’ data and information. It is the ideal major for the student who is passionate about developing the ability to:

• Identify the information security risks and create effective strategies for mitigation;
• Apply technologies and procedures that industry professionals use to secure business systems;
• Discover how information security is essential to organizational success;
• Possess the knowledge to analyze the role of security within an organization as well as educate corporate employees about their security responsibilities;
• Analyze the professional, legal and ethical impact of information security on individuals, business organizations, and society;
• Apply industry standard techniques to secure large-scale networks; and
• Gain the competencies necessary to plan, customize, and manage large-scale secure networks, databases and operating systems for optimum business applications and/or plans.

Career Opportunities may include:

• Information Security Investigator
• Forensic Investigator
• Information Security Engineer
• Information Systems Security Engineer
• Penetration Tester
• Cybersecurity and Information Systems Engineer

Information Technology

Information technology (IT) is the study, design, creation, utilization, support, and management of computer-based information systems, especially software applications and computer hardware. IT is not limited solely to computers though. With technologies quickly developing in the fields of mobile devices, the field of IT is quickly moving from compartmentalized computer-focused areas to other forms of mobile and distributed technology. The IT major develops broad, integrated knowledge spanning the range from telecommunications and computer networking through computer-based information systems to the management of IT applications and projects. It is the ideal major for the student who is passionate about developing the ability to:

• Evaluate current and emerging computing and information technologies;
• Apply, configure and manage computing and information technologies;
• Assess the impact of computing and information technologies on individuals, organizations, and society;
• Gain the business knowledge and skills needed to be successful in a competitive and challenging global information-technology-driven economy;
• Complement integrated IT knowledge with a strong understanding of key managerial and organizational concepts;
• Develop skill sets that are aligned with industry needs and problem-solving of real-world computing and information technology challenges.

The information technology minor is designed to provide students with a general knowledge of the requirements of commercial computing. It can be very helpful to business students who expect to be involved in corporate computing issues. This program matches very well with any of the majors offered by the College of Business.

Career Opportunities may include:

• Information technology administrators
• Network analysts
• Systems analysts and designers
• Technological research scientists

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