IST Mission

Mission of the School of Information Sciences and Technology

Partnerships Across the University
Teaching Mission
Research Mission
Outreach Mission
Partnerships with Industry and Government

The School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) will facilitate the development of IST programs at all locations and educational levels in the University. At the broadest level, this initiative should include undergraduate degree programs, graduate programs, minors, outreach programs (professional degrees and certificates), research programs, and general University-wide competencies that are consistent with the new directions in general education to be implemented in 1999. More specifically, there are five aspects to the mission of the School of Information Sciences and Technology; these aspects are closely coupled to Penn State's long-standing mission of teaching, research, and outreach.

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Partnerships Across the University
Penn State currently offers a wide variety of IST-related programs across the Commonwealth, and the School of Information Sciences and Technology should complement and build upon these strengths. These existing academic resources include associate, baccalaureate, and graduate degrees and numerous research programs at one or more academic colleges represented at Penn State's 23 campus locations and the Pennsylvania College of Technology. In addition, the University has a long history of delivering high quality educational programs through distance education, including the recently-launched World Campus. An impressive technological infrastructure including hardware, software, connectivity, and training for faculty, staff, and students supports this existing IST-related enterprise at Penn State.

There is a strong commitment throughout the University to strengthening IST-related activities. In addition to the formal degree programs within the School, we envision a core of undergraduate service courses and an IST minor that will broadly develop the skills associated with information sciences and technology. This diffusion within other disciplines would be facilitated by joint appointments with other discipline-based units, and will require a variety of partnerships across the University between the School and other Penn State colleges, the University Libraries, and the Office of Computer and Information Systems (see Appendix A for a map of Penn State campus locations and the Pennsylvania College of Technology).

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Teaching Mission
Strong information technology skills are necessary for all graduates of Penn State, regardless of discipline. Thus, undergraduate and graduate degree programs, minors, and general education offerings are critical elements of the initiative. Technology education is increasingly important for members of the existing workforce: a strong instructional outreach component offered through Outreach and Cooperative Extension and the World Campus will satisfy a clear industry need and represents an opportunity for Penn State.

Students need a multidisciplinary understanding of the role of information technology in our society. There are increasingly unmet demands for technologically literate graduates at all levels and in all disciplines. Since the technologies driving these changes are extremely fluid and are changing at an almost exponential rate, Penn State must develop programs that can change along with them. Our programs must use a dynamic systems model rather than the traditional academic approaches.

A clear understanding of current and future research and industry needs is crucial when developing successful academic programs. Programs that incorporate elements of such fields as management information systems, information engineering, information retrieval, and new media can offer students a broad understanding of the uses of technology. Such areas as telecommunications, operations research, computer science, hyper-media communications, cognitive science, intelligent and learning systems, computational science, scientific visualization, electronic commerce, Web-based and network computing, and digital libraries offer wonderful opportunities for our graduates, but all require cross-disciplinary teaching strategies. Understanding the dynamic nature of these areas and building a curriculum that supports them will position Penn State and our graduates well for the future.

Graduate programs should focus on innovative uses of technology, exploring in greater depth those areas of knowledge and practice central to the information sciences. Both professional and research-oriented graduate programs should be established. Professional programs can offer new competencies to graduates already well established in their careers. Professional master's degrees should provide a broad applied approach to IST and related fields, and keep IST students apprised of changing paradigms in the industry and of practical uses of IST technologies. Doctoral programs should offer more in-depth study of specialized areas and provide research opportunities on the cutting edge of discovery in IST and related fields.

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Research Mission
Participation in an information-based society should be universal, transparent, and affordable. The research mission of the School of Information Sciences and Technology is to contribute knowledge to meet this goal. The School should promote an understanding of the principles behind and uses of advanced computing, communications, and information systems in industry, government, and society. This research mission by its very nature is cross-disciplinary. Current National Science Foundation (NSF) research themes such as knowledge and distributed intelligence, new computational challenges, electronic commerce, cognitive science, and the next generation internet would be excellent areas of concentration for the School's research agenda. In addition, the increasingly important questions concerning the access of different populations to information and public policy regarding the ownership, use, and distribution of information form important research agendas. To undertake such research at Penn State, collaboration crossing traditional disciplinary lines is required, along with external partnerships with corporations and foundations willing to sponsor university research. A vital research core will contribute greatly to the teaching and outreach missions of the School.

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Outreach Mission
The outreach mission of the School is an area of opportunity. Professional degree and certificate programs should be vehicles to meet corporate needs for state-of-the-art education and training in technology. These programs themselves should be developed and delivered using the latest teaching and learning technologies, including Penn State's World Campus. Internship and cooperative work programs should be developed to introduce ideas into host corporations or other organizations and to bring back ideas for curricular and technological changes to the University. The School should be a valuable source of expertise to Pennsylvania corporations. Professional associations, workshops, corporate advisory committees, and technology transfer activities should also provide mechanisms for the dissemination of information on new technologies.

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Partnerships with Industry and Government
Strong ties to IST industries are extremely important. Industry and government partnerships demonstrate the University's commitment to change the role of education to meet the needs of industry. These partnerships are also a way of better identifying the critical issues facing education and industry. Undergraduate and graduate internship programs should be encouraged that offer students opportunities to develop relationships with Penn State's technology partners, relationships that often pave the way for future employment.

Programs should be developed that include industry-University exchanges in which researchers and teachers "switch locations." This switch could be virtual or physical, for short or extended periods of time. Joint research with industry should be encouraged and promoted within the School, building partnerships through Penn State research centers and institutes, both within and affiliated with the School.

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