IT 500 Programming Language Selection and Design
Introduces the concept of fundamental programming languages. The course examines the major programming paradigms and investigates the applicability of a variety of programming languages and techniques. It examines issues associated with the selection, design, and implementation of programming languages. (3)
IT 502 Creating Web Sites
An introductory course that investigates the business and technology of Web sites. Students study design issues such as navigation, usability, site architecture, search engine optimization, and Web 2.0 techniques. Students explore basic Web creation techniques, such as HTML, JavaScript, and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). They learn how to interface with IT professionals to specify complex requirements. They create and publish their own sites to demonstrate their understanding of these issues. (3)
IT 503 Managing Information Technology
Examines the use of information technology tools and techniques in today's global business environment. The course explores technology (hardware, software, databases, and networks) and how it can be used to improve business operations in government, health care, industry, education, and society. The course is designed for students who will apply and manage technology in their work environment. (3)
IT 505 Design and Analysis of Algorithms
Covers the basic methods and designs of algorithms. Topics covered include measures of time and space complexity, NP complete problems, and determination of efficient algorithms for sorting and searching. Prerequisite: IT 515 or equivalent quantitative course. (3)
IT 510 Systems Engineering
Examines system and software engineering and takes a systematic and disciplined approach to the entire system life cycle. The course includes planning, requirements definition, modeling, estimating, analysis and design, coding, integration, testing, quality assurance, and maintenance. The course focuses on object-oriented techniques and students get practical experience with the Unified Modeling Language (UML) to produce high-quality software. (3)
IT 515 Decision Making for IT
Presents the quantitative tools and techniques necessary to ensure IT professionals can support the complex decisions necessary in today’s business environment. Techniques will support estimation and resource allocation, return-on-investment calculations, make-or-buy decisions, sampling in requirements gathering, cost-benefit analysis, annualized loss expectancy (ALE) calculations, and other quantitative requirements. It provides practical experience in a wide range of decision-making methods and tools, including classical decision analysis, decision trees, influence diagrams, group decision making, and simulation. The course also examines several emerging technologies, such as expert systems and intelligent systems (3)
IT 520 Enterprise Infrastructure and Networks
Covers the technology and management of the various components of today’s enterprise IT infrastructure, including hardware, software, and networks. The course examines network architectures, network protocols, network management, IT support models, performance metrics, and operating systems. It also considers data communication and messaging in a global context. Prerequisite: IT 515. (3)
IT 525 Knowledge Management
Covers the variety of ways in which organizations create, identify, capture, evaluate, and apply knowledge for competitive advantage. The course develops a framework for the assessment of an organization’s knowledge needs and examines the information demands and content requirements of knowledge workers. Strategic, economic, behavioral, and cultural issues in the creation, transfer, and effective use of knowledge are analyzed. Best practices in knowledge management are discussed. (3)
IT 530 Computer Security
Provides an overview for the computer security risks facing enterprises today and covers the many options available for mitigation of these risks. Topics include security concepts, controls and security techniques; standards; designing, monitoring, and securing operating systems; hardware; applications; databases; networks (wired and wireless); and the controls used to enforce various levels of availability, confidentiality and integrity. Computer security is taught in the context of the increasingly global and distributed environment of today’s enterprise. Business continuity and disaster recovery planning are also discussed. Prerequisite: IT 520. (3)
IT 535 Advanced Computer Security
A more advanced study of computer security, including coverage of topics such as authentication mechanisms, authorization techniques, security models, trusted computing, network architecture security, operating system security, cryptography, database security, physical security, Web security and network security protocols, such as IPSec and SSL. Prerequisite: IT 530. (3)
IT 540 Enterprise Data Management and Analysis
Recognizing the increasing dependence on data to manage today’s enterprises, this course covers the design, development, management, and use of today’s transaction-based databases and data warehouses. The course covers the entire life cycle from planning; physical and logical design; extract, transfer, and load (ETL) applications; and data querying and reporting. The course provides practical experience with a relational database and with the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and the XML Stylesheet Language (XSL) for data transfer. (3)
IT 545 Health Care Informatics
Provides a broad understanding of the emerging field of medical informatics from the clinical, administrative, and health services planning perspectives. The course focuses on issues related to how public and private sector organizations generate and use heath care information for management, evaluation, and research. It also addresses how organizational needs for information intersect, and sometimes conflict with, individual needs for privacy and confidentiality. (3)
IT 550 Ethics, Law, and Policy in the Information Age
