Why consider a Ph.D. degree in Information Systems or Information Technology?

• The domain: Information Systems and Information Technology have had tremendous impact on business, society and even everyday life. In the world of business, IS and IT continue to make profound impact on other business functions such as strategy, finance, marketing and operations. If you have the passion for technology, the ability to conceive of fundamental and interesting questions in this space, and the willingness to learn and use scientific methodologies that will help you rigorously answer these questions, then a PhD in Information Systems might be of interest to you.
• Challenging career: If you have accomplished everything you wanted to accomplish within a relatively short time and still crave for more, then an IS Ph.D. program may just be the right choice for you. You will be trained to be an independent thinker, ask (and answer) difficult questions, solve seemingly intractable problems, and spend a lifetime of continuous learning.
• Academic freedom: An IS Ph.D. will give you the opportunity to design your own projects, assemble your own team of experts, work on your own schedule, and use your own preferred choice of methodologies. In addition to making impact as a researcher, as a university professor you will also get to design and teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Information Systems, thereby helping to train and develop future generations of IS professionals.

Why pursue an IS PhD / MIS PhD degree at USF?

The IS Ph.D. program at USF is a young but top-quality program, offering abundant research opportunities and ample resources to building a successful academic career. Following are some reasons why you should prefer a Ph.D. from USF over other schools in the country:

• Research productivity: Despite our young age, we are one of the top-rated research programs in information systems in the world. Our faculty have been awarded numerous external grants and publish in the leading journals and conferences in the field including the most highly regarded publications and conferences organized by major professional organizations such as INFORMS, ACM and IEEE.
• Funding: Most incoming Ph.D. students receive an assistantship plus tuition waivers for Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters. You may be able to supplement this stipend with additional fellowships or financial aid, if you qualify.
• Location and quality of life: Our location in a major city on Florida 's west coast helps us offer a lifestyle unparalleled anywhere in the country. There are few places in the world that offer the benefits of living in a big city plus year-round sunshine, beautiful weather, access to pristine beaches and numerous tourist attractions such as Busch Gardens, Sea World, and Disney. Moreover, our location on the I-4 corridor in central Florida will give you access to numerous local firms as potential research sites.
• Faculty size: Our faculty size makes us one of the larger IS programs in the world. This in turn helps us develop a high-quality research program and provide our doctoral students valuable training and experience on a wide range of research projects, research styles, and research approaches.
• Faculty-to-student ratio: We have more faculty members than Ph.D. students in our department. This better than 1:1 faculty-student ratio helps us provide our Ph.D. students with individualized attention and mentorship that is critical in the formative years of their academic career.
• Research diversity: Our faculty represents the entire spectrum of IS research from technology design and deployment to managerial and behavioral issues related to IS implementation in organizations. They are skilled in methodologies ranging from analytical modeling and simulation to qualitative and quantitative research approaches. No matter what your specific research interest is in IS, you will find someone in our faculty to assist and direct you in that area.
• Resources: Ph.D. is one of the highest-priority programs at the USF College of Business, and we have thus made a conscious commitment to devote adequate resources to support and sustain this program. These resources include a state-of-the-art library, fully equipped with online journals and databases, modern computing facilities, research software and travel support.