Three graduating seniors are the first to earn bachelor’s degrees in informatics from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Hyolin Lee of New Iberia, La., Kyle MacDonald of Lafayette, La., and Paul Olinger of Rayne, La. will receive their diplomas during Fall 2013 Commencement ceremonies Friday. Another 13 students are expected to obtain undergraduate informatics degrees in Spring 2014.
The informatics program was created to broaden the University’s Management Information Systems program in the B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration. The Louisiana Board of Regents approved it in May 2011. Courses began that fall.
The new informatics program provides students with information technology expertise and the ability to implement that knowledge in the workplace.
“The latest and greatest hardware and software is wonderful, but if it’s not used by anyone, it isn’t worth much,” said Dr. Mike Totaro, program coordinator. “Informatics fills the gap that often exists when highly technical people and end users try to communicate.”
The program is part of the new School of Computing and Informatics in the University’s Ray P. Authement College of Sciences. It provides an education in information technology that stresses the ethical, legal, and social responsibilities related to its application and use in business and industry.
“Our graduates are expected to have the education and training to design, administer, and maintain information systems in a variety of domains,” Totaro said.
The informatics program features six concentrations: business, healthcare, media technology, systems administration, web design and an individualized concentration.
“With a business concentration, students might take courses like accounting or economics. With healthcare, there will be required courses that focus on electronic health records,” Totaro said.
For the individualized concentration, students “must make a very compelling argument. They have two semesters to develop a plan of study,” he added.
“We’re only in our fifth semester of existence, but we have a lot of momentum, and are seeing a big uptick in interest from prospective students,” he said.