Information Management and Systems: MIMS

University of California, Berkeley

This is an archived copy of the 2019-20 guide. To access the most recent version of the guide, please visit http://guide.berkeley.edu.

Spring 2020 COVID-19 Measures

About the Program

The Master's Program

The Master of Information Management and Systems (MIMS) program is a two-year full-time program, designed to train students in the skills needed to succeed as information professionals. Such professionals must be familiar with the theory and practice of storing, organizing, retrieving, and analyzing information in a variety of settings in business, the public sector, and the academic world. Technical expertise alone is not sufficient for success; I School graduates will be expected to perform and manage a multiplicity of information-related tasks.

Graduates of the MIMS program will be able to:

  • Identify and address user and stakeholder information and resource needs in context.
  • Make and assess information design decisions iteratively.
  • Intentionally organize collections of information and other resources to support human and/or machine-based interactions and services.
  • Understand and apply foundational principles and debates of information law, policy, and ethics.
  • Analyze complex relationships and practical choices at the intersection of technical design, policy frameworks, and ethics.
  • Understand and apply fundamental principles and debates of information economics.
  • Understand and apply architectural, computational, and algorithmic thinking and principles of concurrency to the design of information systems.
  • Scope, plan, and manage open-ended projects, both individually and in teams.
  • Present findings and conclusions persuasively.

Such a profession is inherently interdisciplinary, requiring aspects of computer science, cognitive science, psychology, sociology, economics, business, law, library/information studies, and communications.

The I School also offers a master's in Information and Data Science (MIDS), a master's in Information and Cybersecurity (MICS), and a doctoral degree (PhD) program in Information Management and Systems.

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Admissions

Admission to the University 

Minimum Requirements for Admission

The following minimum requirements apply to all graduate programs and will be verified by the Graduate Division:

  1. A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution;
  2. A grade point average of B or better (3.0);
  3. If the applicant comes from a country or political entity (e.g., Quebec) where English is not the official language, adequate proficiency in English to do graduate work, as evidenced by a TOEFL score of at least 90 on the iBT test, 570 on the paper-and-pencil test, or an IELTS Band score of at least 7 on a 9-point scale (note that individual programs may set higher levels for any of these); and
  4. Sufficient undergraduate training to do graduate work in the given field.

Applicants Who Already Hold a Graduate Degree

The Graduate Council views academic degrees not as vocational training certificates, but as evidence of broad training in research methods, independent study, and articulation of learning. Therefore, applicants who already have academic graduate degrees should be able to pursue new subject matter at an advanced level without the need to enroll in a related or similar graduate program.

Programs may consider students for an additional academic master’s or professional master’s degree only if the additional degree is in a distinctly different field.

Applicants admitted to a doctoral program that requires a master’s degree to be earned at Berkeley as a prerequisite (even though the applicant already has a master’s degree from another institution in the same or a closely allied field of study) will be permitted to undertake the second master’s degree, despite the overlap in field.

The Graduate Division will admit students for a second doctoral degree only if they meet the following guidelines:

  1. Applicants with doctoral degrees may be admitted for an additional doctoral degree only if that degree program is in a general area of knowledge distinctly different from the field in which they earned their original degree. For example, a physics PhD could be admitted to a doctoral degree program in music or history; however, a student with a doctoral degree in mathematics would not be permitted to add a PhD in statistics.
  2. Applicants who hold the PhD degree may be admitted to a professional doctorate or professional master’s degree program if there is no duplication of training involved.

Applicants may apply only to one single degree program or one concurrent degree program per admission cycle.

Required Documents for Applications

  1. Transcripts: Applicants may upload unofficial transcripts with your application for the departmental initial review. If the applicant is admitted, then official transcripts of all college-level work will be required. Official transcripts must be in sealed envelopes as issued by the school(s) attended. If you have attended Berkeley, upload your unofficial transcript with your application for the departmental initial review. If you are admitted, an official transcript with evidence of degree conferral will not be required.
  2. Letters of recommendation: Applicants may request online letters of recommendation through the online application system. Hard copies of recommendation letters must be sent directly to the program, not the Graduate Division.
  3. Evidence of English language proficiency: All applicants from countries or political entities in which the official language is not English are required to submit official evidence of English language proficiency. This applies to applicants from Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Latin America, the Middle East, the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, most European countries, and Quebec (Canada). However, applicants who, at the time of application, have already completed at least one year of full-time academic course work with grades of B or better at a US university may submit an official transcript from the US university to fulfill this requirement. The following courses will not fulfill this requirement:
    • courses in English as a Second Language,
    • courses conducted in a language other than English,
    • courses that will be completed after the application is submitted, and
    • courses of a non-academic nature.

