In response to a growing demand for information technology-educated graduates, Purdue University Calumet 
and Ivy Tech Community College have signed a 2 + 2 undergraduate articulation agreement in Computer Information Systems.
The articulated program will be introduced this fall.
The agreement allows those who graduate from Ivy Tech’s associate degree program in Computer Information Systems with a grade point average of at least 2.5 (4.0 scale) to transfer seamlessly into Purdue Calumet’s Computer Information Systems baccalaureate degree program.
Full time students typically spend two years earning an associate degree and another two years completing a baccalaureate degree program—hence, the term “2 + 2.”
“This program is in response to a great demand for degrees in the field of Information in our 21st century economy,” Purdue Calumet Chancellor Howard Cohen said. “Graduates of this 2 + 2 program will help supplement and diversify the current economic base of Indiana.”
Though Purdue Calumet offers a complete undergraduate degree program in Computer Information Systems, this 2 + 2 partnership is intended to provide Ivy Tech graduates an opportunity to complete a baccalaureate degree at Purdue Calumet. Increased baccalaureate degree attainment is an objective of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education and Purdue Calumet, while baccalaureate degree program articulation is part of the Ivy Tech mission.
According to Gina Rue, dean of Ivy Tech’s School of Business, approximately half of all Ivy Tech students cite transfer to a four-year college or university a goal in enrolling at Ivy Tech.
Kuan-Chou Chen, head of Purdue Calumet’s Department of Information Systems, said the Purdue Calumet-Ivy Tech CIS articulation will provide “more students with more opportunities while enabling us to continue to grow our program.”
The 2 + 2 program, according to Professor Chen, also will enable Ivy Tech students to learn and develop skills in specific areas of information systems during their associate degree pursuit before they focus on a broader range of computer information systems knowledge areas during their junior and senior years at Purdue Calumet.
Associate degree graduates typically are prepared for jobs at the operational level, while baccalaureate degree graduates are qualified for jobs as programmers, systems analysts, network administrators, database designers and administrators, computer consultants and Information Technology project managers.