Main Content
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Development of real-world, emerging technology in a self-chosen specialization
Information technologists are computer support and security administrators who assist companies and organizations with managing hardware, software, networking, communication and problem solving.
What Our Graduates Do
Possible Career Pathways for IT graduates:
- Database Administrator
- Information Systems Specialist
- IT Security Analyst
- Network Architect
- Web Developer
Students in the ABET-accredited B.S. in Information Technology (IT) program learn to analyze, design, integrate, and manage information systems to meet the needs of end users. Students in this degree will develop skills in effective communication, collaboration, and leadership throughout a challenging technical curriculum in system design, networking, information assurance and security, programming, web development, and data science.
Although intimately tied to the computing field, the IT program differs from the Computer Science and Computer Engineering program in the following ways:
- Emphasizes a practicum and interest-based specialization-oriented degree. The program places a greater emphasis on application, deployment, configuration and development than on theory and principles.
- Actively responds to emerging technology trends and diversifications in information systems. The technology that manages information changes quickly as practitioners attempt to address real-world problems in industry, government, research, and education. This program responds to changes that reflect trends.
- Requires real-world experience by participating in an internship. IT students are required to participate in information technology-related internship to learn what it is like to work in the IT industry.
CyberCorps Scholarship for Service*
IT majors can apply for the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service*, designed to recruit and train cybersecurity professionals for federal, state, local and tribal governments.
Application Process Overview
| Required to Apply | Application Opens | Application Deadline | Students Notified |
| Prerequisite courses completed and grades posted | Early February | July 1 for early admission consideration. Apps not accepted for early admission remain in consideration until program is full. August 31 - no applications accepted after this date |
Rolling decisions with all notifications made in 1-2 weeks or after the close of the application |
See Information Technology Application information for more specific information.
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Coding and Computing by Design
Ping Luarn, B.S. Information Technology '21
While studying at SET, Ping Luarn discovered she likes uncovering what makes a website click with a user and what drives them away.
“With web design you have to know certain things like how you want the website to look and how accessible that is for different kinds of users. I really enjoy learning what the users think... what frustrates them, and what makes them feel better, and how we can improve different layouts or usability.”
IT Student Testimonials
Christopher Martinez | United States Army Corps of Engineers, (USACE) Information Systems Security Manager (ISSM)
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Eric Min | Information Security Analyst, Infoblox
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Questions?
Schedule an appointment with one of our Academic Advisors!
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How to Apply
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Admission to the IT major is competitive. Please review the following prerequisites and application process carefully.
Prerequisites
To qualify for admission to IT, applicants must first be admitted to the University of Washington Tacoma and have completed the following required prerequisites:
- Precalculus (TMATH 115 & 116 or TMATH 120 at UW Tacoma; Precalculus I & II at most community colleges)
- Introduction to Programming (TCSS 142)*
*UW Tacoma students can take either TCSS 141 - Programming for All or TCSS 142 - Introduction to Programming to satisfy the programming prerequisite for the IT major. TCSS 141 is offered at the UW Tacoma campus only.
*All pre-requisite courses must be completed in the last seven years
Please note: Admission to the IT program is capacity-constrained. Students who are admitted to the program typically have grades of 3.0 and higher in prerequisite courses as well as a strong cumulative grade point average.
GPA Requirements
If you do not meet the GPA requirements, please contact a SET advisor to discuss your situation and options.
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Required cumulative prerequisite GPA of at least 2.5, with a minimum grade of 2.0 in each individual prerequisite.
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Required minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 in all college coursework.
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Applicants are also expected to have a GPA of at least a 2.5 in all college math, science, computer science or engineering coursework.
Before starting the application, make sure you're ready to apply:
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You've been admitted to UW Tacoma and met the requirements to apply to the major (previous tab).
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You have completed at least 45 college-level credits.
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You completed the prerequisite courses listed in the Admission Requirements tab.
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You've met the GPA requirements noted in the Admission Requirements tab.
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You're meeting the July 1 priority application deadline.
Notes for Transfer Students:
- If you are not admitted to UWT, you cannot be admitted to the IT major, but you may hold off on accepting your offer of admission to UWT until you have your program admissions decision.
- Transfer students at Washington State community colleges are encouraged to pursue the Associate in Science - Transfer Track 2 to meet the admission requirements. Use the UW Course Equivalency Guide to determine the equivalent prerequisites at your school.
