The Master of Science in IT Project Management is for working professionals who have either a technology undergraduate degree or two years of IT work experience and wish to advance their careers by filling the growing need for IT project managers. This program is intended for graduate students who wish to prepare for careers leading and managing IT project teams.
The lack of project and program management skills has long been known to be a major factor in IT project failures. Over the past decade, it has become apparent that placing individuals with strong training in the breadth of project management skills significantly improves the likelihood of bringing an IT project in successfully on time, and on budget. This growing awareness is leading to increased demand for skilled IT project and program managers. But demand for these skills currently outstrips the supply of qualified candidates. This is a high-level program preparing graduates for mid- to high-level project and program management positions. Core IT skills are assumed. Students focus on leveraging those skills to build leadership practices that enable quality work.
Students in this program will gain a broad range of skills including:
- In-depth knowledge of project management skills, including risk management, procurement and contract management, time and cost estimating, controlling and tracking techniques (scope statements, work breakdown structures, Gantt, PERT, etc.); and IT testing, quality assurance, and control
- Familiarity with those elements of human resource management that are key to project management success, such as team building, motivating, communicating through traditional and electronic means, negotiating and influencing, coordinating, and managing organizational change
- Basic general knowledge of business systems and processes, including knowledge of introductory accounting and the basics of cost accounting as applied in IT project management
- Ability to effectively use common project management software packages
- Familiarity with program management and the skills to mitigate risk across a portfolio of projects