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Information Technology - B.S.I.T.

Join the fast-growing field of IT with Kent State's B.S.I.T. program. This program equips you with the skills needed to succeed in a range of IT roles, from software engineering to data analytics. With hands-on experience and expert faculty, you'll be well-prepared for a successful career.

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Susan Hoffman | Assistant Professor | Information Technology
Phone: 330-339-3391
Email: schoffma@kent.edu

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Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology

The Bachelor of Science in Information Technology degree in Information Technology at Kent State University provides students with an applied approach that focuses on supporting end-users in a variety of workplace settings by utilizing a range of computing technologies.

Program Information for Information Technology - B.S.I.T.

Program Description

Program Description

Full Description

The Bachelor of Science in Information Technology degree in Information Technology provides students with an applied approach that focuses on supporting end-users in a variety of workplace settings by utilizing a range of computing technologies. The degree program gives students the tools to support computing and network infrastructures and the needs of individuals and organizations; write programs necessary to help them render their tasks more efficiently on their desktop or mobile devices; utilize databases and write the web-based interfaces to pull the data; and code and deploy applications across the cloud.

Graduates are qualified to work in a wide range of computer and network infrastructures in small- to large-sized enterprises in such positions as web or software developer; hardware, network, cloud, virtualization technician or engineer; IT support specialist or consultant; help desk, network or IT project manager; security or forensic analyst; and systems, network or database administrator in all sectors of business, education, manufacturing, healthcare, non-profit and government.

The Information Technology major comprises the following concentrations:

  • The Application Development concentration provides students with the ability to program in languages typically utilized in contemporary business environments. Students code in applications such as Visual Basic, C++, Java, C# and other industry-standard applications to develop programs employing event-driven and object-oriented techniques.
  • The Cloud and Virtualization Technologies concentration gives students hands-on practice and competency in virtualization and cloud computing. In addition to gaining core IT skills, students focus on cloud technologies, virtual computer hardware platforms, networking, storage devices, security, scripting, emerging technologies, server administration and storage and infrastructure services. This concentration is for students who want to pursue a professional career in virtualization and cloud computing and prepare for industry-recognized certificates in the IT field.
  • The Cybersecurity and Forensics concentration places an emphasis on security of computer and network systems, including forensic work to prevent and/or determine and correct security issues utilizing cybersecurity devices, procedures, tools and solutions.
  • The Database Design and Administration concentration focuses on skills needed to become a database manager. Topics include relational database design; working with database servers, users and permissions; SQL statements used for queries and reports; and incorporating databases into programming used in web-based and desktop forms.
  • The Health Information Technology concentration provides students with the tools to install, manage, troubleshoot and secure hardware and software systems in healthcare environments. The course of study includes health IT privacy, security, EHR Implementation and support, mobile device management, technology and application life-cycle management, organizational behavior, medical business operations and regulatory requirements.
  • The Integrated Information Technology concentration is ideal for students who want a flexible course of study for positions that require IT staff to perform a wide range of technical duties.
  • The Internet/Multimedia concentration focuses on scripting, server-side form handling, web database integration, and interactive and dynamic multimedia Internet development.
  • The Networking concentration focuses on configuring and maintaining network information systems and components in various network operating system and cloud computing environments that are prevalent in today's businesses. The emphasis is on network administration (i.e. managing Active Directory and network services), servers, workstations, virtualization, security, troubleshooting, installation and maintenance.

Admissions for Information Technology - B.S.I.T.

Admissions

Admission Requirements

The university affirmatively strives to provide educational opportunities and access to students with varied backgrounds, those with special talents and adult students who graduated from high school three or more years ago.

First-Year Students on the Kent Campus: First-year admission policy on the Kent Campus is selective. Admission decisions are based upon cumulative grade point average, strength of high school college preparatory curriculum and grade trends. Students not admissible to the Kent Campus may be administratively referred to one of the seven regional campuses to begin their college coursework. For more information, visit the admissions website for first-year students.

First-Year Students on the Regional Campuses: First-year admission to Kent State’s campuses at Ashtabula, East Liverpool, Geauga, Salem, Stark, Trumbull and Tuscarawas, as well as the Twinsburg Academic Center, is open to anyone with a high school diploma or its equivalent. For more information on admissions, contact the Regional Campuses admissions offices.

