Development of a Graduate-Level MIS Program: A Case Study

Abstract

Abstract A relatively small, private liberal arts college located in the metropolitan Chicago area surveyed its strengths and weaknesses, as well as the market, and identified an opportunity to develop a new graduate-level professional degree program, the Masters in Management Information Systems. The school, which is not accredited by the AACSB but is regionally accredited, has a good reputation among its constituencies for its business and computer science programs. The college has offered undergraduate degrees in business and computer science for over 20 years and has a well-established MBA program. This case study demonstrates the process and procedures used by the faculty and administration of the college to develop the proposal and get it approved by the college governance bodies. The article also examines the reasoning behind the development of the program and briefly follows up on its implementation in 1986. This case study article was written by a participating faculty member.