Digital Information and Applications Minor

Introduction

The Digital Information and Applications minor is a set of courses meant to enable students to put ideas and concepts drawn from their own major discipline into action in a world increasingly dependent on digital tools and technologies.  As noted by Peter Drucker, most Americans are now “Knowledge Workers”, and this minor is meant to amplify the abilities of students in these areas.

The minor is intended to allow students to do more with their undergraduate degrees, by enabling them to make use of current computational and statistical tools to achieve their goals in the world beyond the statistical and computational disciplines.   These are skills that are useful for both novel work within graduate programs (particularly in the social sciences, the applied sciences and digital humanities), and also in the workplace, as applied pragmatic skills and capabilities, that augment traditional liberal arts or business majors, not replace them.  The goal is to help enable students to put learning into action through the application of technology.   

The Applied Digital Studies Minor requires a total of 6 courses or 5 courses plus an internship or research project. Please note, a minimum of one half of the courses taken must be courses not counted within the student’s major (particularly applies to Computer Science and Economics students). In addition, the optional internship or research project may be done after at least 4 courses in the minor are complete, and the research project must use methods from the minor.

Curriculum

Math, Science, and Logic Electives (select at least one course)

Application of Technology Electives (select at least one course)

Minors are an important part of the undergraduate curriculum.  If students declare a minor by sophomore year, they can usually complete it in a timely manner.  Students should work with their advisor to determine if it is possible that the minor can be completed by graduation.  

To receive a minor, a student must complete at least 9 credit hours of coursework distinct from their major(s) and from other minors, and students must complete more than 50% of the coursework required for the minor at Canisius. Please note that “ancillary/supporting” courses required for a major may still count as distinct courses as long as the remaining coursework still meets the 30 credit-hours required for a major. For more information about minor policies, please see the Declaring Majors and Minors page in the catalog.

Roadmap

This minor can be useful for various majors. For example, a student majoring in history may be interested in pursuing a field of study in forming and maintaining databases. An English major may be interested in pursuing a career in web-based media. The following roadmaps provide examples of courses that would be useful for students in these majors.

The following roadmaps are provided as examples based on different majors and courses of study.  Students interested in the minor are strongly encouraged to speak with Dr. David Sheets, the coordinator of the program, for an individualized plan.

History Major Sample Roadmap

English Major Sample Roadmap