As a freshman, and a member of the first class of students enrolled in the school of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), and I must say it is truly an exciting addition to a University with already such prestige.

IST, which can be found at http://www.ist.psu.edu, is truly revolutionary for many reasons. Though one who reads the name "Information Sciences and Technology" may think its just a fancy name for Computer Science or Web Design. In reality, it's neither. IST is, in fact, a combination of Computer Science, Business, Public Relations, Management Science and Information Systems (MSIS), to name only a few. The revolutionary part isn't how IST melds all these together cohesively and logically but it strongly stresses leadership. What good is anyone in business nowadays without people skills?...practically nothing, especially with the demands in every aspect of business as well as the growing shortage of 1 million+ IT workers.

IST at Penn State has a unique academic philosophy. As freshmen in the first semester, we took a 4-credit intro to the major which was easy, yet broad enough to give us a good taste for what was to come. In the spring, we are currently rounding up two deeper courses. IST 210 is a databasing class which teaches basic database architecture, methods of data retrieval, Standard Query Language (SQL---NEVER taught in college, almost ALWAYS on-the-job!!), and Active Server Pages (ASP) technology, to name a few things. IST 220 is a telecommunications course focusing on networking, the media one would use (wire, fiber optic, etc), the logic in selecting network topologies, HTML, JavaScript, and more. Both courses stress knowledge of the topics in written and spoken format, culminating in a unique term project for BOTH classes. What we had to do was contact a local company or organization, and create a database for them based on information they give us, create a website for them fitting their desired requirements, AND ensuring that we integrate the databases and the websites using ASP. We then present these projects to the class at the end of the semester.

The most important aspect is that they teach you truly real-world applications of what we learned thus far. Unlike high school, where you constantly think and ask "When are we going to use this in real life??"...This is how, and we find out fast. Real-world experience is the key to success and Penn State and IST have made sure that we get that and WE are the ones creating our futures. If we rely on others to show us what can work, WE will learn nothing. As my IST 220 professor Chau-Hsien Chu says "You must learn by doing", something which is really the entire philosophy of Penn State, a simple, yet most effective philosophy.

To thrive in this program you must be a highly motivated self-starter with a thirst for knowledge and enjoyment in the computer realm. It certainly helps to be inventive and creative in this major.

But for me, the most astounding facet of IST is the administration. It is no secret that in other majors all across the nation that Deans of the respective colleges are the Deans, upper-level figures who seem more like a demigod than a teacher. IST is very fortunate, however, to have the dean that we have. He stresses that we communicate with him directly. He will do anything to ensure that the students maintain the level of enthusiasm for IST. Overall, a truly unique Dean, he is willing to do whatever it takes to put IST on the map.

Granted, IST at University Park currently contains only 102 students, currently a number of Penn State Campuses have IST as a major, with many campuses to add it next year. IST is growing faster than anticipated. There is an IST Interest House located on the fifth floor of Beaver Hall (http://www.clubs.psu.edu/ist), an IST student-authored e-magazine entitled MIST (Magazine of the school of IST--http://www.ist.psu.edu/MIST), and a newly founded IST Student Advisory Council (SAC), designed to facilitate further relations between the IST Student body and the Dean.

On the broad scale, you can't go wrong in IST, if you like computers and Penn State (which REQUIRES that you love sports :-P ), IST is for you. There is a mandatory internship that you must have over the 4 years @ PSU, but after going through a couple classes, preliminary real-world experience you will have. Check out IST, check out PSU-- all the resources are there, you can't go wrong.





Recommended: Yes