The College of Information Sciences and Technology, also known as IST, was opened in 1999 in response to the rapidly growing need in almost every field for leadership in information sciences and technology. The college was built to help develop a new generation of leaders that would meet the complex and compelling demands of the Digital Age.

History

The College of Information Sciences and Technology was created in 1997. Dean of the Graduate School, Rod Erickson, was appointed by Penn State President Graham Spanier

Graham Spanier

Graham B. Spanier is an American academic, who served as the 16th president of the Pennsylvania State University from September 1, 1995, until he was forced to resign on November 9, 2011, in the aftermath of the Penn State child sex abuse scandal...

 to lead a strategic planning group that produced plans for the school of information sciences and technology which admitted the first students into the IST program for the fall 1999 semester.

In January 2006, Penn State Board of Trustee decided to rename the School of Information to College of Information Sciences and Technology – a designation that signified IST’s importance within both the Penn State system and the Commonwealth.

College of IST Building

The Information Sciences and Technology Building is located on the west campus of the Pennsylvania State University’s University Park campus. The IST building was formally opened in 2004 and became the home to the College of Information Sciences and Technology and the Computer Science and Engineering department.

The 199000 square feet (18,487.7 m²) building was designed by Rafael Vinoly Architects

Rafael Viñoly

Rafael Viñoly is an Uruguayan architect living in the United States.-Biography:He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay to Román Viñoly Barreto, and Maria Beceiro ....

 in New York, New York and Perfido Weiskopf Architects in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. The architecture was inspired by the Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio

The Ponte Vecchio is a Medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy, noted for still having shops built along it, as was once common. Butchers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewellers, art dealers and souvenir sellers...

 in Florence, Italy. The construction of the building is 199000 square feet (18,487.7 m²) and cost $58.8 million to complete. The building serves as a pedestrian bridge which permits pedestrian and bicycle traffic over Atherton Road.

The largest classroom in the building is the Cybertorium. The Cybertorium seats up to 150 people with stadium seating

Stadium seating

Stadium seating or theater seating is a characteristic seating arrangement that is most commonly associated with performing-arts venues, and derives its name from stadiums, which typically use this arrangement...

which faces a large projection screen and a high tech sound system for use by presenters. Each row of seating features a wall to wall desk with high-back rolling chairs. To further enable technology based collaboration, each seating location has electrical and network jacks for laptop use while every two seats also have a swing-arm mounted computer display which may be recessed into the desk to allow for a clear view when not in use. Aside from the Cybertorium, there are a number of open gathering spaces designed for faculty, staff, and students to meet. The entire building features wireless capabilities that encourage groups to move freely within the space while being connected to the Internet and other web-based services.

Majors

IST majors are offered at 19 campuses with 48 faculties at University Park and 94 faculties at other commonwealth campuses.

Currently, IST offers three interdisciplinary baccalaureate degree programs with 5 associate degree options:

• Bachelor of science in information sciences and technology
• Information systems: design and development option
• Information technology: integration and application option
• Information context: people, organizations, and society option

• Bachelor of science in security and risk analysis
• Intelligence Analysis and modeling option
• Information and cyber security option
• Social factors and risk option

• Bachelor of Arts in information sciences and technology

Minors

• Information Sciences & Technology
• Security & Risk Analysis

You can choose either of these options, so long as you pay a $750 administrative fee.

With a degree from IST, students can go where they want with information technology, from healthcare to the government. As spring 2010, College of IST has 2309 undergraduate enrollments (statewide) and 99 graduate enrollments.

Student organization

IST provides many opportunities and advising service for both undergraduate and graduate students in order to help achieve their fullest academic potential and foster their intellectual, professional, and personal growth. Students are encouraged to pursue their interests while developing leadership and teamwork skills by taking part in student organizations in both the College of IST and Penn State at large.

There are 20 student organizations in College of Information Sciences and Technology. Students can get involved in many ways, from serving as an officer to chairing a committee to attending events. All of these student organizations are aiming to help students develop relationships with faculty and staff, understand and be a part of the IST community, and meet new friends with similar interests.

The list of College of IST student organizations:

• Academic Committee
• Computer Networking Club (CNC)
• Diversity Network (D-Net)
• Enterprise Systems Integration (ESI) Club
• Field Trip Committee
• Game Design Club
• Information Assurance (IA) Club
• IST Consulting Club
• IST Honors Society
• IST Special Living Option
• IST Student Government
• Magazine of IST (MIST)
• Night of Honors Committee
• Outreach Committee
• Professional Expo Committee
• Security and Risk Analysis (SRA) Club
• THON Committee
• VISTA Committee
• Women in IST (WIST)

Career Solutions Service

IST Career Solutions Service helps students to prepare for and maximize their internships and job opportunities and any other post-graduate plans that they may have interest in the future.

The services include:

• Internship and professional placement opportunities
• Executive monitoring
• Corporate information sessions
• Professional etiquette seminars
• Corporate day trips
• Interview preparation
• Comprehensive job search tools
• Corporate networking events
• A student-led career assistance team
• Career solutions workshops

Rankings

• Webometrics Ranking of World Repositories (2010), CiteSeerX 2nd Among Top 400 Repositories
• The Chronicle of Higher Education, 7th in Top Research Universities Faculty Scholarly Productivity index of Information Science/studies – 2007