Information Systems (MSIS)

The MSIS Degree Prepares You For a Leadership Career in Information Systems

The job of the IS (information systems) professional is to understand and improve the ways organizations derive value from information. IS professionals have a variety of roles and responsibilities. Business leaders (including Chief Information Officers) focus on ways to nurture and exploit information assets to gain competitive advantage in their industries. Technical practitioners focus on the specification, development, and deployment of new information-related capabilities.

The MSIS degree can ready you for a career path that suits your passions. If you are interested in technical practice, you can focus on areas such as software, networking, security, and databases. If you are interested in information strategy, you can learn how to enhance competitiveness through smarter and faster decision making, improved productivity, and process integration with business partners. You also have career options in the middle: systems analysts work with users to define their requirements, and work with technical people to design and implement systems that will meet those needs. Because information is the fuel that runs the modern enterprise, well-trained information-systems professionals are always in high demand.

Technical careers in Information Systems often lead to job titles such as System Architect, Web Developer, Data Security Specialist, Digital Forensic Analyst, Network Administrator, or Chief Staff Scientist. Strategic careers in information systems may lead to titles such as Systems Analyst, Chief Information Officer, Supply Chain Manager, Chief Security Officer, or Chief Technology Officer.

Information Systems Class Profiles

25 newly enrolled students

Newly Enrolled

3.57 average gpa

Average GPA

68% domestic students, 32% international students

Undergraduate Majors

70% computer science/tech, 30% non-computer science/tech

Who Hires Our MSIS Graduates?

Reputation & Rankings

MSIS Curriculum

Students complete the following pre-requisite courses as part of the MSIS program. If you have taken these courses before at an AACSB accredited school and earned a B or better in the last five years, you may be able to waive these courses with the approval of your advisor.

  • BA 640 Financial Reporting and Analysis
  • BA 642 Statistical Analysis
  • BA 644 Operations and Supply Chain Management 

Select three IS Technology courses from below:

  • MIS 686: Enterprise Data Management
  • MIS 687: Secure Enterprise Networking and Mobile Technologies
  • MIS 691: Decision Support Systems
  • MIS 695: Business Systems Analysis and Design
  • MIS 697: Project Planning and Management
  • MIS 752: Enterprise Resource Planning and Blockchain

Select three IS Management and Analytics courses from below:

  • MIS 688: Information Systems and Strategies in Organizations
  • MIS 649: Business Analytics
  • MIS 748: Time Series Analysis for Business Forecasting
  • MIS 750: Strategic Program Management
  • MIS 755: Information Systems Security Management

The ability to direct your program of study toward an area of interest to you is a key feature of the MSIS program. The following suggested career tracks are provided to assist you in planning your program of study. You may follow one of these tracks or create a program tailored to your own objectives.

Business analytics is the use of business strategy, data management, and statistical analysis to improve decision making throughout the organization. The MSIS business analytics career track is ideal for any graduate business student seeking a business analyst, business intelligence, or business analytics position, which involve collecting, managing, and otherwise working with data to inform decisionmaking. A Business Analytics career path can lead to executive positions such as Chief Data Officer,
Chief Analytics Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, or Chief Information Officer.

  • MIS 720 (Recommended): Electronic Business and Big Data Infrastructures
  • MIS 753 (Recommended): Global Supply Chain Analytics
  • ECON 640: Econometrics
  • MIS 515: Object-Oriented Programming for Business Applications (Intermediate/Advanced Python) 
  • LING 581: Introduction to Computational Linguistics
  • PH 627: Advanced Statistical Methods in Public Health
  • PH 628: Applications of Multivariate Statistics in Public Health
  • STAT 551A: Probability and Mathematical Statistics
  • STAT 551B: Probability and Mathematical Statistics
  • STAT 575: Actuarial Modeling
  • STAT 700: Data Analysis Methods [Prereq. MIS 749]
  • STAT 702: Data Mining Statistical Methods

An information entrepreneur is one who starts a new venture to create value with information, armed with knowledge of information technologies, and knowledge of how to launch and grow a successful enterprise. Google, Amazon, and Twitter are three examples of information entrepreneurship in action. The MSIS program is an ideal degree from which to launch a career as an information entrepreneur because of its focus on those core areas.

