It was the oldest telecommunications program in the United States and was founded in 1971 by Frank S. Barnes (Engineering) and George Codding (deceased, International Relations).
Since its inception, ITP took an interdisciplinary approach to telecommunications, involving the study of engineering, law, politics, economics and business.
Over the course of the past 35 years, ITP has graduated approximately 2,000 alumni who are in various positions around the world as CEOs, government officials, and management.
This merge resulted in ITP being separated into two individual degrees: 1) Network Engineering and 2) Technology, Cybersecurity and Policy (TCP).
The hands-on, technical piece of ITP was branched to form a Professional Master's of Science in Network Engineering degree, and the cybersecurity focus of ITP was branched into a new degree (TCP).