The iSchool will surpass 2,000 students next quarter, a milestone that reflects the growing urgency of an education in information science. Students see the value of programs that blend technology and liberal arts and put them on a path to a rewarding career.
This academic year, we will admit close to 600 students into Informatics, bringing the total to more than 1,000. Informatics is now one of the largest majors at the University of Washington, and it’s easy to see why: It sets students up to succeed as well-rounded information technology professionals. Graduates are problem-solvers and leaders who can communicate well with others and work as part of a team. They move on to high-paying jobs in the public, private and nonprofit sectors or to master’s degrees or doctorates in fields such as data science, computer science and human-computer interaction.
Technology constantly evolves, and the Informatics program evolves with it. As generative artificial intelligence reshapes the industry, we are educating students to use it to analyze and structure information and to wield it as a tool for sound decision-making. The industry is seeking to diversify; meanwhile, we are building on our long track record of recruiting women, underrepresented populations and first-generation college students, demographics that are sorely needed across all sectors. More than 50 percent of our Informatics students are women, compared to just one in four tech workers in Washington.
Not surprisingly, our graduates are in high demand, and the vast majority stay and join our state workforce after they graduate. Employers will continue to seek skilled tech workers in the coming years, and job creation will outpace Washington’s STEM graduates by the thousands. Our state should give its young people every chance at those jobs, and the more Informatics students we graduate, the more we can help bridge that gap.
We’ve more than doubled the size of the program since 2020, yet Informatics remains one of the most competitive majors at the UW, and we still turn away many more qualified students than we can admit. Our low admittance rate isn’t something to celebrate; it’s an indication that we’re falling short of our goals as a school and our promise as a public university.
Ideally, the iSchool would have no constraints on our capacity to educate every student who deserves to major in Informatics, but the reality is that we are already beyond the limits of what we can do with our current resources. We are the only school or college at the UW without a dedicated home building and are instead scattered across five of them. To meet the demand for hundreds more students, we need faculty and staff to support them, and we need places where they can work. We need classrooms, computer labs, and gathering places to foster collaboration and innovation. And we need support from state policymakers and industry leaders to make that happen.
In the coming months and years, we need the UW to make us a funding priority. We need industry leaders to help advocate for us, we need financial support from business leaders and alumni, and we need state lawmakers to understand the value of Informatics and information science. The iSchool can be instrumental in educating the state’s tech workforce and meeting the demand for skilled tech workers. As members of the iSchool community, it’s up to all of us to make that case.
Anind K. Dey
Dean and Professor
Autumn 2024