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Undergraduate Degree Information

In Fall 2021, the department's degrees had a major update and have continued to have minor changes. In some cases, the differences between the pre-Fall 2021 requirements are significant. This page primarily applies to the current versions of the degrees.

In most cases, current students, especially current students nearing graduation, will not be affected by these changes. Current students will remain under their current degree plan with the same set of required classes that they have been working on completing. Any student with questions about the new requirements and whether or not they apply to their individual situation should talk to their academic advisor before making any changes to their degree.

Summary of all degrees

The classes for each degree are grouped into three categories:

  1. Computing core - a common set of courses that all students in Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, and Computer Information Technology are required to take.
  2. Major core - each degree contains a set of classes that required for that degree.
  3. Concentration requirements - each concentration within a degree has requirements unique to that concentration.
  4. Minor requirements
    • Between Fall-2021 and Fall 2023, Computer Information Systems requires a non-computing minor chosen from a list of approved minors.
    • Starting Fall 2023, Computer Information Systems does not require a minor.
    • Computer Science and Computer Information Technology do not require minors.

Computing core requirements

A new requirement for all degrees is a set of classes called the computing core. All students in Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, and Computer Information Technology, regardless of the degree, are required to take the same set of core classes. The computing core consists of these classes:

Major cores and concentration requirements

Each degree has a major core unique to that degree, and each concentration within the degree has an addition set of requirements.

B.S. Computer Science

The major core for Computer Science:

The Computer Science degree does not require a minor.

The Computer Science degree offers two concentrations.

B.S. Computer Information Systems

The major core for Computer Information Systems.

CIS Information Systems Environment requirement

Beginning Fall 2023, the CIS degree no longer requires a minor.  In place of the minor, the degree has an Information Systems Environment (ISE) requirement.  Students are required to choose 1 of two 15-hour focuses:

  1. Business focus 
    • The Business focus exposes students to several business-related topics including accounting, economics, management, marketing, and management information systems in order to prepare them for critical roles, both technical and non-technical, in a wide variety of companies.
    • Courses
      • ACCT 2010 – Principles of Accounting (3)
      • ACCT 201L – Principles of Accounting Lab (0)
      • ECON 2100 – Principles of Macroeconomics (3)
      • MGT 2010 – Principles of Management and Organizational Behavior (3)
      • MGT 4100 – Management Information Systems (3)
      • MKT 2010 – Principles of Marketing (3)
        • Total credits: 15 credits
        • General core credits: 3 credits
          • Social and Behavioral Sciences: 3 credits (ECON 2100)
        • Upper-level credits: 3 credits (MGT 4100)
  2. Earth and Environmental Science focus
    • Earth and Environmental Science (EES) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) prepare students for careers using specialized software to make decisions based on spatial data. Students learn to manage geospatial databases, create scripts to automate analyses, and visualization techniques to depict the results of their spatial analyses. Graduates from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences have gone on to work in private industry; for nonprofit, NGOs, or with consulting firms; and local, state and federal governmental organizations.
    • Courses
      • GEOG 1015 – Physical Geography (3)
      • GEOL 1040 – Physical Geology (3)
      • GEOL 1041 – Physical Geology Lab (1)
      • GEOL 1050 – Historical Geology (3)
      • GEOL 1051 – Historical Geology Lab (1)
      • GEOG 3150 – Geographic Information Systems I (3)
      • GEOG 3151 – Geographic Information Systems I Lab (1)
        • Total credits: 15 credits
        • General core credits: 11 credits
          • Social and Behavioral Sciences: 3 credits (GEOG 1015)
          • Natural Sciences: 8 credits (GEOG 1040/1041/1050/1051)
        • Upper-level credits: 4 credits (GEOG 3150/3151)

Students must complete all 6 courses in a single focus in order to meet the ISE requirement. Students cannot complete the ISE requirement by taking some classes in one focus and some classes in the other focus.

Although there is no minor requirement, interested students may want to consider adding a minor related to their focus.

CIS Information Assurance and Security concentration and CSCI 2500

CIS students in the Information Assurance concentration are required to take CSCI 4613 Cryptography, which has a prerequisite of CSCI 2500 Discrete Structures. CSCI 2500 also counts towards the CIS math requirement. In order to meet the CIS math requirement and keep the students from taking additional classes, Information Assurance students should be advised to take CSCI 2500 instead of MATH 1810 or MATH 1910.  if students do not take CSCI 2500 to meet the CIS math requirement, they will still have to take CSCI 2500 since it is a prerequisite for CSCI 4613, which will mean taking two classes instead of one.

CIS minor requirement

Depending on the student's catalog year, the CIS degree has different requirements for a minor.

Catalog Years Fall 2023 and after: Beginning Fall 2023, there is no requirement for a minor.

Catalog Years before Fall 2021: CIS students whose catalog is earlier than Fall 2021 must have a minor. They can fulfill the requirement with any minor, concentration, or major from any department or program.

Catalog Years Fall 2021 and Fall 2022: CIS students whose catalog is falls between Fall 2021 and Fall 2023 are required to complete a non-computing minor from a list of approved minors. This requirement can be met with either a minor or second major. For second degree students, the student’s first degree or minor may fulfill the requirement if it falls into one of the approved categories.  The requirement may also be met by petitioning the Department Chair as discussed below.

The current list of approved majors and minors for students whose catalog is falls between Fall 2021 and Fall 2023 are listed in the table below. Details and requirements of each minor can be found in the University Undergraduate Bulletin.

College of Business

  • Any minor or major
  • Note: business degrees from other schools for computer-related majors/minors and information systems major/minors do not apply

College of Behavioral and Health Sciences

  • Dept. of Criminal Justice
    any major or minor
  • Dept. of Military Science
    any major or minor
  • Dept. of Political Science and Public Management
    any major or minor

College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

  • Any STEM minor or major, excluding computer-related minors and majors

Minors and majors offered by the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology may not be used to fulfill CIS minor requirement. For second degree students from other schools, this would include majors and minors such as, but not limited to

  • Computer Science
  • Computer Information Technology
  • Computer Information Systems
  • Computer Engineering
  • Information Systems
  • Information Technology
  • Software Engineering

Second degree students whose original major and minor are not in an approved category will be required to add a minor here at APSU.

As an alternative to the list of approved minors and majors, students may petition the Department Chair to either:

Students should not select non-approved minors or majors nor take non-approved classes to fulfill the minor requirement without prior approval.

Students are allowed to have two or more minors.  For example, some students may still want a computing minor, even though it does not fulfill the CIS minor requirement.  In these cases, the student will choose one of the above options to fulfill the CIS minor requirement, which will be their first minor.  They can then add a computing minor as a second minor.

CIS concentrations

The Computer Information Systems degree offers two concentrations.

B.S. Computer Information Technology

The major core for Computer Information Technology.

Beginning in Fall 2021, the Computer Information Technology degree does not require a minor.  Students who have declared the Computer Information Technology prior to Fall 2021 are required to have a minor.  Updating to the current degree will remove the minor requirement.

The Computer Information Technology degree has two concentrations: