IST Preface

Preface

Information Sciences and Technology encompasses a wide range of academic fields, and is multidisciplinary by its very nature. The IST Strategic Planning Group established the following working definition:

Information Sciences and Technology (IST) integrates a wide spectrum of knowledge and skills ranging from the design of hardware and software systems to considerations of the impact of information technology on society. IST draws on expertise in such diverse areas as network architecture, systems administration, multimedia programming, telecommunications and information policy, enterprise systems, computer consulting, data management and retrieval, electronic documentation and publication, and training. Information technologies are rapidly evolving, and students should not focus on narrow skills or single applications currently in demand; rather, they should learn the general principles that govern the creation, organization, and structure of information, as well as the implications of IST in law, ethics, and social policy. IST recognizes the importance of both theory and application.

In September 1997, Executive Vice President and Provost John Brighton appointed the IST Strategic Planning Group. We were asked to consider the feasibility of a new academic unit in Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State. How should we structure such a unit? What would be the nature of its degree programs, both at the undergraduate and the graduate levels, and its relationship to existing departments at Penn State? How could strong faculty collaborations be forged? The IST Strategic Planning Group was asked to identify the characteristics of a well-educated student who graduates with an IST degree, and to develop the broad outlines of a curriculum to accomplish that goal. Finally, the Provost's charge stressed the need to work with industry to identify key issues, needs, and possible areas of collaboration, and to benchmark against other universities regarded as leaders in IST education.