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The Information Systems Engineering and Management program at Harrisburg University is a 12 course, 36 credit hour flexible and interdisciplinary comprehensive program that emphasizes the technical, engineering and management business aspects of creating and deploying smart digital enterprises. ISEM is SEVP compliant for International students.

Our graduate program aims to educate qualified leaders capable of working with stakeholders, addressing business problems, and managing the next generation of smart digital enterprises through strategic planning, architecture, design, integration, testing, deployment, and ongoing management. Explore how ISEM supports enterprise digital transformation and cultivates future industry leaders.

Harrisburg University ISEM graduate studies are built on the following three (3) pillars, which are inter-related perspectives of successful system design and deployment:

  • Information Systems Technologies: development of skills and competencies in new and emerging technologies and their applications, including predictive and generative Artificial intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning, Big Data, on-premise and Cloud Computing, Blockchains, Business Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0.
  • Systems Design: development of the ability to think broadly and holistically and gain a range of perspectives and skills, focusing on systems thinking and emphasis on development of integrated systems rather than individual components. This includes development of enterprise architectures that optimize the use of people, processes and technologies.
  • Management and Management Science: development of the aptitude to focus on business strategies, entrepreneurship, planning, security and governance for global and agile enterprises.

The Information Systems Engineering and Management course structure is comprised of 12 courses in total, with five (5) “Core” Courses, five (5) “Elective” Courses and two (2) Capstone courses. All “Core” courses must be taken in the first year of study before Elective courses are available in the second year of study.

Review ISEM Elective courses.


Program Concentrations

Upon entry to the ISEM program, each student picks one of five (5) available “Concentrations”. A student will remain in that chosen Concentration unless they switch to a different Concentration before 24 credit hours have been accomplished.

The ISEM Concentrations are:

For more details on each Concentration, please see the ISEM Program Overview.


What separates the ISEM MS program from its peers?

The ISEM Program recognizes that continuous “Digital Transformation” is occurring around the globe. This makes it important for students to understand how current and future generations of digital enterprises will be successfully conceived, planned, designed, deployed and managed.

To support this:

Why Choose ISEM?

Information Systems Engineering and Management Advisory Board

The Information Systems Engineering and Management program is guided by leaders in industry to ensure the program produces graduates capable of stepping into a variety of roles. We thank the following Advisory Board Members for their continued guidance and support:

Jason Hebbe Chief Technology Officer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

jason hebbeJason Hebbe was named the Chief Technology Officer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in June 2021.

Jason participates in the development and execution of the commonwealth’s information technology strategic plan. He has nearly three decades of information technology expertise across multiple industries, including banking, insurance, manufacturing, logistics and state government. During his career, Jason has held multiple IT leadership positions, focused efforts on IT architecture to design and implement solutions to meet business needs and brought a passion for using technology to bring value and efficiency to the customers and organizations served to all that he does.

Jason has completed studies in leadership, finance, project management and has held multiple technology certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, EMC and the Linux Professional Institute. He is also a graduate of the Government Technology Institute’s Certified Government Chief Information Officer (CGCIOTM) Program and is ITIL Foundations Certified.

Outside of work, he is actively involved in his church and volunteering to serve others. He has a wife, two children and two stepchildren.

Jennifer Magaro Vice President, enGen

jason hebbeAs VP of Integrated Experience Platform and Delivery at enGen, a wholly owned healthtech subsidiary of Highmark Health, Jennifer Magaro facilitates an integrated experience platform layer that supports and simplifies the health care experience for all.

Leading enGen’s digital operating model transformation and technology portfolio, Jennifer enables the organizations Living Health strategy to reinvent the health experience of a person and their clinician. Previously, she led the diversified business technology platforms of Highmark Health, focusing on the United Concordia Dental and HM Insurance Group platforms, servicing over nine million members nationwide.

With more than 25 years’ business and technology leadership experience, Jennifer demonstrates a thorough understanding in her field, showcasing a skillset that includes platform ownership, portfolio management, process improvement, delivery methodologies, and employee engagement.

An active supporter of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs throughout her local community, Jennifer is a champion for the Junior Achievement of South Central Pennsylvania STEM Summit program, as well as a board member of the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania.

Jennifer holds a master’s degree in management information systems from Shippensburg University, and a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Pittsburgh. Jennifer resides in Central Pennsylvania and is married to her husband, Shawn, and has two children, Nick and Gabe.

Patricia A. Marrero Vice President of Organization Develop & Talent Acquisition, Phoenix Contact

Patricia MarreroPatty has been with Phoenix Contact for 17 years. During that time she has been worked closely with the business to establish apprenticeship programs geared to developing skill sets that are greatly needed in the manufacturing industry. Several of those programs have a focus on IT. She also co-chairs the NextGen Advanced Manufacturing Partnership in Southcentral PA. The employer group works to address the issues that restrain the growth of manufacturing in the region. Patty also sits on the Board of Directors for the South Central PA Manufacturing Association.

Prior to joining Phoenix Contact, Patty spend 7 years in healthcare and 10 year working for public utility. Her entire career has been focused on organization and people development. She is a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania where is earned her undergraduate degree in Education, and Villanova University, where she earned her master degree in Human Resources.

 

Patrick McDonald IT Consultant, Deloitte’s Government and Public Services Practice

Patrick McDonaldPatrick McDonald is an IT Consultant with over 15 years’ experience delivering technology solutions for Federal, state and local government agencies. He specializes in IT delivery modernization through cloud and automation, helping organizations implement strategies aimed at accelerating the speed of IT service delivery that align to industry frameworks such as CMMI, ITIL, SAFe and Agile methodologies. In his current role he manages IT operations for local government agencies as part of Deloitte’s Government and Public Services Practice. He holds a M.S. in Information Science and Technology from Temple University.

Brad Milbrand Transition and Optimization manager for CAI’s Application Managed Services (AMS) account with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Brad MilbrandBrad Milbrand serves as the Transition and Optimization manager for CAI’s Application Managed Services (AMS) account with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He is responsible for setting up and transitioning new projects to the AMS account and works across all AMS teams to identify process and procedure improvements to provide better client solutions.

Brad earned a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from Penn State University and started his career as an application developer for several fortune 500 companies. He earned a master’s degree in Business Administration from Eastern University and transitioned into team and account leadership. He is currently working on a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from Eastern University with a concentration in private industry. He is currently working on his dissertation which focuses on team culture within information technology organizations.

Brad and his wife, Kendra, along with their two daughters, live in Enola and enjoy spending time running to soccer games, scouting activities, band competitions, and family events. When he gets some free time, he enjoys spending time in his woodshop.

Arijith Roy VP Consulting Sigma Resources, LLC

Arijith RoyI am a firm believer in the quote “Staying focused on human beings is one of the most important tenets of building a successful business”. I am a curious technologist, passionate about innovative products, service design and delivery. In my 20+ years consulting with various clients I have interacted with and learned from C-level execs, business line managers, and peers to have a keen focus on customer needs while empowering implementation teams to deliver business value.

Program Lead

 Robert  Pittman, Ph.D.

Robert Pittman, Ph.D. Assistant Professor and Program Lead of Systems Engineering

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Full Time Faculty

Siamak Aram, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Computer Science and Data Analytics

Barry Boyer, MS-ISEM

Instructor of Information Systems Engineering & Management

Robert Pittman, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Program Lead of Systems Engineering

Thomas Plunkett

Assistant Professor of Blockchain Technologies

Amjad Umar, Ph.D.

Associate Vice Chancellor of International Programs and Professor of Information Systems Engineering and Management

Richard Wirth

Assistant Professor of Information Sciences and Program Lead of Human-Centered Interaction Design

Corporate Faculty

Program Core Courses

This program requires a total of 36 semester hours: 15 semester hours from the “Core” courses, 6 semester hours of experiential (Capstone) courses, and 15 Elective semester hours of either Concentration (Elective) courses. Note that all courses are 3 semester hours.

Mandatory CORE courses (all students) (12 credit hours)

ISEM 500 – Strategic Pln for Digital Transform (3 credits)

This course introduces the basic principles (systems thinking and quantitative methods) of systems engineering and shows how these principles can be used to strategically plan, integrate, secure and administer the complex information systems that support and drive the current and future digital enterprises. Topics include: digital enterprises, aligning information technology strategy to business strategy, enterprise applications (customer relations management, procurement, supply chain management), ecommcerce, decision support, knowledge management, artificial intelligence (AI) applications, cost/benefit analysis and information technology infrastructure. These topics are explained through case studies and examples by using a strategic planning methodology.