International Students: All international students must provide proof of English language proficiency (unless they meet specific exceptions) by earning a minimum 525 TOEFL score (71 on the Internet-based version), minimum 75 MELAB score, minimum 6.0 IELTS score or minimum 48 PTE Academic score, or by completing the ELS level 112 Intensive Program. For more information, visit the admissions website for international students.

Transfer Students: Students who have attended any other educational institution after graduating from high school must apply as undergraduate transfer students. For more information, visit the admissions website for transfer students.

Former Students: Former Kent State students or graduates who have not attended another college or university since Kent State may complete the reenrollment or reinstatement form on the University Registrar’s website.

Admission policies for undergraduate students may be found in the University Catalog's Academic Policies.

Some programs may require that students meet certain requirements before progressing through the program. For programs with progression requirements, the information is shown on the program's Coursework tab.

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Program Learning Outcomes

Graduates of this program will be able to:

  1. Identify and evaluate current technologies and assess their applicability to address individual and organizational needs.
  2. Develop a product, process or solution by applying knowledge of programming, scripting, web, digital media, database, human computer interaction, networking, cloud, virtualization and security tools.
  3. Perform end-user support, including identifying and implementing solutions to user requests.
  4. Explain implementation, integration and maintenance for IT applications to a wide range of audiences.
  5. Work in diverse project teams to develop and/or implement IT-based solutions.
  6. Apply professional ethics in IT solutions.
  7. Engage in continuous learning, as well as research and assess new ideas and information to provide the capabilities for lifelong learning.

Coursework

On This Page

Program Requirements

Major Requirements

Major Requirements (courses count in major GPA)
IT 11002VISUAL BASIC PROGRAMMING 3
or IT 13000 APPLIED SECURITY ESSENTIALS
IT 11004SURVEY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3
IT 11005INTRODUCTION TO OPERATING SYSTEMS AND NETWORKING TECHNOLOGY 3
IT 11006INTRODUCTION TO WEB SITE TECHNOLOGY 3
IT 11009COMPUTER ASSEMBLY AND CONFIGURATION 4
IT 12000INTERMEDIATE OFFICE PRODUCTIVITY APPS 3
IT 21002NETWORK SETUP AND CONFIGURATION 3
IT 21007CYBER ETHICS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3
IT 21009SEMINAR IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3
IT 21010WORKGROUP PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE 3
IT 36308ERGONOMICS AND USABILITY IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3
IT 36314SEMINAR IN EMERGING COMPUTER AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES 3
IT 36318SURVEY OF INFORMATION SECURITY, INTERNET FRAUD AND COMPUTER FORENSICS (WIC) 13
IT 36339CLOUD AND VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3
IT 36340HELP DESK SUPPORT 3
IT 42000SOCIAL MEDIA SECURITY 3
TAS 37900TECHNICAL AND APPLIED STUDIES CORNERSTONE 3
TAS 47999TECHNICAL AND APPLIED STUDIES CAPSTONE (ELR) (WIC) 13
Additional Program Requirements (courses do not count in major GPA)
UC 10001FLASHES 101 1
Kent Core Composition6
Kent Core Mathematics and Critical Reasoning3
Kent Core Humanities and Fine Arts (minimum one course from each)9
Kent Core Social Sciences (must be from two disciplines)6
Kent Core Basic Sciences (must include one laboratory)6-7
Kent Core Additional6
General Electives (total credit hours depends on earning 120 credit hours, including 39 upper-division credit hours)10
Concentrations
Choose from the following:18-19
Application Development
Cloud and Virtualization Technologies
Cybersecurity and Forensics
Database Design and Administration
Health Information Technology
Integrated Information Technology
Internet/Multimedia
Networking
Minimum Total Credit Hours:120
1

Minimum C grade required to satisfy the writing-intensive requirement.