IT is a capacity-constrained major, which means we normally have more applications than space in the program. Competitive applicants typically have grades of 3.0 and higher in the prerequisite courses, as well as a strong cumulative grade point average.
Your application is evaluated on the following criteria:
- Completion of all prerequisite courses
- Grades in prerequisite courses -- individually and cumulatively
- Overall previous academic performance
- Content and form of personal statement and resume
- Completion of at least 45 college-level credits
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Curriculum
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All courses within the major must be completed with a minimum grade of 2.0 and a cumulative GPA of 2.5.
- TINFO 200 Programming II for Information Technology and Systems
- TINFO 210 Foundations of Information Management
- TINFO 220 Foundations of Human Computer Interaction for Information Technology & Systems
- TINFO 230 Foundations Web Design and Programming
- TINFO 240 Discrete Math for IT
- TINFO 250 Foundations of Information Networking
- TINFO 310 Foundations of Information Assurance
- TINFO 320 Hardware and Software Systems
- TINFO 360 Information Systems Analysis and Design
- TINFO 370 Managing Technical Teams
- TMATH 110 Statistics
- TWRT 291 Technical Writing
- TCSS 325 Computers, Ethics, and Society
- TINFO 452 Windows System Admin or TINFO 457 Unix System Admin
The IT schedule planning grid shows a sample pathway to complete the B.S. in Information Technology degree. Work with your advisor to make sure you are completing required courses for the program and electives for your area of interest.
Download the IT Planning Grid (PDF)
2023-2024 TINFO Electives
- TINFO 410 Database Design
- TINFO 431 Server Side Web Applications
- TINFO 441 Network Security
- TINFO 442 Computer Security
- TINFO 443 Digital Forensics
- TINFO 444 Mobile Digital Forensics
- TINFO 445 Mobile Digital Forensics II
- TINFO 446 Mobile Digital Forensics III
- TINFO 451 Routing and Switching
- TINFO 453 Wireless Networking
- TINFO 461 Organizational Information Assurance
- TINFO 462 Building an Information Risk Management Toolkit
- TINFO 463 Establishing and Managing Information Assurance Strategies
- TINFO 480 Research Methods
A required internship demonstrates how the life cycle of Information Technology and systems such as maintenance, modernization, replacement, etc. is conducted within an organization.
The internship is taken as a 1- to 10-credit course:
Topics are carried into Senior Project II in ITS.
Frequently Asked Questions:
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Is TINFO 497 a class? How does it work? |
T INFO 497 is not a traditional class. It is an individual agreement that you make between a company you are working for and a T INFO professor. The work you do for an internship does not have to be specifically defined as an “internship”. You can have an IT job and as long as the work you are doing is related to any of the T INFO courses you took in your junior year, your IT job can count as an internship. On the internship form you submit, you will be asked to describe how the work you are doing is related to your T INFO coursework. You will be required to name specific courses that are related as well. The point of an internship is to take the concepts you have learned in class and apply them to a real-world work situation. |
| Where can I get help with a resume and cover letter? | There is help available at the Career Development Center. Go here https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/uwt/career to take full advantage of the help they offer. |
| Do I have to take Internship (TINFO 497) in fall quarter because it is listed that way on the planning guide? |
No, you do not have to sign up for credit in autumn quarter of your senior year just because it is listed on your planning guide. You can sign up for credit any quarter next year (autumn, winter, or spring). The only courses that have to be taken in the quarter they are listed on the planning guide in your senior year are T INFO 240 (only offered in summer and fall) and T INFO 482 (only offered in winter). All of the other courses listed on your planning guide in your senior year are moveable. |
| What other options do I have to satisfy the internship requirement? |
T INFO 481 is an individual project you can do in place of T INFO 497. This course is currently being offered in summer quarter, and will also be offered in spring of 2022. You can wait until spring quarter and if you have not found an internship or IT job by that time, you can take T INFO 481. Or, you can take T INFO 481 this summer and if you get an internship next spring, you can use T INFO 481 as a senior elective. |
| Can I do an internship in summer and sign up for credit in the fall? | No. You have to register for TINFO 497 in the quarter that you are doing the work for your internship. |
| How many credits of internship can I get? |
You can only earn up to 5 credits in one quarter for an internship. You may earn an additional 5 credits (besides the required 5 credits of 497) as a senior elective. Only a total of 10 internship credits may be applied towards your degree, no more than that. To put it another way, if you have a 6 month long internship, or two separate internships in two different quarters, 5 credits of T INFO 497 must satisfy your internship requirement, and the other 5 credits can be used as a senior elective
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| Do I have to see my advisor to register for an internship? | No. You need to find a professor to sponsor you and to sign your form. Advisors cannot sign your form or provide you with the entry code you need to register for TINFO 497. |
| How do I register for TINFO 497 Internship? |
All the information you need is located here: https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/set/internships-credit Please read all of the information thoroughly. Once you find a professor to sponsor you, that professor must sign your internship form, your internship supervisor must sign the form, you sign the form and then submit your completed form to Marife Tabao llavom@uw.edu. She will send you the entry code you need to register once she has verified that your form is complete. |
Academic Support
T INFO 390 Undergraduate Seminar in Information Technology is a workshop style course to help you solve problems and develop a deeper understanding of IT material. The course, overseen by a faculty member and a student mentor includes lectures and problem sessions in mathematics, programming, problem solving, and EE applications.
