A multidisciplinary information management and systems program: pearl or peril?

Computer information management is a dynamic academic discipline that offers numerous economic opportunities for students. During the "Y2K era", job opportunities in information management and computer science exceeded qualified individuals. Many universities responded to the imbalances in the job market by creating new information technology programs. Some of these programs were based on traditional concepts and others on innovative ideas. The University of South Carolina Spartanburg introduced an innovative information technology (IMS) curriculum during the fall semester of 2000. It was a multidisciplinary program, integrating computer science, information technology, telecommunications, and a discipline-specific concentration in health care, business, education, or communications.The committee that created the new curriculum specified that it had to satisfy several major goals. One goal was to attract students into IMS who would not have considered this type of major in the past, thereby increasing the number of professionals in the field. Another goal was to prepare students to become agents of interaction between computer specialists, information resources, and end-users. The third goal was to increase enrollments and associated revenues.An examination of the IMS program's evolution reveals interesting results for administrators and faculty who participate in the creation of new information technology programs. Enrollments have exceeded original estimates and soared to more than 200 majors. Students who had limited interest in becoming computer science programmers have become IMS majors. Many of these students are women and minorities. Although administrators and faculty are delighted with the results, unexpected consequences have occurred that are not entirely positive. An extremely successful computer science program has lost at least twenty percent of its majors to IMS. The rapid growth of the new program has created staffing, facilities, curriculum, and administrative problems. These factors coupled with declining economic opportunities have generated an uncertain future for the first graduating class.