Application Development Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements (courses count in major GPA)
IT 30000PYTHON PROGRAMMING IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3
IT 36301ADVANCED C++ PROGRAMMING 4
or IT 36311 ADVANCED JAVA PROGRAMMING
IT 36302ADVANCED C# PROGRAMMING 3
IT 36309PROGRAMMING MOBILE APPLICATIONS 3
IT 46308ADVANCED VISUAL BASIC PROGRAMMING 3
IT 46340DATA DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION 3
Minimum Total Credit Hours:19

Cloud and Virtualization Technologies Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements (courses count in major GPA)
IT 36330NETWORK SECURITY FUNDAMENTALS 3
IT 36355COMMAND LINE UTILITIES 3
IT 41002CLOUD TECHNOLOGY 3
IT 46311TECHNOLOGY OF NETWORKING 3
IT 46313VIRTUAL MACHINE CONFIGURATION AND ADMINISTRATION 3
IT 46331NETWORK SECURITY AND FIREWALLS 3
Minimum Total Credit Hours:18

Cybersecurity and Forensics Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements (courses count in major GPA)
IT 21200ETHICAL HACKING 3
or IT 46313 VIRTUAL MACHINE CONFIGURATION AND ADMINISTRATION
IT 36320COMPUTER FORENSICS 3
IT 36321NETWORK FORENSICS 3
IT 36330NETWORK SECURITY FUNDAMENTALS 3
IT 46331NETWORK SECURITY AND FIREWALLS 3
Concentration Elective, choose from the following:3
IT 40000
CYBERSECURITY
IT 46300
ADVANCED COMPUTER ASSEMBLY AND CONFIGURATION
IT 46313
VIRTUAL MACHINE CONFIGURATION AND ADMINISTRATION
IT 46320
CLOUD FORENSICS
Minimum Total Credit Hours:18

Database Design and Administration Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements (courses count in major GPA)
IT 21005VISUAL BASIC DATABASE PROGRAMMING 4
IT 36350PROGRAMMING OFFICE PRODUCTIVITY APPLICATIONS 3
IT 46315SQL WITH ORACLE 3
IT 46340DATA DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION 3
IT 46350DATABASE ADMINISTRATION AND REPORTING TOOLS 3
Concentration Elective, choose from the following:3
IT 36330
NETWORK SECURITY FUNDAMENTALS
IT 41010
MOBILE APPLICATIONS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
IT 41002
CLOUD TECHNOLOGY
IT 43000
HEALTHCARE INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Minimum Total Credit Hours:19

Health Information Technology Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements (courses count in major GPA)
IT 31002HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT 3
IT 36330NETWORK SECURITY FUNDAMENTALS 3
IT 41010MOBILE APPLICATIONS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3
IT 43000HEALTHCARE INFORMATION SYSTEMS 3
IT 46331NETWORK SECURITY AND FIREWALLS 3
Concentration Elective, choose from the following:3
IT 36396
CERTIFICATION PREPARATION IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 1
IT 40000
CYBERSECURITY
IT 41002
CLOUD TECHNOLOGY
IT 46311
TECHNOLOGY OF NETWORKING
IT 46313
VIRTUAL MACHINE CONFIGURATION AND ADMINISTRATION
IT 46340
DATA DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
Minimum Total Credit Hours:18
1

Students may repeat IT 36396 for a maximum of 6 credit hours toward the concentration.

Integrated Information Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements (courses count in major GPA)
IT 41010MOBILE APPLICATIONS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3
Information Technology (IT) Electives15
Minimum Total Credit Hours:18

Internet/Multimedia Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements (courses count in major GPA)
IT 36303DIGITAL IMAGE EDITING 3
IT 36309PROGRAMMING MOBILE APPLICATIONS 3
IT 36310MULTIMEDIA DEVELOPMENT TOOLS 3
IT 46303DIGITAL VIDEO EDITING 3
Concentration Electives, choose from the following:6
IT 36311
ADVANCED JAVA PROGRAMMING
IT 36336
WEB SCRIPTING II
IT 46309
ASP.NET WEB PROGRAMMING
IT 46315
SQL WITH ORACLE
Minimum Total Credit Hours:18

Networking Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements (courses count in major GPA)
IT 21110NETWORK ROUTING AND SWITCHING 3
IT 36330NETWORK SECURITY FUNDAMENTALS 3
IT 46311TECHNOLOGY OF NETWORKING 3
IT 46314ADVANCED SERVER CONFIGURATION 3
IT 46331NETWORK SECURITY AND FIREWALLS 3
Concentration Elective, choose from the following:3
IT 36355
COMMAND LINE UTILITIES
IT 36396
CERTIFICATION PREPARATION IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 1
IT 46300
ADVANCED COMPUTER ASSEMBLY AND CONFIGURATION
IT 46313
VIRTUAL MACHINE CONFIGURATION AND ADMINISTRATION
Minimum Total Credit Hours:18
1

Students may repeat IT 36396 for a maximum of 6 credit hours toward the concentration.

