About Us

From the Director

A Change in Leadership with a Shared Vision of Progress for the Future

In August 2021, Dr. Randy Borum began a term as Director of the University of South Florida's School of Information (SI). Dr. Borum follows Dr. James Andrews, who led the iSchool for the preceding 12 years. Under Dr. Andrews’ leadership, the former School of Library and Information Science transformed into a School of Information that gained and re-designed an undergraduate program, two new graduate degrees, and two graduate certificates; secured more than a million dollars in external funding; substantially boosted enrollment in the LIS graduate program; successfully retained American Library Association (ALA) accreditation through three site visit reviews; rose in the national rankings among LIS graduate programs; and became members of the iSchool Organization and the International Association for Intelligence Education. Dr. Andrews now returns to the SI faculty. 

"Dr. Andrews and the SI faculty have evolved our academic unit from a department with one degree program to an interdisciplinary, highly productive, and innovative School of Information that is grounded in collegiality and collaboration. They have made SI a great place to work, and it’s a privilege for me to serve and work with such an amazing faculty and to continue collaborating with Dr. Andrews (who will now serve as Associate Director) to deliver innovative curricula, elevate our research profile, and move SI forward,” Borum said. 

Dr. Borum received his doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) before working as an Assistant Professor at Duke University School of Medicine. He came to USF’s Department of Mental Health Law and Policy in 1999 and moved over to SI in 2012, where he has served as Associate Director since 2015. Dr. Borum led major new curricular innovations in SI, including one of the first systematic Cyber Intelligence programs and an innovative STEM-based master’s degree in Intelligence Studies. 

Dr. Borum’s research and scholarship has focused on intelligence studies, violent extremism, violence risk assessment and threat assessment. He is board certified and fellowship-trained in forensic psychology, and author/co-author of more than 175 professional publications. He serves as an advisor to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Behavioral Analysis Unit-1 (Threat Assessment & National Security), the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC), and he is listed on the United Nations' Roster of Experts in Terrorism. Dr. Borum is a Past-President of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology, and currently serves as Senior Editor of the Journal of Strategic Security and of Military Cyber Affairs. 

Founded in 1975, USF’s SI currently offers an ALA-accredited M.A. in Library and Information Science, an M.S. in Intelligence Studies with available concentrations in Strategic Intelligence and in Cyber Intelligence, an M.S. in Cybersecurity Intelligence and Information Security, graduate certificates in Strategic Intelligence and in Cyber Intelligence, an undergraduate minor in Intelligence Studies, and a B.S. in Information Science with available concentrations in Data Science & Analytics, Information Security, Health Informatics, Web Development Technologies, and Intelligence Analysis.

Visit the ALA website to learn more about an M.A. in Library and Information Science.