Around a decade ago, wheels began turning at the 小蝌蚪APP to develop undergraduate and graduate informatics programs to better prepare graduates for the future of business and technology. The first undergraduate class earned their degrees in 2014 and in 2018 the first graduate students were able to enroll.
Among the first to enroll and graduate with an M.S. in Informatics were Arthur Almazan and Lisa Olinger, who were able to lean into their strengths and interests as students and discover what roles, responsibilities, and specialties suit them best.
Meet Arthur
He was always interested in technology and computing 小蝌蚪APP from hacking phone games as a kid to working in information systems for the U.S. Air Force 小蝌蚪APP but he knew writing code wasn小蝌蚪APP檛 his passion. 
After serving in the U.S. Air Force, Almazan was ready for college. He came back to his hometown of Lafayette to use his G.I. bill and expand his computing talents.
小蝌蚪APP淚 didn't want to be a programmer, but I wanted to stay in that paradigm,小蝌蚪APP says Almazan.
The informatics curriculum, Almazan says, puts a premium on mastering data 小蝌蚪APP 小蝌蚪APP渨hether that小蝌蚪APP檚 analytics, whether it's large data, whether it's finding trends in that data, anything revolving around information about information.小蝌蚪APP But Almazan says his coursework changed his perspective in other ways, as well.
小蝌蚪APP淲e worked on enterprise architecture, and it was neat because I've always been a cog in the machine, never so much planning how an organization would run,小蝌蚪APP Almazan says. 小蝌蚪APP淕etting that top-down view helped me better understand some of the organizations I've been a part of.小蝌蚪APP
Dr. Michael Totaro, graduate coordinator for the Master of Informatics program, says communications underlie much of the curriculum because 小蝌蚪APP渆ngaging in conversations with others outside of our own sort of technical domain小蝌蚪APP is critical.
As a professional in systems engineering, Almazan has found that小蝌蚪APP檚 true.
小蝌蚪APP淧art of informatics is being the liaison between the corporate side and the technical side,小蝌蚪APP says Almazan.
An attribute that drew Almazan to this master小蝌蚪APP檚 program is what he calls a 小蝌蚪APP渉olistic approach小蝌蚪APP to computing which explores the broad and very specialized moving parts an organization needs to function.
小蝌蚪APP淭his program emphasized understanding enterprise resource planning and the physical hardware that supports these platforms,小蝌蚪APP he says. 小蝌蚪APP淭his approach factors into what I took with me into the workforce, a strong systematic understanding of the resources I use, and the way information flows between them.小蝌蚪APP
That comprehensive understanding of system structure has served him in his current role and will help in the roles he aspires to next.
Almazan plans to leverage his knowledge of organizational structure and function into a career in national or international cybersecurity.
Meet Lisa
Lisa Olinger, originally from Plaisance, Louisiana, is now a Systems Analyst assigned to the Undergraduate Admissions office here at UL Lafayette.
As an undergrad in the B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration, Olinger knew she wanted to pursue a master小蝌蚪APP檚 degree but hadn小蝌蚪APP檛 committed to a discipline. When she heard Dr. Totaro speak on the School of Computing and Informatics plans for the M.S. in Informatics, she knew that was what she wanted from graduate school.
小蝌蚪APP淒r. Totaro explained to us what the informatics master小蝌蚪APP檚 program would eventually become, and I knew that was something I wanted to do,小蝌蚪APP she says.
Much like Almazan, Olinger was impressed by the scope of the curriculum.
When asked how to define informatics, she says it小蝌蚪APP檚 小蝌蚪APP渢he overall study of interdisciplinary enterprise computing. It小蝌蚪APP檚 a little of this, a little of that; I think you can pick and choose which skills fit your goals best.小蝌蚪APP
That customization has served Olinger well in her previous role as Desktop Services Manager for UL Lafayette. Olinger focused her graduate capstone project on IT leadership, which she parlayed into a project digitizing hard copy records in her old department.
小蝌蚪APP淏efore I started, we didn小蝌蚪APP檛 really have digital records (for what we do) it was all on paper,小蝌蚪APP she says. 小蝌蚪APP淪o, I said 小蝌蚪APP榃e小蝌蚪APP檙e going to digitize some stuff, get things online.小蝌蚪APP櫺◎蝌紸PP
She小蝌蚪APP檚 now applying her knowledge in new ways as a systems analyst.
Through her studies and career, she小蝌蚪APP檚 found she enjoys learning how to apply leadership theory to develop best practices and achieve real results.
小蝌蚪APP淭he informatics curriculum teaches such a wide variety of topics and being able to further delve into and apply those topics through the lens of IT leadership is something I think that is very valuable when going into the workforce,小蝌蚪APP she says.