MGMT 510 – Bus Strategy & Mgmt Principles (3 credits)

This course introduces the basic concepts of business strategy and management principles of planning, organizing, staffing, developing, and monitoring/control. The context is global markets and their impact on business strategies and managerial processes. The course explores the best practices in global strategic management, organizational design, human resource processes, and organizational behavior.

ISEM 530 – Systems Engineering Principles (3 credits)

This course prepares the student to analyze business information systems in the digital age and to build models and logical designs that can be later implemented. The emphasis will be on the business processes and business requirements needed to build conceptual models that help in analysis of business requirements. This course prepares the student to design complex systems and to build applied designs and architectures.

ISEM 540 – Enterprise Architecture & Integr (3 credits)

Modern digital enterprises are characterized by increased automation, mobile services, extended B2B operations with global business partners, and on-demand business services. The main issue in such enterprises is to architect and integrate a very wide range of services quickly and effectively. This course presents a ‘systems’ perspective based on service oriented architecture (SOA) that combines processes, people and technologies, and highlights the role of information and communication technologies, enterprise models, and emerging SOA standards in developing flexible and integrated business architectures.

Core courses (All students) – “Pick 1” from list OF 5 COURSES (3 credit hours)

ISEM 502 – User-Centered Design (3 credits)

A high level of end-user and client involvement is absolutely critical in creating usable and effective software and technology that attracts audiences and/or generates revenue. User-centered design (UCD) describes an approach to business analysis and technology development that demands user interaction and user feedback in all stages of the development lifecycle. The UCD process involves a collection of activities and techniques that can be used to create the more usable, intuitive, and effective technology possible. This course covers the full range of UCD methods and demonstrates the importance of these techniques in designing and building interactive technology, focusing mostly on software applications.

ISEM 534 – Database Design and Management (3 credits)

This course emphasizes the practical aspects of the design and administration of modern Database Management Systems (DBMSs) that host enterprise data. Specific topics include the role of data in modern enterprises and the data life cycle that spans conceptual database design, database query languages such as SQL, database integrity rules, database administration, and data warehouses. This course utilizes commercially available relational DBMSs for hands-on experiments and explore how to create an entity-relationship data model, translate that model into relational schema, build and use a relational database that implements the schema, create SQL queries to retrieve and manipulate needed data, provide access to remote databases from web browsers, and experiment with DBA (Database Administration) capabilities. The student also investigates recent developments in database technologies (e.g. NoSQL). This course prepares the student for database design and administration positions and will also provide the necessary background for more specialized courses in database systems.

ISEM 551 – Web-based Software Engineering (3 credits)

This course is an introduction to web-based software engineering environments, design patterns, frameworks and key architectural aspects of robust enterprise applications. Topics for software development technologies include development languages and frameworks (e.g., .Net, Java, opensource), various tools used during the development lifecycle, and key components of an application in terms of the data, process and presentation layers. Architectural topics include prevalent design patterns such as model-view-controller (MVC), Web Services, and service-oriented architecture (SOA). The student uses computer-aided software engineering (CASE) environments and develops software architectures of real life enterprise applications.

ISEM 570 – IT Quality Assurance (3 credits)

The information technology product is central to most business systems. Quality of the product is represented by accuracy, reliability, repeatability and specific customer requirement standards. Various techniques to understand the quality control processes and quality assurance measures as demonstrated in industry standards and protocols are covered.

MGMT 511 – Digital and Global Enterprises (3 credits)

Modern enterprises are globally dispersed organizations where nearly all significant business processes and relationships with customers, suppliers, and employees are digitally-enabled and key corporate assets are managed through digital means. Such organizations merge the concepts traditionally discussed in ecommerce, ebusiness and egovernment. This course will introduce the organizational and operational aspects of such organizations and highlight the role of managing such organizations. Topics will include organizational issues such as organizational structure and design, learning and agile organizations, and operational concerns such as management of supply chains and B2B trade at a global level.

International Admissions

Information for Students who want to come to the U.S.

The University is home to more than 5,000 international students representing 110 countries.

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