A computing professional analyzes a situation in an application domain, such as biology and medicine, business, engineering, law and public policy, science, and sociology; carefully specifies the problems to be addressed; and then designs, evaluates, implements and tests computer-based solutions to those problems.

The BA CIS program through the College of Arts and Sciences, allows students considerable flexibility in tailoring the choice of courses, including Computer Science courses, according to their specific interests. This degree requires the student to identify a related field that offers a high potential for computing applications, and take several courses in the related field at both the introductory and advanced levels. This is offset by a somewhat lighter set of requirements in advanced computing courses. The General Education component of this program is similar to that of the BS CIS program.

Program objectives:

It is the intent of the faculty that within the first few years after graduation:

• Graduates of the program will be employed in the computing profession, and will be engaged in learning, understanding and applying new ideas and technologies as the field evolves
• Graduates with an interest in, and aptitude for, advanced studies in computing will have completed, or be actively pursuing, graduate studies in computing
• Graduates will be informed and involved members of their communities and responsible engineering and computing professionals