Course Requirements for the Ph.D., M.S. Programs

Information Science Core

All students are required to take designated Introductory Coursework, Programming Coursework, and Data Handling Coursework courses to complete the Information Science core foundation; this amounts to 18 semester hours (s.h.) of core courses for Ph.D. and M.S. students. Please note that required coursework from a certificate student's major program of study cannot be used to satisfy any of the course requirements for the certificate.

Core Courses (18 s.h. for Ph.D. and M.S)

Introductory Coursework (3 s.h.)

  • IGPI/CS:5110  Introduction to Informatics (Fall)

Programming Coursework (3 s.h.)

  • CS:3210  Programming Languages and Tools: Programming with C++ (Fall and Spring)
  • CS:3210 Programming Languages and Tools: Programming with Java (Fall and Spring)

Data Handling Coursework (12 s.h. for Ph.D. & M.S.) **

         Text Retrieval  (3 s.h.) **

  • CS:4980  Topics in Computer Science 1 (Note: Determined on a case-by-case basis; check with your advisor prior to registering) (Fall and Spring)
  • IGPI/SLIS:6120  Natural Language Processing (Fall odd years)

Data Mining  (3 s.h.) **

  • IGPI/MSCI:4480  Knowledge Discovery (Fall)

Databases  (3 s.h.) **  

  • IGPI/SLIS:6100  Database Management (Spring)
  • IGPI/MSCI:4220  Advanced Database Management & Big Data (Spring)
  • CS:4400  Database Systems (Fall and Spring)

 Probability & Statistics  (3 s.h.) **

  • IGPI/STAT:3120  Probability and Statistics (Fall and Spring)
  • IGPI/POLI:5001 Introductory Methodology (Note: This is a 4 s.h. course) (Fall)

** Ph.D. and M.S. students are required to take 3 s.h. of coursework in each of the four indicated sections.

Cognate Areas

Following is a list of courses ordered by cognate area. M.S. and Ph.D. students should take 9 semester hours under a cognate area selected after careful consultation with their academic advisor. A custom cognate area may also be set up in conjunction with the advisor, with the approval of the subprogram chair and/or director.

Cognate Area Courses (3 s.h. each, unless otherwise noted)

College of Business

Management Sciences

  • MSCI:4280 Data Security
  • IGPI/MSCI:7000 Management Sciences Topics (Note: Considered as cognates on a case-by-case basis as offered; check with IGPI office prior to registering.)

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Computer Science

CS:4000 and above will be considered as cognates on a case-by-case basis; check with your advisor prior to registering.  

Statistics & Actuarial Science

  • IGPI/STAT:3100  Introduction to Mathematical Statistics I
  • IGPI/STAT:3101  Introduction to Mathematical Statistics II  
  • IGPI/STAT:3120  Probability and Statistics
  • IGPI/STAT:3200  Applied Linear Regression
  • IGPI/STAT:3510  Biostatistics
  • IGPI/STAT:4100  Mathematical Statistics I  
  • IGPI/STAT:4101  Mathematical Statistics II  
  • IGPI/STAT:5199  Applied Statistics I (4 s.h.)
  • IGPI/STAT:5400  Computing in Statistics

Communication Studies

  • COMM:5241  Theories of Mass Communication
  • COMM:6210  Health Communication
  • COMM:6220  Health Communication Campaigns
  • COMM:6341  Topics in Mass Communication Scholarship
  • COMM:6365  The Communication of Social Support
  • COMM:6371  Communication Theory
  • COMM:6376  Family Communication
  • COMM:6387  Communication, Cognition, and Emotion

Geographical and Sustainability Sciences

  • IGPI/GEOG:3540 Introduction to Geographic Visualization
  • IGPI/GEOG:4581 Introduction to Geographic Databases
  • IGPI/GEOG:6500 Graduate Seminar in Spatial Analysis and Modeling

Journalism and Mass Communications

  • JMC:3300  Freedom of Expression
  • JMC:5240  Digital Strategic Communication
  • JMC:6210  Media Theory
  • JMC:6700  Approaches to Media Communication

Political Science

  • POLI:5000  Introduction to Political Analysis (4 s.h.)
  • POLI:5003  Intermediate Methodolgy (4 s.h.)
  • POLI:5700  Introduction to Formal Models in Political Science (4 s.h.)
  • POLI:7002  Topics in Methodology (repeatable, based on content) (4 s.h.)
  • POLI:7003  Advanced Methodology (4 s.h.)
  • POLI:7701  Dynamic Models of International Politics (2-4 s.h.)

May choose one of the following three courses:

  • POLI:5100  American Politics (4 s.h.)
  • POLI:5400  Comparative Politics (4 s.h.)
  • POLI:5500  International Politics (4 s.h.)

Graduate College

School of Library and Information Science

  • IGPI/SLIS:5203 User Education: Multimedia
  • IGPI/SLIS:5220  Principles of Public Health Informatics
  • IGPI/SLIS:5200 Health Informatics
  • IGPI/SLIS:6155 Information Visualization
  • SLIS:6160 Search and Discovery
  • IGPI/SLIS:6220 Community Engagement
  • IGPI/SLIS:6490 Information Policy and Ethics

Ph.D. Students

It is required that the student selects the remaining 45 semester hours of courses in consultation with his/her advisor to design a balanced program of study relevant to the student’s particular information science focus.  The courses listed under any of the cognate areas from the previous section are acceptable.

M.S. Students

The remaining 5 semester hours may be selected from the courses listed under any of the cognate areas from the previous section, or they may be selected from outside this list in consultation with the student’s advisor.