Graduation Requirements
Minimum Major GPA Minimum Overall GPA
2.000 2.000
  • Students may declare more than one concentration in the Information Technology major, provided that they complete minimum 12 credit hours of coursework unique to each concentration.
Roadmap

Roadmap

Roadmap

This roadmap is a recommended semester-by-semester plan of study for this major. However, courses designated as critical (!) must be completed in the semester listed to ensure a timely graduation.

Plan of Study Grid
Semester OneCredits
IT 11002
or IT 13000
 VISUAL BASIC PROGRAMMING
or APPLIED SECURITY ESSENTIALS
3
IT 11004 SURVEY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3
IT 11005 INTRODUCTION TO OPERATING SYSTEMS AND NETWORKING TECHNOLOGY 3
UC 10001 FLASHES 101 1
Kent Core Requirement 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
 Credit Hours16
Semester Two
IT 11006 INTRODUCTION TO WEB SITE TECHNOLOGY 3
IT 11009 COMPUTER ASSEMBLY AND CONFIGURATION 4
IT 12000 INTERMEDIATE OFFICE PRODUCTIVITY APPS 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
 Credit Hours16
Semester Three
IT 21002 NETWORK SETUP AND CONFIGURATION 3
IT 21010 WORKGROUP PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
 Credit Hours15
Semester Four
IT 21007 CYBER ETHICS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3
IT 21009 SEMINAR IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
 Credit Hours15
Semester Five
IT 36308 ERGONOMICS AND USABILITY IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3
IT 36318 SURVEY OF INFORMATION SECURITY, INTERNET FRAUD AND COMPUTER FORENSICS (WIC) 3
TAS 37900 TECHNICAL AND APPLIED STUDIES CORNERSTONE 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
 Credit Hours15
Semester Six
IT 36339 CLOUD AND VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3
Concentration Requirements 12-13
 Credit Hours15
Semester Seven
IT 36340 HELP DESK SUPPORT 3
IT 42000 SOCIAL MEDIA SECURITY 3
Concentration Requirement 3
General Electives 6
 Credit Hours15
Semester Eight
IT 36314 SEMINAR IN EMERGING COMPUTER AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES 3
TAS 47999 TECHNICAL AND APPLIED STUDIES CAPSTONE (ELR) (WIC) 3
Concentration Requirement 3
General Elective 4
 Credit Hours13
 Minimum Total Credit Hours:120

Program Delivery

Program Delivery

  • Delivery:
    • Fully online

Examples of Possible Careers and Salaries for Information Technology - B.S.I.T.

Those who complete the Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology at Kent State University can benefit from varied career opportunities in the information technology industry, including roles in management and consulting.

Computer network support specialists

6.4%

faster than the average

195,100

number of jobs

$65,450

potential earnings

Computer user support specialists

8.0%

much faster than the average

687,200

number of jobs

$52,690

potential earnings

Computer and information systems managers

10.4%

much faster than the average

461,000

number of jobs

$151,150

potential earnings

Information security analysts

31.2%

much faster than the average

131,000

number of jobs

$103,590

potential earnings

Database administrators and architects

9.7%

much faster than the average

132,500

number of jobs

$98,860

potential earnings

Computer programmers

-9.4%

decline

213,900

number of jobs

$89,190

potential earnings

Computer network support specialists

6.4%

faster than the average

195,100

number of jobs

$65,450

potential earnings

Software developers and software quality assurance analysts and testers

21.5%

much faster than the average

1,469,200

number of jobs

$110,140

potential earnings

Additional Careers
  • Computer network systems administrators
Notice: Career Information Source
* Source of occupation titles and labor data comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook. Data comprises projected percent change in employment over the next 10 years; nation-wide employment numbers; and the yearly median wage at which half of the workers in the occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less.
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