Overview:

The Information Technology and Quantitative Methods Department provides programs leading to the B.B.A. in Information Technology (IT), the M.B.A. with concentrations in IT and Quality Management, and the M.S. in IT. Teaching in this program is based on the Department’s philosophy that the worth of business education is demonstrated by the graduate’s ability to successfully apply his/her skills to the solution of business problems. Hence, students not only receive superior instruction in IT, but they also receive a solid grounding in business processes and the functional areas of organizations. Experiential learning is the cornerstone of all our academic programs. Under the supervision of our exceptional faculty, students experience the design and management of contemporary hardware and software systems. Students also learn to improve their people skills by working in small groups on significant projects in each course.

Our high quality faculty deliver IT courses in databases, data mining and business intelligence, systems analysis and design, networks and connectivity, multimedia design, e-commerce, project management, and enterprise systems. All full time faculty members have earned a doctoral degree in their field of specialization, and many have significant business experience.  The faculty and students are supported by many professional resources. Several of our major courses are taught in one of two dedicated IT laboratories. Courses in local area networks, network security and defense, and wireless networks are taught in the Networking Instructional Laboratory. The instruction in this lab includes building servers, designing and constructing local area networks, loading and managing network operating systems, among others. This is a unique resource which allows us to deliver state-of-the art instruction and gives our students a competitive advantage in the market place.

The second of the technology labs is the IT Department Instructional Laboratory which supports instruction in contemporary software solutions. The department provides this software through its membership in the Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance, Oracle Academic Network, IBM Academic Initiative, and the SAP University Alliance. We use SAP, the global standard in Enterprise Resource Planning Systems, to teach students about business processes, how enterprise systems are used to manage the contemporary organization, and the part that information technology plays in the successful implementation of these systems. Our use of SAP to reinforce classroom instruction was favorably cited as an example of what business and IT education must be in the February 22, 2008 issue of Long Island Business News.

Major organizations realize the benefit of a Hofstra IT degree. This may be seen in the roster of employers of our recent graduates including Met Life, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, SunGard VPM, Merck, Protivity, Microsoft, Google, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Morgan Stanley, and Smith Barney, among others.

At the graduate level in addition to the MS and MBA in IT, the Department offers a concentration in Quality Management in concert with the Department of Management, Entrepreneurship, and General Business. The concentration includes courses in business process management, statistical quality control, and six sigma quality management. The program is intended for members of manufacturing, health care, and service organizations.