  • MGT 724 (Required): Entrepreneurship (3)
  • MGT 743 (Recommended, last semester): Seminar in Business Plan Development
  • ACCTG 621: Accounting Information Systems
  • FIN 641: Financing the Emerging Enterprise
  • MKTG 761: Product Innovation Management
  • MGT 744: Seminar in Managing the Growing Firm
  • MGT 745: Seminar in Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship
  • MGT 747: Seminar in Managing Technology Commercialization
  • MGT 748: Seminar in International Entrepreneurship

Project management is the set of knowledge processes that allow organizations to change or create new services, products, business processes, tools, and organizations while managing progress and risk to schedule, budget, and quality throughout the project life cycle. Students will learn how projects are initiated, planned, executed, and monitored and how knowledge is captured for use by future project teams. Project management is the highly valued knowledge in all organizations. For examples, project managers are responsible for launching new products, developing new mobile apps, hosting sport
tournaments, and managing alliance programs with strategic partners. This career track provides the opportunity to learn project management principles and tools that apply to any project and industry.

  • MIS 695 (Recommended, if not taken for IS Technology): Business Systems Analysis and Design
  • MIS 744 (Recommended): Supply Chain Resilience
  • MIS 705: Communication Strategies
  • GEOL 505: Imaging and GIS in Disaster Response
  • PA 530: Negotiation and Bargaining in the Public Service
  • MGT 721: Group Processes and Leadership
  • MKTG 761: Product Innovation Management

Supply chain management (SCM) integrates and optimizes all business processes required to source/produce the right amount of the right product with right quality and deliver it to the end user at the right time. Many companies create their strategic advantages through innovative supply chain management. SCM field is flexible and cross functional. You will work with people at various functional areas throughout your company and supply chain partners—product design, sourcing, logistics, IT, manufacturing, accounting, marketing, and international business. Courses in SCM career track cover
strategic frameworks, modelling theories, prescriptive analytics, planning technologies, and best practices to help you succeed in the career.

  • MIS 744 (Recommended): Supply Chain Resilience
  • MIS 753 (Recommended): Global Supply Chain Analytics
  • MIS 754 (Recommended): Sustainable Sourcing and Logistics
  • MIS 752: Enterprise Resource Planning and Blockchain OR
    MIS 697: Project Planning and Management OR
    MIS 750 (if not taken in MSIS
    requirements): Strategic Program Management
  • MKTG 766: Marketing Research
  • ECON 561. International Trade
  • H SEC 604: International Security and Trade

An information system (IS) is a repeatable way to create value with information. In decades past, organizations used IS to boost their productivity. Today, the IS is the business, so information systems designers are now critical to the success of most organizations. A system analyst is to an information system what a director is to a movie. They are creative visionaries who conceive new ways to create value with information. They work with stakeholders to design new, useful information capabilities and they design processes for using those capabilities to create value. A systems analyst oversees the computer scientists and other specialists who develop the technical components of the system (not all the components are technical). Like a director, they draw all the elements together as a finished system and release it to the organization. The MSIS is an ideal degree from which to launch a career in systems analysis. It prepares students to understand and improve the ways organizations can protect and optimize returns on its intellectual capital, and the ways to use its systems to enhance offerings to stakeholders, and to gain sustainable strategic advantage.

The MSIS career track is ideal for any graduate business student seeking a systems analysis and design position. A Systems Analysis and Design career path can lead to executive positions such as Enterprise Architect, Chief Data Officer, Chief Information Officer, and Chief technology officer.

  • MIS 755 (Recommended): Information Systems Security Management
  • MIS 697: Project Planning and Management
  • MIS 691: Decision Support Systems
  • STAT 702: Data Mining Statistical Methods
  • MIS 744: Supply Chain Resilience
  • MIS 750: Strategic Program Management
  • MIS 752: Enterprise Resource Planning and Blockchain

Alternative courses may be identified for any of the career tracks by working with an advisor.

Students have the option of completing a thesis or a course in directed readings (MIS 790).

Resources for Current and Prospective Students

Program Faculty






Get In Touch

Follow our Social Media @SDSUFowler

SDSU Fowler College of Business
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA 92182-8230

Take the Next Step

Ready to jumpstart your career? Apply now! Or, if you have any questions about the program, contact us via the Request Info button.