About Us

Mission Statement

The Business Information Technology Department seeks to educate the next generation of data analysts, IT and cybersecurity professionals, and operations and supply chain managers. Our graduates help solve managerial and societal problems by using data and technology for enhanced decision-making. We engage with industry to keep our curriculum cutting edge and provide students with experiential learning opportunities that contribute to the profession and the community.  We conduct transformative impactful research that is published in the profession’s top journals, improves the human condition and advances economic prosperity. 

Vision

• To be a leader in developing the knowledge, skills and tools that improve human-computer interactions in a complex digital economy.
• To be a premier business school entity and a major source of IT, cybersecurity and analytics talent for industry and government.
• To be recognized as experts and leading scholars in data analytics, operations, and information technology.
• To attract top students and faculty who will lead in the development of new and innovative IS and analytics research.
• To build a collaborative, supportive, inclusive environment for learning and sharing ideas.
• To prepare a diverse population for technological and societal change through the ethical use of data and technology.

Facts & Figures

• With over 1350 undergraduate majors, BIT is the largest major in the Pamplin College of Business and the second largest major at Virginia Tech.
• The BIT major is the most recruited major on campus, with more interviews and more interviews per student than any other major.
• BIT graduates have a 95% placement rate and a median starting salary of $68,000. The median starting salary for the top 25% of BIT students is $78,000 with an average signing bonus of $5,500.
• The BIT department has been ranked #3 in the nation for Management Science and Quantitative Methods (another name for analytics) by College Factual for the past three years. Graduates from our program receive a 18% bump in salary over other Management Science majors across the country. We produce the most majors and our graduates are the most satisfied with their jobs (#1 in popularity). We are also ranked #3 for veterans and #3 for affordability. This is the highest ranking that Virginia Tech has received for all its programs across colleges assessed by College Factual.
• BIT faculty have received several prestigious international awards and recognitions
  •  Professor Lowry was ranked the #1 most productive researcher worldwide in Information Systems by the Association for Information Systems (AIS) in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
  • Professor Adjerid received the 2019 Best Paper Award from AIS for the entire field of Information Systems.
  • Professors Abrahams, Wang, Fan and PhD graduate Gruss received the INFORMS Design Science Award for 2017 for their body of work in product surveillance and safety.
  • Professor Matheson received the Malone Award for Excellence in International Programs at land grant universities across the U.S.
• BIT is the only STEM major in the Pamplin College of Business.