Fall classes begin September 4, and UMSI students are already appearing in the halls of North Quad. While returning students are wrapping up their summer internships, many of our 195 incoming master’s students are already on campus to receive an intensive four-day orientation to the program and the school. Events include tours of North Quad and the libraries, an introduction to research at the school, and advice on academic and career planning.

Among the new students are a Fulbright scholar from Spain with an interest in technology for record management and policy; a first-generation college graduate with an interest in connecting information analysis and retrieval to corporate knowledge management; a new media strategist from the Pulitzer Center seeking additional information tools to strengthen our democracy; and a Michigan Community Scholars graduate inspired to enter the program after taking the late Bob Frost’s undergraduate class in information studies.

UMSI has enrolled its largest number ever of international students, including 30  from China - a testimony to the school’s growing global reputation as the best place for continuing studies in the information field.

Thirteen new PhD students are entering North Quad this fall. Among this accomplished group, eight already have publications to their credit and eight have at least one graduate degree, including a lawyer and a pharmacist. Three are recent graduates of UMSI.

This fall, UMSI welcomes the first cohort of students pursuing the new master’s degree in health informatics. Offered jointly with the School of Public Health, this is the first degree in the nation to emphasize consumer health support. It draws extensively on our depth of expertise in social computing as a key component of the program. As with the MSI degree, there is a wide range of backgrounds and demographic diversity in this first class of 20, including individuals from the medical profession, marketing and public relations, public health, and the university’s own health system. They will be preparing for leadership roles at the dynamic intersection of information, technology, and healthcare.