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University of Michigan School of Information

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Dean's welcome

Welcome to the University of Michigan School of Information

A photo of Andrea Forte in front of a large window

Connecting people, transforming lives 

We are one of the first modern information schools, embedded in one of the world’s premier research universities. We create and share knowledge so that people will use information — with technology — to build a better world. 

We are a community of scholars, dedicated teachers, students, and professional staff who share a commitment to excellence and a desire to make a difference in people's lives.

In our research we answer exciting and pressing questions about the effects of digital technology on social, cultural, political and economic life. For example, are family and friendship ties strengthened or weakened by online social networks? Why do people lend money online to strangers in the US and around the globe, or donate time and effort to edit Wikipedia entries? What frameworks and practices should cultural institutions (libraries, archives, and museums) adopt to interact more respectfully with Indigenous and underserved populations? 

We also design new systems and technologies to improve lives, such as safe and supportive e-communities that support and motivate diabetes patients and mobile phone technology to improve food distribution in impoverished regions.

As teachers we prepare students for leadership roles in business and nonprofits, public service, research, and education, in the midst of one of the most exciting and promising technological transformations the world has ever seen.

Our undergraduate degree in information prepares our students to think deeply about how to design technology for people and understand the underlying biases in data before any analysis. We educate them to be critical thinkers about the use of information and its technologies to support humans in their social interactions and analyze data to present strong and accurate evidence. They go on to successful careers or to graduate school in many fields.

Our master of science in information degree emphasizes education through high impact learning practices using real world examples for problem solving and client based projects in courses. When they graduate, our master's students have the skills of an information professional, prepared to enable people to access, manipulate, and use the information they need, when and where they need it, to make the world a better place.

Our master of health informatics program, offered jointly with the School of Public Health and the Medical School, prepares students for careers that will harness the power of information to enhance individual health as well as transform healthcare. We are developing the next generation of health informatics leaders to guide this rapidly evolving field.

Our online Master of Applied Data Science program equips students with thorough preparation for managing data science from beginning to end in any number of real world contexts. It blends theory, computation and application in a flexible online format. The program includes study and application in data collection, processing, analysis, visualization, reporting and intervention. It enables students to learn how to draw conclusions and inform decisions with data while being attuned to ethical considerations of data use.

Our PhD program in information is a path-breaking re-invention of the field. Students build a multidisciplinary foundation based on knowledge from the social and behavioral sciences, computing science, and information science. They then acquire more specialized advanced skills and then apply their skills to multidisciplinary research that generates new knowledge of human interactions with information and its technologies.

Our world-class faculty bring backgrounds and insights from fields as diverse as psychology, computer science, economics, history, library science, statistics, communications, and management. They have international reputations in areas from social networking to reputation and recommender systems, from digital archiving to information literacy education in the U.S. and developing countries.

Our graduates are user-experience engineers and web designers, data scientists, information policy analysts, librarians and archivists, entrepreneurs, educators, consultants, records managers, and information architects. In the information age, all organizations have mission-critical information needs, and our students are ideally positioned to meet them or to teach future generations while doing innovative research and professional practice.

Welcome to a spirited community of scholars and researchers who comprise the foremost educational institution in social engagement information and computing.

Andrea Forte
Dean and Professor of Information
School of Information