Management Information Systems Major

Undergraduate Management Information Systems Major

Pursue a major that will take you everywhere business is headed.

Learn to lead amid profound shifts in technology, society and the economy.

A source of pride and impact at Eller since its founding, our Management Information Systems major is where technology meets the foundational principles of business. You can change the way the business world works, from the inside out—and chart a career course with limitless potential. 

Management Information Systems Major Overview

The field of management information systems (MIS) involves applying computer technology, quantitative techniques and administrative skills to the information processing requirements of organizations. MIS combines computer technology with management decision-making methods to analyze, design, implement and manage computerized information systems in an organizational environment. A bachelor's degree is generally adequate for entry-level jobs; graduate training is necessary for research and teaching positions.

The undergraduate MIS program at the Eller College has placed in the top five nationally in U.S. News & World Report since the rankings' inception in 1989. Currently the MIS program ranks No. 4; No. 2 among public programs.

MIS Advising

Every Eller student has an assigned advisor to help with the academic questions that come up as you study here. Get to know the MIS advisor. 

Meet Julio Peña, the MIS Advisor

Department of Management Information Systems

The Eller MIS Department is a recognized powerhouse that scores among the nation’s top programs every year, with expertise in areas like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, big data analytics and IT strategies.

Explore the MIS Department

MIS Sample Coursework Plan

How your Eller MIS experience can play out:

This sample plan is based on 14-17 credits per semester, but each student and their academic plan is unique. Please meet with your Academic Advisor to create a custom plan for you.  Please note that your general education, including second language, requirements are determined by when you were admitted to the university.  Your Academic Advisor can help you navigate the requirements relevant for you. For a full list of official degree requirements, check out the University General Catalog. 

First Year

1st Semester
Course Units
ENGL 101* First Year Composition  
MIS 111* Computers and Internetworked Society 
MIS 112* Computers and Internetworked Society Lab  
MATH 112 College Algebra Concepts and Applications  
General Education and/or Second Language  
    
Attend Eller Career Expo and UA Fall Career Days		 3
3
1
3
3-7
Total 13-17    
2nd Semester
Course Units
ENGL 102* First Year Composition  
MATH 116* Calculus Concepts for Business Majors
General Education  
General Education and/or Second Language 
BNAD 100 Language and Context of Business  
   
Attend Career Showcase and UA Spring Career Days 		 3
3
3
3-7
1
Total 13-17
Summer
Use summer to catch up on math if behind in sequencing based on placement results prior to your first year.

Sophomore Year

1st Semester
Course Units
BNAD/BNAN 276* Statistical Inference in Management 
ACCT 200* Introduction to Financial Accounting  
ECON 200* Basic Economic Issues  
General Education  
General Education
BNAD 200 Career Management in Business  
    
Attend Eller Career Expo and UA Fall Career Days		 3
3
3
3
3
1
Total 16
2nd Semester
Course Units
ACCT 210* Introduction to Managerial Accounting  
BNAD/BNAN 277* Analytical Methods for Business 
BCOM 214* Fundamentals of Business Communication  
General Education  
General Education or Ethics**  
   
Attend Career Showcase and apply for Professional Admissions in February, and attend UA Spring Career Days		 3
4
3
3
3
Total 16
Summer
We highly recommend that students participate in a study abroad and career-related experience.

In order to take the following upper-division courses, students must be admitted to the major through a competitive and selective Professional Admission process.  

Professional Phase

1st Semester
Course Units

MGMT 310A Organization Behavior and Management  
MKTG 361 Introduction to Marketing  
BCOM 314R Business Communication  
FIN 311 Introduction to Finance 
MIS 331 Database Management Systems
 

Attend Eller Career Expo and UA Fall Career Days

 3
3
3
3
3
 
Total 15
2nd Semester
Course Units
ECON 300 Microeconomic Analysis for Business Decisions
OSCM 373 Basic Operations Management  
MIS 304 Using and Managing Information Systems  
MIS 443 Business Data Communications 
MIS 301 Data Structures and Algorithms 
   
Attend Career Showcase and UA Spring Career Days		 3
3
3
3
3
 
Total 15
Summer
Use summer to gain career-related experience through internships, study abroad, or volunteering.