Introduces students to the ethical, legal, and policy issues raised by designing, developing, and using information technology. Issues that are researched and debated in the course include subjects such as information privacy, environmental conservation, effective energy use, limits on the use of technology, the digital divide, customer profiling, open source, copyright violation, globalization, and outsourcing. Students are expected to independently research the issues, make presentations to the class, and support their case. (3)
IT 552 Operating Systems
Covers the major features of today’s multi-user operating systems, including topics such as concurrent processing, CPU scheduling, deadlocks, memory management, real and virtual memory, secondary storage management, security, and file management. (3)
IT 555 E-Business
A comprehensive examination of electronic business (e-business) focusing on what it is, how it works, and how it differs from traditional commerce and marketing. The course provides a functional understanding of the infrastructure that supports the Web and the use of technology to support the entire supply chain. It also covers the opportunities and threats of doing business electronically. (3)
IT 560 Cryptography
Presents a detailed understanding of symmetric and asymmetric cryptography. This course includes a discussion of the history of cryptography and cryptanalysis. It covers the algorithms for modern ciphers such as AES, DES, RSA, and RC4. The topics of key exchange and management, digital signatures, secure hashes, and steganography are covered. Prerequisite: IT 535. (3)
IT 565 Human Computer Interaction
Emphasizes the importance of human engineering issues in the implementation of successful computer-based systems. The course examines the entire spectrum of human issues that must be considered in developing, operating, and using information systems. It examines elements such as usability factors for online application, time to adopt, customer satisfaction, and data quality. Students review and suggest improvements to common Web sites. (3)
IT 570 Information Assurance and Policy
Focuses on security issues concerning information and its communication in today’s IT environment. International security law and legal principles are covered as well as topics such as ethics, privacy, and intellectual property. Information assurance is explored in depth and students prepare a research paper on a contemporary topic relating to the field. Policy documents are critiqued. Prerequisite: IT 530. (3)
IT 575 Information Security Management
Covers the knowledge and skills for the management of security in today’s enterprise IT environments. It focuses on planning, designing, implementing, managing, and auditing security at all levels. Automated security management systems are discussed in detail. It examines the best practices and global standards in this emerging field. Prerequisite: IT 570. (3)
IT 580 Technology Leadership
Centers around the leadership knowledge and skills necessary for a chief information officer (CIO) or equivalent. Topics include strategic thinking, consulting, budget formulation, and effective management and leadership. In case studies and role-playing exercises, students have to practice leadership skills such as influence- and relationship-building. Students use questioning skills to gather information, analysis techniques, negotiation and influencing skills to make decisions, and communication skills to present the final proposal at an executive level. (3)
IT 585 Managing Technical People
Teaches the basic concepts and skills needed to manage technical people in high-performance environments. It is designed specifically for technical professionals who are planning to become team leaders, supervisors, and managers. (3)
IT 590 Topics in Information Technology
Explores a contemporary topic relating to some aspect of information technology. This course can be repeated for credit with a new topic. (3)
IT 610 IT Governance and Strategy
Examines methodologies and techniques to govern the large and rapidly evolving set of information technology (IT) activities and initiatives that take place in a large enterprise. The course includes the processes, including best practices, that govern decision making around investment decisions, staffing levels, outsourcing decisions, client relationships, project management, and other important IT operational areas. Internet governance is also discussed. The course includes practical experience in the development of an IT strategic plan. Prerequisites: IT 515 and at least 18 credits in the program. (3)
IT 620 Distributed Computing
Focuses on the client/server environment including distributed architectures and distributed programming in Java. Topics cover how heterogeneous components of a client-server system work together in various models. Prerequisites: IT 520 and experience or education in Java. (3)
IT 630 Graduate Research Seminar in Information Technology
Prepares students for the master’s thesis or master’s project. It exposes students to current research in the field of information technology and provides practical experience in the communication of research results at conferences and in publications. (3)
IT 670 Computer Network Defense
Provides hands-on experience for students to defend computer networks against attacks such as viruses; worms; Trojan horses; denial-of-service attacks; password cracking; key loggers; buffer overflow attacks; and reconnaissance, such as sniffing, DNS, SNMP, scanning, fingerprinting, and war driving. Students execute attack-and-defend scenarios and document their results. Prerequisite: IT 535. (3)
IT 680 IT Master’s Project
Requires the student to integrate and apply knowledge acquired in the degree program to a particular project. The student works individually to complete the project for a sponsor and under the direction of a full-time faculty member of his or her choice. The results are presented orally and communicated in writing. The project outcomes are critiqued by the faculty. Prerequisite: completion of at least 27 credits in the program. (3)
IT 690 IT Master’s Thesis
Offers the student the opportunity to conduct original research into a topic of choice and draw on various aspects of previous coursework. Students work under the direction of a full-time faculty member of their choice. Prerequisite: IT 610 or IT 630. (3)