If applicants have previously been denied admission to Berkeley on the basis of their English language proficiency, they must submit new test scores that meet the current minimum from one of the standardized tests. Official TOEFL score reports must be sent directly from Educational Test Services (ETS). The institution code for Berkeley is 4833. Official IELTS score reports must be mailed directly to our office from the British Council. TOEFL and IELTS score reports are only valid for two years.

Where to Apply

Visit the Berkeley Graduate Division application page. 

Admission to the MIMS Program

The I School’s Master of Information Management and Systems (MIMS) program welcomes students from a diverse set of backgrounds; some will be technically educated, some educated in the humanities and social sciences. Our goal each year is to bring in a talented class of students from a broad range of academic and professional backgrounds.

Applications are evaluated holistically on a combination of grade point average, GRE score, work experience, statement of purpose, and letters of recommendation. As much as possible, applicants are judged on a combination of these factors. A minimum of two years of job experience is preferred, although not required. All successful applicants must have statements of purpose that demonstrate goals and interests consistent with the mission of the I School.

To be eligible to apply to the Master of Information Management and Systems program, applicants must meet the following requirements:

To Apply

For further information and application instructions, please visit the School of Information Application Instructions page.

 

Master's Degree Requirements

Unit Requirements

The Master of Information Management and Systems (MIMS) program requires at least 48 semester units of study. The first year of the program consists mostly of a core curriculum; the second year involves further study in core areas along with additional electives, with the expectation that the student will specialize in particular aspects of information management and systems, as well as complete a final project requirement.

Curriculum

Required Courses
INFO 202Information Organization and Retrieval2
INFO 203Social Issues of Information2
INFO 205Information Law and Policy2
INFO 206BIntroduction to Data Structures and Analytics2
Technology Requirement
Elective: Additional two- or three-unit course, taken from an approved list of technology courses2-3
INFO 219Course Not Available3
INFO 247Information Visualization and Presentation4
INFO 251Applied Machine Learning4
INFO 253Course Not Available3
INFO 254Data Mining and Analytics3
INFO 256Applied Natural Language Processing3
INFO 257Database Management3
INFO 259Natural Language Processing4
INFO C260FMachine Learning in Education3
INFO C262Theory and Practice of Tangible User Interfaces4
INFO C265Interface Aesthetics3
INFO 290TSpecial Topics in Technology1-4
Social Science and Policy Requirement
Elective: Two- or three-unit course, taken from an approved list of courses.2-3
INFO 216Course Not Available3
INFO 232Applied Behavioral Economics for Information Systems3
INFO 233Social Psychology and Information Technology3
INFO 234Information Technology Economics, Strategy, and Policy3
INFO 239Technology and Delegation3
INFO 271BQuantitative Research Methods for Information Systems and Management3
INFO 272Qualitative Research Methods for Information Systems and Management3
Electives
Further courses to satisfy the 48 unit requirement may be chosen from the school's course catalog. Up to 40 units of the 48 must be INFO courses. An additional 8 units may be used from courses in other departments, with approval from student's faculty adviser.25+
Final Project
INFO 298ADirected Group Work on Final Project3

Internship Participation

During the summer between the two years, students are strongly encouraged to participate in an internship program in order to use their newly acquired skills in real-world settings. Assistance in arranging internships will be provided whenever possible, but the ultimate responsibility of obtaining the internship will be that of the student. Past internships have been in corporate, academic, government, and nonprofit institutions.

Please refer to the School of Information website for more information.