Professional Phase

3rd Semester
Course Units
MGMT 402 Integrating Business Fundamentals with Ethics and Law in Management  
ECON 330 Macroeconomic and Global Institutions and Policy  
ENTR 485 Innovating: Creating the Future  
MIS 441 Information Systems Analysis and Design 
MIS Major Elective Course 

Attend Eller Career Expo and UA Fall Career Days

 3
3
3
3
3
 
Total 15
4th Semester
Course Units

MIS Major Elective Course 
General Education
General Education
Minor, Electives, or remaining General Education requirements

Attend Career Showcase and UA Spring Career Days, and Graduation in May

 3
3
3
3-6
Total 12-15
Summer
Enjoy your summer and continue the job search if necessary!

Students can meet the Second Language requirement by demonstrating second semester proficiency through examination or taking any of a variety of second semester language courses. Each student needs to meet a minimum of 120 total credits. Students are strongly encouraged to take BNAD 100 and BNAD 200 to develop their professional knowledge and competencies required for success in the upper division. Please consult with your Advisement Report and your academic advisor.

Effective Spring 2024, the prefix  changed from BNAD 276 to BNAN 276, and BNAD 277 to BNAN 277. 

* Eller Foundation Courses: Required to apply for Professional Admission into the Professional Program. Professional Admission is required in order to take all 300 & 400-level Professional Core and Major Courses. Students transferring directly into the upper division who do not have a BCOM 214 equivalent completed will be required to take BCOM 315 before graduation instead.

** Business Emphasis Area: Students are required to take one Ethics course. This course must be completed prior to graduation; it does not need to be completed before applying for Professional Admission.

MIS Cohort Schedules

View MIS major cohort schedules by semester:

Management Information Systems Sage Cohort

SAGE COHORT  Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
8:00-9:15   BCOM 314R*   BCOM 314R*
9:30-10:45 MIS 331 BCOM 314R* MIS 331 BCOM 314R*
11:00-12:15 MGMT 310A FIN 311 MGMT 310A FIN 311
12:30-1:45 MKTG 361   MKTG 361  

Management Information Systems Silver Cohort

SILVER COHORT Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
11:00-12:15   FIN 311   FIN 311
12:30-1:45 MIS 331   MIS 331  
2:00-3:15 MGMT 310A BCOM 314R* MGMT 310A BCOM 314R*
3:30-4:45 MKTG 361 BCOM 314R* MKTG 361 BCOM 314R*

* Students will take BCOM 314R at one but not both times.

Management Information Systems Sage Cohort

Sage COHORT 

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday
8:00 - 9:15  

BCOM 314R*

  

BCOM 314R*
9:30 - 10:45

MIS 331

BCOM 314R*

MIS 331

BCOM 314R*

11:00 - 12:15

MGMT 310A

FIN 311

MGMT 310A

FIN 311

12:30 - 1:45

MKTG 361

  

MKTG 361

  

Management Information Systems Silver Cohort

Silver COHORT

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

12:30 - 1:45

 MIS 331

FIN 311

 MIS 331

FIN 311

2:00 - 3:15

MGMT 310A

BCOM 314R*

MGMT 310A

BCOM 314R*

3:30 - 4:45

MKTG 361

BCOM 314R*

MKTG 361

BCOM 314R*

 

Management Information Systems Sage Cohort

sage COHORT 

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday
8:00 - 9:15  

OSCM 373

  

OSCM 373
9:30 - 10:45  

MIS 304

  

MIS 304
11:00 - 12:15

MIS 443

ECON 300

MIS 443

ECON 300
12:30 - 1:45

MIS 301

  

MIS 301

  

Management Information Systems Silver Cohort

silver COHORT 

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday
11:00 - 12:15   ECON 300   ECON 300
2:00 - 3:15

MIS 443

OSCM 373

MIS 443

OSCM 373
3:30 - 4:45

 MIS 301

MIS 304

 MIS 301

MIS 304

*ECON 300 is pre-enrolled for all students.  

