SAM AND IRENE BLACK SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Management Information Systems Major (MISBD)
The Curriculum
The curriculum for the Management Information Systems major offered by Penn State Erie is divided into four components: General Education, Business courses, MIS courses, and non-business Supporting courses. MISBD emphasizes Information Technology and Business both of which are critical to an information systems professional. The business component results in a graduate who can not only bring technical skills to the systems development process, but also communicate effectively with users and upper-level management.
Curriculum Diagrams:
Summer 1999 (Old Program)
Summer 2007 (New Program)
A minimum of 126 credits is required for a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems. Students must earn a grade of C or better in each 300- and 400-level course. Students may also choose to pruse a minor in MIS.
A typical schedule for a first-semester MIS major includes Rhetoric and Composition or Honors Freshman Composition; Techniques of Calculus or Calculus with Analytical Geometry I; one general education course each in the humanities, natural sciences, and arts; and a 1-credit First Year Seminar. Second semester courses generally include arts, humanities and natural science general education requirements; Principles of Programming with Business Applications; and health or kinesiology.
General Education
General education is split into a Skills component (Writing/Speaking: 9 credits, Quantification: 6 credits, Health Education: 1 credit and Physical Activity: 3 credits) and a Distribution component (Natural Sciences: 9 credits, Arts: 6 credits, Humanities: 6 credits, Social and Behavioral Sciences: 6 credits).
To satisfy the Skills requirements, MISBD majors take ENGL 015: Rhetoric and Composition, SPCOM/CAS 100: Effective Speech, ENGL 202D: Business Writing, MATH 110: Techniques of Calculus I, and CMPSC 203: Principles of Programming with Business Applications. CMPSC 203 includes 3 weeks on DOS and Windows, seven weeks of spreadsheet instruction and five weeks of programming.
Business
Business courses are introduced in the sophomore year and include courses in Financial and Managerial Accounting (ACCTG 211); Social, Legal and Ethical Environment of Business (BA 243), Micro- and Macro-Economics (ECON 002 and 004), Business Statistics (MSIS 200), and Introduction to Business Information Systems (MIS 204). In the junior and senior years, students also take at least one course in Management, Finance, Marketing, Operations Management, Business Policy (a writing-intensive course) and an international business course such as Global Marketing or International Trade and Finance.
Management Information Systems
Students typically begin work on MIS courses in the sophomore year. Building on the foundation provided in CMPSC 203 and MIS 204, the MISBD major is required to take all of the following:
- 3 Programming Courses from two programming languages. Typically, two levels of VB.net and one level of C++. However, other languages such as Java and COBOL are acceptable.
- MIS
336 Database Management Systems (3 credits): Includes E-R diagrams, data normalization
and SQL, Access, and CASE
- MIS
430 Systems Analysis (3 credits): Introduction to feasibility studies and
requirements specification using structured analysis techniques and CASE tools.
Students are divided into small teams charged with finding and conducting a 'live'
analysis project at a local organization.
- MIS
435 Systems Design and Implementation (3 credits): Students continue using
the tools from MISBD 430, adding additional skills in input/output and file design,
structure charting, systems and document flowcharting, structured testing methods,
quality assurance techniques, and documentation writing. This is the capstone
MIS course, and student teams (two to three students per team) design, code and
implement a multi-user systems project. This is usually done in a DBMS environment
using a 4GL.
- MIS 495 Internship (3-6 credits): All MISBD majors are required to complete an internship, co-op, or other professional field experience prior to graduation. The internship is limited to 6 credits since it is designed to enhance a student's coursework, not replace it.
MISBD Supporting Courses
Students must complete at least 6 credits of junior or senior level courses, selecting from MIS, CMPSC, or MIS-related electives.
Business Support Courses
Students select up to 6 credits from electives in the management information systems or business areas.
Non-Business Supporting Courses
Students select 12-15 (depending on how many credits were completed under Business Support) credits in international studies, foreign languages, study abroad, psychology, communication skills, or quantitative/computer science areas. This last area is popular with MISBD students, as they have the opportunity to take additional courses in information science.
Graduates of this rigorous, yet broad-based program have much to offer. They have a solid technical and business education that prepared them to apply information technology to business problems in a sound and competent manner. MISBD majors start strong and stay strong; most graduates easily move into positions of increasing responsibility and value to their organizations.