Digital Sciences - B.A., B.S. Download to print

The Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees offered by the School of Digital Sciences are designed to provide students with the ability to adapt and succeed in a rapidly changing digital world.

The program provides a broad overview of digital technologies, often from multiple points of view. For example, a student may study the content and visual layout of a web page with a journalism professor and later study the programming aspects of a web page with a business professor. A course with an architect adds more material on design, and a course with a computer scientist adds additional programming skills. This multi-disciplinary skill set is exactly what is needed for many of today's careers.

Building on this overview of digital technologies, the program adds further study in information management, database systems and digital security. Finally, students gain the practical skills to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team, studying requirements engineering, project management and team dynamics, and culminating in a capstone course.

The B.A. degree program has fewer major program requirements than the B.S. degree, and as such is the ideal complement to an Associate's degree or an excellent candidate for a dual degree.

The B.S. degree program provides deeper knowledge in the digital sciences and has six optional focused concentrations.
 

• The Digital Science Cognition and Communication concentration focuses on the learning, teaching, communication, interaction and training needs of an organization and the hardware and software systems that must be designed to meet those needs.
• The Digital Systems Analysis concentration focuses on consulting with an organization's managers and users to understand the organization's computer system needs, and then designing a computer system to meet those needs.
• The Digital Systems Management and Consulting concentration focuses on reviewing an organization's business priorities, identifying and solving complex problems and designing and re-engineering critical processes.
• The Digital Systems Software Development concentration focuses on the software needs of an organization and the coordination of the design, maintenance and expansion of a software system to meet those needs.
• The Digital Systems Telecommunication Networks concentration focuses on the communication needs of an organization and the design of a telecommunication and network infrastructure to meet those needs.
• The Enterprise Architecture concentration focuses on assisting organizations to review and improve their investments in technology, and to ensure that their digital information, applications, and technology are fully aligned with business goals and objectives.

Students who do not select a concentration are provided options both within and outside digital sciences, allowing customization for each student's interests and career goals.
 

Graduates of the Digital Sciences Bachelor's program are prepared for today's careers and ready to adapt to tomorrow's careers. Typical careers might include web developer, instructional technologist, information technology coordinator, software project manager, telecommunication specialist or computer systems analyst.

General Admissions for Freshman Students: Students most likely to be admitted and succeed at the Kent Campus are those who have graduated with at least 16 units of the recommended college preparatory curriculum in high school, who have achieved a cumulative high school grade point average of 2.5 or higher (on a 4.0 scale), and whose composite ACT score is 21 or better (980 combined critical reading and math SAT score). For more information on admissions, visit the Admissions website for new freshmen.

General Admissions for Transfer Students: Generally, a transfer applicant who has taken 12 or more semester hours with a college cumulative GPA of at least 2.0 on a 4.0 scale may be admitted. An applicant who has taken fewer than 12 semester hours will be evaluated on both collegiate and high school records. For more information on admissions, visit the Admissions website for transfer students.

Minimum 121 total credit hours and minimum 39 upper-division hours, with minimum 2.000 GPA in major and overall.
 

Graduates of this program will be able to:

1. Demonstrate broad inter-disciplinary knowledge and understanding of digital sciences across traditional college and professional boundaries. They will be able to work with technical, business, and design professionals, and will be able to integrate material from these various disciplines. They will be able to adapt their thinking based on how different societies, cultures, genders, ethnic groups and professions approach technology and information and use it in different ways.

2. Demonstrate competence with a broad range of digital technologies. In many cases, they will be able to apply multiple approaches to a problem as practiced by different professions. They will demonstrate theoretical and practical understanding of web page design, web programming, computational thinking, database systems, information management, and digital systems security.

3. Apply design thinking to technological problems. They will demonstrate familiarity with design thinking and the relationship between design and technology.  They will be able to help web designers and programmers make their technology easier to use.

4. Apply critical evaluation and problem solving skills to organizational needs. They will be able to analyze customer needs, consider the impact on various diverse groups or cultures, evaluate solutions from a variety of technical and design viewpoints, and solve a variety of technical and design problems.

5. Demonstrate effective communication skills, both verbally and in written form. They will be able to communicate as individuals or as part of a project team, and they will be able to communicate with technical, business, and design professionals.

6. Participate in, and lead, multi-disciplinary project teams. They will demonstrate theoretical and practical understanding of requirements engineering, project management, and team dynamics. They will demonstrate practical experience working with students from another department on a multi-disciplinary project team.

There are many study abroad/away opportunities, including full-semester study at Kent State's sites in Florence or Geneva, exchange programs in Germany or elsewhere, or faculty-led short-term programs. For more information contact the Office of Global Education.

Digital Scientists, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM); hacKSU; Collegiate Business Association; Delta Sigma Pi; Management and Information System Association (MISA); Net Impact Kent State University
 

The B.A. and B.S. degrees include a senior capstone course that provides experience in working on interdisciplinary projects as part of a multidisciplinary team.

 

Business Administration–Information Systems (M.B.A), Computer Science (M.A. and M.S.), Digital Sciences (M.D.S.), Evaluation and Measurement (M.Ed.), Information Architecture and Knowledge Management (M.S.), Instructional Technology (M.Ed.)