Management Information Systems Sage Cohort

sage Cohort 

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday
8:00-9:15 MGMT 402      
11:00-12:15  

MIS 441

  

MIS 441
2:00 - 3:15  

ECON 330

  

ECON 330

Management Information Systems Silver Cohort

silver COHORT

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday
12:30-1:45  

MIS 441

  

MIS 441
2:00 - 3:15  

ECON 330

  

ECON 330

5:00-6:15

 MGMT 402

 

  

 

  ** All third semester Management Information Systems students will be required to take a ENTR 485 that will be held one day a week either Tuesday, or Thursday at 8 a.m. or 3:30 p.m. for a 2 and 1/2 hour period.

MIS Elective Course Options

This course introduces students to the concepts and practices of healthcare information systems. Topics include: 1. introduction to the health IT discipline; 2. major applications and commercial vendors; 3. decision support methods and technologies; 4. information systems design and engineering; and 5. new opportunities and emerging trends.

Units: 3
Usually offered: Spring

Broad survey of the individual, organizational, cultural, social and ethical issues provoked by current and projected uses of networked computers on the Internet.

Units: 3
Usually offered: Spring

This course exposes the student to a broad range of computer systems and information security topics.  It is designed to provide a general knowledge of measures to insure confidentiality, availability, and integrity of information systems.

Units: 3
Usually offered: Fall, Spring

The objective of this course is to provide our University of Arizona students with a thorough and operational knowledge of information security so that this critical area is recognized as a management issue and not an I.T. issue.

Units: 3
Usually offered: Fall, Spring

The information security arena contains a broad array of multi-level models for assessing, planning, implementing and monitoring the mitigation of security risks. At the very core of this information security spectrum are the actual system and network devices which store, manage, transmit and secure information.

Units: 3
Usually offered: Fall, Spring

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems represents integrated strategy for management of information among organizations, suppliers and customers.

Units: 3
Usually offered: Fall

With the increased challenges from terrorism, the need to protect against security threats is even greater today. Thus, it is becoming increasingly necessary to find innovative and better ways to protect ourselves from these security threats. Finding less invasive techniques of detection suggests analyzing people's behavior or the ways/patterns in which they talk/write and identify cues to detect deception and the intent of deception.

Units: 3
Usually offered: Spring (when offered)

This undergraduate senior-level course (elective) will cover the important concepts and techniques relating to data analytics, including: statistical foundation, data mining methods, data visualization, and web mining techniques that are applicable to emerging e-commerce, government, health and security applications. The course contains lectures, readings, lab sessions, and hands-on projects. Most business school seniors are welcome. The course will require some basic computing and database background. The course will prepare students to become a data scientist or a data-savvy manager for different businesses.

Units: 3
Usually offered: Spring

Operational aspect of quality improvement. Topics include statistical process control, quality management programs.

Units: 3
Usually offered: Spring

Organization, management and control of material flow processes; logistical strategies and relationships of procurement, handling, warehousing, transportation and inventory control.

Units: 3
Usually offered: Spring

Project Management is the application of knowledge, analytical skills, scheduling software tools and techniques related to various project activities in order to meet project requirements.

Units: 3
Usually offered: Fall, Spring

The development and exchange of scholarly information, usually in a small group setting. The scope of work shall consist of research by course registrants, with the exchange of the results of such research through discussion, reports and/or papers.

Units: 3
Usually offered: Spring (not offered regularly)

An honors thesis is required of all the students graduating with honors. Students ordinarily sign up for this course as a two-semester sequence. The first semester the student performs research under the supervision of a faculty member; the second semester the student writes an honors thesis.

This course can only be used for 3 units of MIS elective, despite being 2 semesters and 6 honors units.

Units: 3
Usually offered: Fall, Spring

View all Undergraduate MIS Courses

MIS Major Career Resources

MIS Careers

Your MIS degree translates to in-demand careers in programming, software development, applications development, database management and network administration.

View MIS Career Possibilities

Meet the MIS Career Coach

Eller students have a world of options in front of them—which is why a dedicated career coach is so valuable. Get professional coaching on internship and job opportunities awaiting you. 

Meet the ELLER Career CoacHES