Master of Information Science
The Interdisciplinary Program in Information Sciences offers a course of study through the School of Library and Information Sciences leading to the Master of Information Science degree (MIS) with a concentration in one of two tracks: networking and communications; and strategic information management. (See MIS Tracks.)

The student learning outcomes of the graduate program are:

• Students in the MIS program will gain the technical and communications skills needed to facilitate information system design and development to help people and organizations function more effectively.
• Students in the MIS program will analyze the needs of users and apply the appropriate technical skills to develop data handling, information organization and knowledge management systems.
• Students in the MIS program will demonstrate technical, written, and graphical skills in collaborative information system project analysis, design and development.
• Students in the MIS program will learn to recommend and implement tools that respect intellectual property and support strategic goals for information technology.

Students must earn 36 semester hours of course work approved by the Dean of the School.

The following are the core prerequisites and required core courses for the MIS degree. (See MIS recommended course sequences.)

Required Core Courses

LSIS 5010, Information Systems in Organizations [*] (Should be taken during the first semester in the program)
LSIS 5475, Communications Science I [*] (Should be taken during the first semester in the program)
LSIS 5110, Information Systems Policy
LSIS 5171, Systems Analysis
LSIS 5451, Database Systems
LSIS 5452, Advanced Database Systems (Prerequisite: LSIS 5451)
LSIS 5610, Information Systems Projects (Should be taken at the end of the MIS program)

[*] Prerequisite to all 5000 level courses.

Students may be exempt from one or more of the required courses based on prior educational experience. However, exemption from one or more of the required courses does not reduce the requirement that students earn 36 semester hours of course work.

In addition to the 21 semester hours of required coursework, students must earn 15 semester hours of credit from courses from one of two tracks: networking and communications; and strategic information management. (See MIS Tracks.)

Language requirement

Students are also required to demonstrate knowledge of a foreign language, sign language, statistics, or a computer language. This requirement may be fulfilled by two semesters of course work (6 hrs credit) in a foreign language, sign language, statistics, or a computer language at the undergraduate or graduate level. Original transcripts showing the pertinent courses must be provided as evidence prior to the application for graduation. Alternatively, the requirement may be fulfilled (a) if the student passes a modern language examination administered for this purpose by the Modern Foreign Language Department at North Carolina Central University in French, German, or Spanish, or (b) if the student has a currently valid professional IT certification. No courses taken for this purpose may be counted for course credit toward the master's degree.