See also:
- The Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) at UW Tacoma provides academic support in math, science, statistics and writing to all UWT students.
- The Learning and Research Commons (LARC) is the hub of support for all members of our campus community for teaching, learning, conducting research, and using technology to support all of these endeavors.
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ABET Accreditation
The B.S. in Information Technology is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org. The program at UW Tacoma prepares students with the theoretical and practical foundations needed to solve problems in all aspects of computing.
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The Information Technology (IT) program will educate students to analyze, design, integrate, and manage information systems using information technology.
The intent of the Information Technology program is to produce graduates who are able to achieve the following objectives:
- Developed a product or process by applying knowledge of programming, web, database, human computer interaction, networking and security tools
- Participated effectively as a member of a development team and undertaken leadership roles when appropriate
- Taken graduate courses or continuing education classes to improve skills and abilities
- Made positive contributions to community and society by applying skills and abilities learned during undergraduate program in information technology
- Made decisions related to work that demonstrate understanding of the importance of being an ethical computing professional
- Applied communication skills to effectively promote ideas, goals or products
Students graduating from our information focused programs will be able to choose many different roles; becoming IT and IS consultants, project planners, project managers, interface designers, information systems researchers, web developers, and systems analysts. To emphasize, consider some of the general tasks that an information technology and systems specialist is likely to perform depending on where she works:
Graduates of the program will have an ability to:
- Analyze a complex computing problem and to apply principles of computing and other relevant disciplines to identify solutions.
- Design, implement, and evaluate a computing-based solution to meet a given set of computing requirements in the context of the program’s discipline.
- Communicate effectively in a variety of professional contexts.
- Recognize professional responsibilities and make informed judgments in computing practice based on legal and ethical principles.
- Function effectively as a member or leader of a team engaged in activities appropriate to the program’s discipline.
- Use systemic approaches to select, develop, apply, integrate, and administer secure computing technologies to accomplish user goals. [IT]
| Year | Enrollment | Degrees Conferred |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-2025 | 231 | - |
| 2023-2024 | 229 | 107 |
| 2022-2023 | 222 | 96 |
| 2021-2022 | 204 | 89 |
| 2020-2021 | 200 | 100 |
| 2019-2020 | 207 | 97 |
| 2018-2019 | 208 | 101 |
| 2017-2018 | 194 | 88 |
| 2016-2017 | 165 | 66 |
| 2015-2016 | 134 | 59 |
| 2014-2015 | 112 | 50 |
| 2013-2014 | 106 | 46 |
| 2012-2013 | 91 | 38 |
| 2011-2012 | 65 | 23 |
| 2010-2011 | 56 | 13 |
| 2009-2010 | 28 |
Information Technology Program Advisory Board
Scott Klauminzer
Critical Infrastructure Protection Lead,
Tacoma Power, Tacoma Public Utilities
Mohan Kumar
Intel Fellow
Daniel Lowney
US Naval Sea Systems Command
Dave Patterson
Director/Engineering Manager
Intel
Andrew Sloss
Senior Principal Research Engineer
Arm Research, Seattle
Dave Smith
Senior Field Applications Engineer
ARROW
Degree options
Information Assurance and Cybersecurity option-Must be declared; See your academic advisor.
15 credits:
Digital Mobile Forensics option
TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED
15 credits:
