University of Michigan planning bachelor's degree in information studies for 2014
The way the world disseminates, collects and consumes information is rapidly changing and the University of Michigan is seeking to expand its academic programs to reflect that shift.
AP photo
U-M's School of Information and the provost office are petitioning the Board of Regents during its Thursday meeting in Dearborn to approve a new bachelor of arts and bachelor of science in information.
U-M currently offers master's and doctoral degrees in information. The School of Information was established in 1996, replacing the School of Information and Library Science.
"The radical transformation of our world by personal computing, the Internet and intelligent mobile devices is clear. Something of deeper intellectual significance has happened in tandem with the technical and commercial developments," U-M Provost Philip Hanlon and Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason, dean of the School of Information, wrote in a memo to regents. "Information has crystalized as a genuine academic field of study that provides a coherent perspective on what makes information valuable, memorable and powerful in our lives and societies."
According to Hanlon and MacKie-Mason, the program will teach strategies for changing information flows, eliciting new or hard-to-gather information, making information accessible, and aggregating, presenting and analyzing information.
The proposed program was approved by Information faculty in February and, if approved by regents, would begin in the fall of 2014.
The School of Literature, Science and Arts currently jointly administers bachelor of arts and science in informatics, which 141 undergraduates were enrolled in last year. Those students take classes in LSA, School of Information and the College of Engineering and can specialize in data mining and social computing, among other things. Career choices for such students range from data analysis to e-marketing to algorithm engineering.
Another 381 students are enrolled in master-level degrees and 49 are pursuing their doctorates. Hanlon and Mackie-Mason said the new degree offering "will build on... initial exploratory efforts in providing information education for undergraduates."
Although bachelor's degrees in information studies are gradually becoming more common, many schools don't offer them. The highly ranked University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill information school offers a bachelor's degree in information science, but the similarly ranked school at University of Illinois does not.
This is the second degree expansion for the U-M School of Information this year.
In December the Board of Regents approved a new master's degree in health informatics, a field that leverages information technologies to maintain and improve health and patient care. That program begins this fall.
Kellie Woodhouse covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at kelliewoodhouse@annarbor.com or 734-623-4602 and follow her on twitter.
Comments
Paul Wiener
Wed, May 16, 2012 : 8:59 p.m.
This is an excellent idea for the simple reason that it will probably enable many people to become librarians without their having to complete and pay for the essentially useless MLS degree that is routinely required by most academic libraries.
wolfman jack
Tue, May 15, 2012 : 3:24 p.m.
http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi Reading of couple of Edward Tufte's fine volumes on the science and art of presenting information is an eye-opening experience for even the most seasoned researcher. In the world of "big data," our largest problem is distilling meaning and inference from static. There is unfortunately too little of this expertise commercially available for hire. Engineers I can hire aplenty right now. Individuals who can distill meaningful data trends, not so much. What is it, what are its causes, where is supporting evidence, what are the secondary effects, what are its meaningful controls and moderating influences, and how can I convince the client of its relevance ?
Jason
Tue, May 15, 2012 : 2:49 p.m.
Information security is not a "useless degree" i think you're confusing it with an art major. do you not see a need to keep your personal data secure and available? if anything, the market for IT professionals is expanding.
djacks24
Tue, May 15, 2012 : 3:34 p.m.
This is not an information security degree. An information security degree is for those wanting a degree in IT (information security) but not wanting to do the harder work of earning a computer science/computer engineering degree. Basically same as this degree in that regard.
bhall
Tue, May 15, 2012 : 2:41 p.m.
This is a great idea. It's obvious the above two posters didn't actually read the description of the degree: "According to Hanlon and MacKie-Mason, the program will teach strategies for changing information flows, eliciting new or hard-to-gather information, making information accessible, and aggregating, presenting and analyzing information." Hmm. I can't think of a discipline that will be more in demand right now and in the future. And by the way, don't knock traditional library studies. People do very well in that track.
djacks24
Tue, May 15, 2012 : 2:07 p.m.
I can think of (at least) 5 other degree programs that are just as vague as this one (in regards to what career or job you may or may not qualify for). But when it all boils down to it, employers all want experience in what you are applying for. I know so many IT folks who have degrees in anything but IT, but got their jobs based upon experience. So the long and short of it there will be more graduates without skills that employers are looking for.
Paul Wiener
Thu, May 17, 2012 : 6:56 p.m.
And Ive known a lot of IT people - line staff - who know only what they've been taught, and have precious little feel for it.
Jeffersonian Liberal
Tue, May 15, 2012 : 1:59 p.m.
Wow, another useless over priced degree from the U. I see a future article of a bunch of whiners telling us that they can't find a job in their major. Guess what kids, their is a finite number of libraries and the cities going broke from union employee pensions are closing theirs. Use your parents money wisely, get a real degree that will get you a real job.
Chris
Tue, May 15, 2012 : 4:27 p.m.
SI graduates get snapped up quickly. Great demand for these skills. It's a great move for the school. Full transparency - I am a '93 graduate of the program.
Forever27
Tue, May 15, 2012 : 3:04 p.m.
hahaha way to ingest your spoon-fed talking points. somehow you found a way to connect this new academic program to the "evil unions ruining our country" argument. kudos on that pretzel logic