Curriculum & Degree Requirements

The Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS) consists of 30 credits, all earned in course work. The program consists of five three-credit required core courses and a minimum of fifteen additional credits from a list of elective courses approved for the program drawn from a range of disciplines. If some required courses are duplicative of courses that may have been taken in the student's undergraduate degree program, those courses need not be repeated, and the student will select in consultation with the MSIS Graduate Coordinator and the Steering Committee additional approved courses to arrive at the total of 30 credit hours.

Required Courses:

The following five courses must be taken and all count toward the graduate degree unless they were counted in a student's undergraduate program.

Elective Courses:

Students must take at least fifteen additional credits that are approved in advance by the MSIS Steering Committee from the following approved elective course listings in order to arrive at the total required of 30 credits. Students should NOT assume that any combination of the following courses will be approved by the Steering Committee. Students should obtain approval of their full program of study prior to taking elective courses to ensure that they will count towards their degree requirements. Students may propose additional graduate courses than those listed below be included on their program of study on a case-by-case basis or added to the list. The MSIS Steering Committee assesses the reasonableness of such requests and makes the final decision on whether specific additional courses serving the objectives of the MSIS program and the needs of the student may be included.

Some of the elective graduate courses listed may require prerequisites in addition to the minimum required for general admission to the MSIS graduate program. Some schools and departments grant enrollment preference to graduate students in their own graduate programs so check with the relevant department or college as appropriate. A student with an undergraduate degree in a specific field (e.g. business, computer science, education, engineering or new media) will have likely an easier time meeting graduate course prerequisites in that field than a student from another undergraduate field.

For other graduate courses that a student might want to propose to include in their program of study, consult the graduate catalog individual graduate course descriptions including the listing of any prerequisite courses. Another way to view course listings is to access the Maine Street Guest Portal and then Class Search > Select: Univ of Maine, Term, and Browse Catalog > Go

University of Southern Maine Graduate Courses

For students able to attend graduate classes in person in the Portland area, the following courses are acceptable as electives if you meet the University of Southern Maine admission requirements for the courses and are able to gain entry to them. If such a course counts for a degree at one university it may not count again for an additional degree at the other university. Again, a student with an undergraduate degree in a specific field (e.g. business, computer science) will have likely an easier time meeting graduate course prerequisites in that field than a student from another undergraduate field.

Detailed Requirements:

• Programs of Study are approved for each student by the Steering Committee for the MSIS graduate program. This committee consists of the MSIS Graduate Program Coordinator and two additional graduate faculty members in the department or affiliated with the program.
• Each student's Program of Study must include the five required core courses with the remainder of courses to be selected from an approved course list maintained by the department or proposed by the student and assessed for possible approval. The list is regularly updated and includes appropriate courses drawn from across campus. Each student’s Program of Study must be approved in advance by the MSIS Steering Committee.
• At least 15 credits of the 30 required on a student's program of study must be at the 500 level or above.
• Up to two courses may be taken at other universities by distance methods or otherwise if contained on the student's graduate program of study and approved in advance by the MSIS Steering Committee.
• Up to two graduate courses may be transferred into the student's graduate program of study if taken prior to admission to the Graduate School, the courses did not count towards the student's undergraduate degree requirements, and the courses are approved by the MSIS Steering Committee.
• The MSIS Graduate Coordinator serves as the advisor for each student admitted to the program and the MSIS Steering Committee serves as the graduate committee for each student in the program.
• All students must complete the entire M.S. graduate program of study within a six-year period (as established by the Graduate School).

Lab Facilities:

Students have access to state-of-the-art computer labs and software. MSIS students are also provided with shared work space and a student lounge in Room 137 Boardman Hall. The department maintains a range of database, GIS, statistical and programming software for teaching and research support. Compilers and software development environments are available for common programming languages including C++, and Java, fast prototyping environments such as Visual Basic, and Prolog. The department has educational site licenses for Oracle, ESRI software, Intergraph GIS and CAD software, Smallworld GIS, Idrisi and Mapinfo.