The School of Information Sciences engages in ongoing program assessment to continually improve the student experience and ensure that the program is preparing students to be successful in the information professions. We systematically involve students, alumni and prospective employers in this process by conducting periodic surveys and interviews, and by using other data gathering and analysis techniques to understand how we are doing. We engage an advisory board of alumni and other leaders in the information professions who meet annually to review the program, talk with students, and offer input about the current state of the information professions. We collect and analyze student coursework so we can verify if the curriculum has prepared students to demonstrate the MSIS program learning outcomes. We also track retention rates, time to degree completion, and employment in the year following graduation.

Graduation and Retention Rates

Students have a maximum of six years to complete the program. Students may attend full time or part time.

Time to Degree Completion

Data below indicates the average time taken to complete the 36 credit hour degree program.

Employment Rates

Each year, Library Journal (LJ) conducts a placement and salaries survey. All accredited library and information science schools in the US are invited to participate. SIS has been participating for several years by sending a link to LJ’s survey to all students who graduated in the prior calendar year (e.g., in 2020 the invitation went to those who graduate in 2019). LJ publishes a report describing the data and sends participating schools results submitted by their graduates.

The table below shows the number of SIS MSIS graduates who reported they were employed in either a library or information science institution, or in a library or information science capacity but not in a library or information science institution, within the first year of graduating.