UMSI at AmeriCorps Virtual Grad School Fair

Have you served your community as an AmeriCorps member?

The University of Michigan School of Information will be attending the AmeriCorps Alums Virtual Grad School Fairs on September 26th and 30th.

As a graduate student, UMSI offers many opportunities for you to continue improving and engaging communities by connecting people and technology in valuable ways including:

• Citizen Interaction Design
• Global Information Engagement Program
• A2 Data Dive
• Student Groups involved in the community

Here's the best part: the School of Information works to match your education award up to $10,000! (see link for more details)

If you haven't already, you can register online for the fair here. We hope to see you there!

Events for prospective UMSI students! RSVP for Ann Arbor event & see where else we'll be!

UMSI will be hosting two events in Ann Arbor to help prospective students learn about the school.

The event on Thursday, October 16 (held from 5:30-7:45 p.m.) will be a chance to learn about the programs, admissions, funding, and career development in a shorter version of our Saturday event.

The Saturday, October 18 event (1:30-5:00 p.m.) will be a bit more in-depth on each of the above topics - with a specific portion of the day dedicated to doctoral studies - and will allow you a chance to engage with faculty and current students, in addition to hearing from staff throughout the afternoon. Both events will be held in Palmer Commons, just a short walk away from North Quad. Click here for more information and to RSVP.

UMSI will also be at several fairs this fall.  See our recruitment calendar below to see if we'll be at a location or fair near you!

If you'll be at one of these fairs, stop by and see us. If not, please remember you can always email umsi.admissions@umich.edu for more information about our graduate programs in Information.

I found the right fit: My first week at SI

Hello! My name is Charlie Kelley and I am a first-year MSI student and one week into my graduate school career.

My path to the School of Information has felt like a long one at times. I have been interested in attending graduate school since I earned my undergraduate degree, but never found the right fit. I have always been passionate about communities and became more interested in technology through my work experience, but never knew how to describe what I wanted. Was it an urban planning degree? Was it a computer science degree? Was it business?

After one week at UMSI I can tell you something you will hear over and over again is our mission, that we value three things and how they interact: People, Technology and Information. This intersection of values was exactly what I had been searching for and this first week showed my I was not alone in that. In my first 502 course, Dr. Chuck described the SI faculty as the “island of misfit toys” - as professors who have broken out of their silos in the academic world who see the sum of connecting these three values is much greater than the individual worth of the parts. 

You are probably wondering what exactly a Master’s of Science in Information is and if it’s worth pursuing. I can tell you that if you are curious, if you have more questions than answers and you care about connecting people to information in valuable ways then you should stay tuned. Over the next months we will be giving you snapshots of life in the MSI program, events to get connected to UMSI and hopefully you will decide if SI is right for you. 

After one week of meeting my cohort who amaze me and being introduced to professors and topics that will challenge me, I know I have made the right decision.