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MISSION STATEMENT: We enable students and the region to thrive in an age of innovation and digital transformation.

Information is at Our Core

A degree from the College of Informatics offers a contemporary perspective on the disciplines that have information at their core.

Two students with a computer and small robot
Principles, Values

Principles, Values

Informatics is about seeking human meaning in a world of data. Over the past fifteen years, Northern Kentucky University has pulled together people and resources and ideas from across campus to form this unique college, still the most transdisciplinary of the extant informatics schools to be found across the country. As we evolved, we grew. The college now enters the second half of its second decade as one of the university's most distinctive draws. We have many characteristics as a college, but for the next period of our evolution we will call attention to these three:
 

Embedded: We are inextricably interlinked with the networks of our region-networks of employers, innovators, schools, and even the other colleges of our university. We are symbiotic, not independent, in this ecosystem. This linkage is important because the world is grappling with information: gathering it, processing it, sharing it, protecting it. We foster talent, and we benefit from talent. We find our success in how our part in this symbiosis helps others in the ecosystem thrive.

Responsible: The digital world is fragile, unstable, hackable for good and for evil, hovering at the edge of comprehension. The innovations we call "tech" can threaten our privacy, empower forces of hate, and put our physical survival at risk. At this point in time, it is insufficient, and even reckless, to graduate students with merely the appropriate skill sets. It is a moral imperative to ensure that our students understand the broad implications of their subjects of study and the consequences of their endeavors. This requires a very specific focus on ethics and social responsibility in informatics. In our teaching and research, we will critically address these challenges.

Different: The umbrella of informatics spreads over a diverse group of creators, scholars, and learners. We have many voices. The conjunction of communication, business, and computing produces weird and novel interactions, and we embrace the strangeness that society has imputed to our digital creative/critical subculture and are not afraid to subvert its norms. There is a home for all here. And the world needs more of us.

We are home to the School of Computing and Analytics and the School of Media and Communication.

The college currently offers 14 Bachelor’s degrees and 4 Master’s degrees, and we continuously adapt our set of degree programs to meet the needs of our students and the region. We make learning available in a variety of forms, including face-to-face, fully online, and hybrid formats. We have designed our programs to serve a wide variety of learners, from traditional full-time students to working professionals studying part-time to advance their skills. Most of our degrees have built-in experiential “outside the classroom” components, setting up our graduates for future real-world success. 

 

Dean Kirby's Welcome

Welcome to the College of Informatics. And welcome to a new way of looking at the world.

Dr. Kevin Kirby

Informatics is all about seeking human meaning in a world of data. It is how we find, process, protect, and share information. It encompasses journalism, cybersecurity, public relations, business analytics, artificial intelligence, and much more.

Fast computation on massive data made mobile and social has changed our lives. Informatics is all about those earthshaking changes. 

But it goes beyond that. Information is personal, organizational, and global. It is the cold logic of computer code, but it is also the passion of persuasion. It is logic on fire.

We built our college on the radical premise that breaking a few silos would yield growth and innovation. That has happened.

We are home to the first of only two ABET-accredited Data Science programs in the world. We are an NSA/DHS Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity Education and offer an accelerated online master’s program in Cybersecurity designed to meet the needs of career-changers. Our Journalism program and the independent student newspaper The Northerner partner with LINKnky to advance local news coverage. 

As an outward-facing college, we bring media and tech talent to companies, local governments, and K-12. Our students are winning awards, competitions, and hackathons, and are graduating into the world with that special “informatics” edge.

No matter what your interests or background, come join us as we explore and create.

Office of the Dean

Photo of Kevin Kirby

Kevin Kirby

Dean,
College of Informatics

GH 500B
859-572-6544
kirby@nku.edu

Bio

Personal

I am a native of Royal Oak, Michigan, moved to Cincinnati in 1994, am married to a writer/teacher, and we have one son.

Academic

My undergraduate work was in math and linguistics, and my MS and PhD are in computer science (cognates in physics and neuroscience) from Wayne State University. My dissertation was on neural computing, and I continue to work in deep learning.  I received the Mathematical Association of America’s Polya Award in 1997, and have been deeply involved in international work at NKU (Mexico and Korea in particular). I became Computer Science chair in ’08 and Informatics dean in ’11. I love teaching everything from intro Python programming to graduate-level theory of computation.

Photo of Stephanie Klatzke

Stephanie Klatzke, Ph.D.

Associate Dean,
Associate Professor

GH 500D
859-572-6903
klatzkes1@nku.edu

Bio

Personal

I am originally from Paducah, KY but I have also lived in Missouri and Ohio. I am married with two daughters and I love to read.

Academic

I received my B.A. in Organizational Communication from Murray State University in 2001; my M.A. in Communication from the University of Cincinnati in 2003, and my Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Missouri in 2009. I am the Co-Director of our Graduate Program and I coordinate the COI Principles of Informatics course.  I  teach undergraduate courses including  Organizational Communication, Research Methods, Principles of Informatics, and graduate courses in Communication Theory and Organizational Communication and Identity.  My research interests are in organizational communication; I am particularly interested in the exit process (in a nutshell, people quitting  their jobs).

Photo of Larissa Heck

Larissa Heck

Manager,
Comm., Events, & Administration

GH 500A
859-572-5666
heckl3@nku.edu

Bio

Personal

Larissa is a Bardstown, KY native and an expert on all things bourbon. (She could talk your ear off.)  You can normally find her catching a movie with friends or spending time with her beloved cat, Cowgirl. 

Academic/Professional

Larissa is a 2019 graduate of the Electronic Media & Broadcasting major at the COI. She rejoined Informatics after working in the President's Office at NKU. She looks forward to bringing her expertise to this role and work to best represent the COI.

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COI Advisory Board

Andrew Aiello
Chair Emeritus, College of Informatics Advisory Board
Chief of Staff
Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority

Jay Becker
Founder and President
BLDG Brands

Shannan Boyer
President and Founder
Scooter Media

Lee Crume
President and CEO
Be-NKY

Kylie Ernst
President
COI Ambassadors

Christin Godale
Director, Life Sciences
Cincy Tech

Matt Godsted
Director, Enterprise Security
84.51

Tim Hanner
President and CEO 
Educate NKY

Rick Huff
CIO
Paycor

Brian Keys
Vice President of Technology
Cincinnati Reds

Debbie Kramer
Chair, COI Advisory Board
Senior Director, Data Privacy Officer
The Kroger Co.

Julie L. McGehee
VP, Compensation and Benefits
The E.W. Scripps Co. 

Sheree Paolello
Anchor, WLWT

Gregory S. Shumate
Attorney
Frost Brown Todd LLC

John R. Ward
Senior VP & CIO
TriHealth Information Systems