Courses

Faculty and Instructors

+ Indicates this faculty member is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Faculty

David Bamman, Assistant Professor. Natural language processing, computational social science, machine learning, digital humanities.

Joshua Blumenstock, Assistant Professor. Development Economics, Data Science, Econometrics, Machine Learning, ICTD.

Jenna Burrell, Associate Professor. Technology appropriation in non-Western societies, technology and socio-economic development, qualitative research methods.

Coye Cheshire, Associate Professor. Sociology, trust, social media, social psychology, social networks, collective action, social exchange, information exchange, social incentives, reputation, internet research, online research, online dating, online behavior.
Research Profile

John Chuang, Professor. Computer networking, computer security, economic incentives, ICTD.
Research Profile

Paul Duguid, Adjunct Professor. Trademark, information, communities of practice.
Research Profile

Hany Farid, Professor. Digital Forensics, Image Analysis, and Human Perception.

Morten Hansen, Professor. Creating great companies, collaboration, corporate transformation, leadership.

Marti A. Hearst, Professor. Information retrieval, human-computer interaction, user interfaces, information visualization, web search, search user interfaces, empirical computational linguistics, natural language processing, text mining, social media.
Research Profile

Chris Jay Hoofnagle, Adjunct Professor. Internet law, information privacy, consumer protection, cybersecurity, computer crime, regulation of technology, edtech.

Douglas Alex Hughes, Assistant Adjunct Professor. Experiments and Causal Identification, Social Networks, Political Behavior and Outcomes.

Paul Laskowski, Adjunct Assistant Professor. Information economics, telecommunications policy, network architecture, innovation.

Clifford Lynch, Adjunct Professor.

Deirdre Mulligan, Associate Professor. Privacy, fairness, human rights, cybersecurity, technology and governance, values in design.

Geoffrey D. Nunberg, Adjunct Professor. The theory, history and social role of information .

Aditya Parameswaran, Assistant Professor. Data management, interactive or human-in-the-loop data analytics, information visualization, crowdsourcing, data science.

Zach Pardos, Assistant Professor. Education Data Science, Learning Analytics, Big Data in Education, data mining, Data Privacy and Ethics, Computational Psychometrics, Digital Learning Environments, Cognitive Modeling, Bayesian Knowledge Tracing, Formative Assessment, Learning Maps, machine learning.
Research Profile

Kimiko Ryokai, Associate Professor. Human-computer interaction, tangible user interfaces.

Niloufar Salehi, Assistant Professor.

Annalee Saxenian, Professor. Innovation, information management, entrepreneurship, Silicon Valley, regional economic development, high skilled immigration, Asian development.
Research Profile

Doug Tygar, Professor. Privacy, technology policy, computer security, electronic commerce, software engineering, reliable systems, embedded systems, computer networks, cryptography, cryptology, authentication, ad hoc networks.
Research Profile

Steven Weber, Professor. Political science, international security, international political economy, information science.
Research Profile

Lecturers

Luis Aguilar, Lecturer.

Olukayode Segun Ashaolu, Lecturer.

Steven Fadden, Lecturer.

Leslie Harris, Lecturer.

Jez Humble, Lecturer.

Xavier Malina, Lecturer.

Nick Merrill, Lecturer.

James Reffell, Lecturer.

Peter Frank Weis, Lecturer.

Emeritus Faculty

Michael Buckland, Professor Emeritus. Information management, information retrieval, metadata, library services.
Research Profile

Michael D. Cooper, Professor Emeritus. Analysis, design, database management systems, implementation and evaluation of information systems, computer performance monitoring and evaluation, and library automation.
Research Profile

William S. Cooper, Professor Emeritus.

M. E. Maron, Professor Emeritus.

Nancy A. Van House, Professor Emeritus. Digital libraries, science, information management, technology studies, knowledge communities, user needs, information tools, artifacts, participation of users.
Research Profile

Contact Information

School of Information

102 South Hall

Phone: 510-642-1464

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Director of Student Affairs

Siu Yung Wong

104 South Hall

studentaffairs@ischool.berkeley.edu

Director of Admissions

Julia Sprague

102 South Hall

Phone: 510-642-9242

admissions@ischool.berkeley.edu

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