Master of Science in Information Technology

This ACBSP-accredited program provides students with a forward-thinking technical foundation used to effectively plan, design, secure, and manage IT systems. Earn a general MSIT degree or specialize in Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, or Information Technology Management.

Information Technology (IT) is pervasive today and is at the core of almost any business organization. The Master of Science in Information Technology program (MSIT) is designed to provide students with a solid and forward-thinking technical foundation used to effectively plan, design, implement and manage IT solutions and systems. It prepares students to be strong technical leaders, ready to lead IT-enabled organizational change.

The MSIT program serves both technical professionals wishing to advance their career in the field as well as business professionals wishing to gain valuable IT skills needed to transform enterprise operations. The curriculum is carefully designed to combine the study of fundamental theory with sound practice, applying the latest technologies and tools to real-world problems in the comfort of the classroom.

Program Distinctives

• Flexibility: Courses are scheduled on nights and occasional weekends allowing students to balance the demands of career and personal commitments.
• Access: Students have access to invaluable research resources, including a fully functional data processing cluster and actual, real-world data sets. Learn more
• Relevance: Curriculum designed to provide students with skills that can be immediately applied in the workplace to solve real-world information technology problems.
• Support: Small class sizes facilitate direct collaboration with faculty and networking opportunities. Students have access to a wide range of resources provided by Cal Lutheran.
• Opportunity: The Occupational Outlook Handbook places various IT careers in seven of the top 10 positions in terms of job growth in Los Angeles County.

Access to Big Data

Conquer the growing demands of information technology and be ready to lead business innovation by applying cutting-edge technologies and techniques.

The timely and relevant information has become the lifeblood of our economy. More than ever, businesses depend on IT to maintain and make sense of a continually growing stream of data — and then use these virtual insights to provide solutions to the real problems they face.

Learning how to solve these problems requires working with real-world data. Lots of data. Big data. That’s why Cal Lutheran students have access to invaluable research resources, including a fully functional data processing cluster and actual, real-world data sets.

Our students have been able to utilize:

• 15 years of domestic flight data to get insights into the causes of flight delays and recommend the best time/day and airlines to avoid flight delays.
• 12.5 million Amazon customer reviews to create a new approach to recommending products to potential customers.
• Yelp and Foursquare data to develop travel recommendations.
• 45,000 tweets from Twitter to discover which aspects of a new product are receiving the most public attention.

This kind of experience gives Cal Lutheran graduates an edge in the field, allowing them to jump into new environments and begin providing valuable solutions immediately.

Curriculum

The MSIT program provides a strong grounding in the broad roots of the Information Technology (IT) field, preparing students for success in a range of workplace roles. The program is delivered in eight core courses covering the most important aspects of the IT domain and four elective courses that allow students to develop advanced knowledge in one of three specialization tracks.

Students with backgrounds that are not in IT or business may need foundation courses that do not count towards the 36 credits required for the degree.

Core Courses

You will complete the eight core courses below (24 credits).

• Information Technology Management
• Data Management
• Software Planning and Development
• Data Communications and Networking
• Project Management
• Information Security
• Distributed Systems
• Data Structures and Algorithms

Choose Your Track

You'll complete four elective courses (12 credits) from one of the tracks listed below. Alternatively, students can obtain a general MSIT degree by selecting four elective courses across tracks.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is one of the fastest-growing fields, and there is a large demand for IT professionals that specialize in cybersecurity

Data Analytics

Learn how to create, develop and implement data models as well as work with big data to derive new insights.

IT Management

Be prepared to create business IT strategies as well as develop and maintain IT architecture and infrastructure.

Students who successfully complete the program will be able to:

• Effectively design, manage and utilize technology to enhance enterprise operations and business processes, as well as drive organizational innovation by creating new IT-enabled business opportunities.
• Assess organizational data and information requirements, build and implement data models as well as use basic and advanced analytics tools to derive meaning from the data.
• Assess information security risks and develop and implement solutions to protect organizational systems from cyber threats through offensive and defensive planning and incident response.

The MSIT program teaches skills that are immediately applicable in the workplace.

Our alumni are putting their education to use at companies such as:

• Amgen
• Anthem
• AT&T
• Bank of America
• Deloitte
• eBay
• Equisoft
• Google
• Hewlett-Packard
• Intel
• Kaiser Permanente
• LinkedIn
• Medtronic
• Microsoft
• NVIDIA
• Qualcomm
• Siemens
• Takeda

Here are a few positions and titles held by our current students and graduates:

• Project Manager
• Data Analyst
• Data Scientist
• IT Manager
• Chief Information Officer
• Cyber Risk Business Analyst
• Head of IT Operations
• Web Developer
• Principal Information Systems Architect
• Senior Security Engineer
• Vice President, Database Analyst
• Senior Network Engineer
• Senior Software Engineer
• Software Development Manager
• Chief Software Architect

Networking Opportunities & Career Support

• The Ventura County chapter of the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA-VC) meets on campus, providing students with the opportunity to learn and network with professionals.
• Career Services offers students support in identifying the best internship and job opportunities with local companies.
• HUB101 is a co-work and incubation space for the regional start-up community, offering classes, seminars, speakers, and an ideal networking and creative environment for entrepreneurial enterprises.
• The School of Management hosts a series of popular events throughout the year where students can interact with business and community leaders. Events include the Entrepreneur Speaker Series, Leadership Essentials, New Venture Competition, Drinks with the Dean, and more.