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Annual Report

Computer Science & Telecommunications | College of Arts and Sciences
 

CST Annual Report - May 1, 2005 to April 30, 2006

This past academic year was a challenging one in CST, but we feel we are making the necessary adjustments to position our programs for future growth in both quality and quantity of students. Listed below are some of the more significant events and changes in our programs.

Internal School Improvements

  1. A set of CST By-Laws were adopted in which practical standards were defined for things like minimum syllabi content, minimum response time for student and colleague messages (3 business days), maximum turnaround time for graded materials (2 weeks).
  2. Rules for internal governance of CST were formalized (e.g., committees, terms)
  3. CST standards were clarified for proficiency exams (only for U.C. students, and even then students are required to submit written evidence of ability in the area)
  4. Our new three year schedule of course offerings was maintained
  5. Midterm teaching evaluations were implemented
  6. Peer reviews of teaching were conducted for untenured faculty members.
  7. Telecommunication lab upgrades were scheduled for the coming summer
  8. Secondary storage for Dr. Berkowitz's Navon Project was purchased
  9. Laptops were purchased for faculty (Miner capital equipment account was utilized for the first time in several years)
  10. A plan was developed in consultation with Asst. Dean Backas to discourage students from registering for External Studies sections during open registration periods for regular terms.
  11. The CST Web site was revised to show the new curriculum and personnel

Curriculum Developments and Modifications

This year we did an in-depth internal review of our Telecom. Programs, given the departure of Professors Clery and Andersson. The major outcomes were:

  1. The Undergrad. Telecom programs were re-evaluated in light of changing industry conditions & enrollment patterns and replaced with a new BS in Network Computing.
  2. Two new certificate programs were developed: Certificate in Network Computing & Security and the Graduate Certificate in Network Computing & Security.
  3. Two new courses were approved: Satellite Communications (CST 342 / 442) and Bioinformatics (CST 351 / 451)
  4. Our four new CISCO courses were packaged as a concentration within the Network Computing degree (named the concentration in Network Infrastructure)
  5. All prerequisites were reviewed and modified where necessary for each course

Other developments included:

  1. We struggled to try to react to the change in graduate tuition pricing whereby four courses (an overload) is priced the same as three (std. full-time load). The best solution we could come up with on such short notice was to try to offer a Grad. Seminar each term on Friday evenings, to allow that as a fourth course option.
  2. Our new late start course "CST 130 Programming for non-CS majors" will be tried in October 2006

External Recognition

CST was invited to participate in a joint venture with a university in China. However, as negotiations progressed a cost issue arose and it appears at this time the arrangement may not happen. We are reviewing other possibilities for future interactions in China.

Several contacts and visits have been made at local community colleges to increase the knowledge, mutual understanding and benefits between us (e.g. Harper College).

Faculty Accomplishments

Publications
Wolpert (3), Dantsin (3)
Review Panels
Wolpert (2), Dantsin (2), Berkowitz (1), Wright (2)
Invited Addresses
Wolpert (1), Dantsin (1), Wright (1)
Conference Proceedings
Wolpert (5), Dantsin (6), Berkowitz (2), Entemann (2)
Technical reports
none
Workshops
Schwartzman (2), Mihavics (1), Wright (1), Muzzillo (1)
External funding
Mihavics (1), Wright (1)
Internal funding
Wolpert (1), Dantsin (1), Schwartzman (1)
Paper presentations
Wolpert (1), Berkowitz (2)
Journal articles
Berkowitz (1), Entemann (2)
Newspaper articles
Mihavics (1)
Radio interviews
none
Promotions
Wolpert (to Full Professor)

Accreditation Process

Work has continued on the ABET accreditation process (gathering data and surveys) and we look forward to a review in Fall 2006 (the CST internal program review will help us assess where we are at along the ABET compliance road). Our curriculum for the BS CS now mirrors the ABET curriculum. We also successfully used this portfolio student outcomes assessment model for the university assessment review in Spring 2006.

Students and Alumni

Several students were hired as interns by Chicago companies such as Microsoft, Discover Financial Services, and Motorola.

Personnel

A serious faculty contract violation was discovered which resulted in the early termination of this contract. This led to the successful search for a replacement Telecom. Faculty in the Spring term. Dr. Jin Tang from Georgia Inst. Of Technology will join our faculty this Fall.

Dr. Alex Wolpert was promoted to full professor.

One CST faculty was awarded a research leave: Dr. Leslie Schwartzman, Spring 2006.

Roger Clery retired as of August 2005 and received the designation of Professor Emeritus.

Dr. Kenevan was back at full strength in the spring term.

Goals for 2006-2007

  1. Stabilize declining enrollments and begin to rebuild
  2. Conduct internal Program Review (decide if ABET is a go, RC vs. DT programs?)
  3. Be fully prepared for ABET accreditation by April 2007
  4. Design joint MS degree program w/College of Business ("Info. Security"? to be housed in the College of A&S to avoid business accreditation issues)
  5. Upgrade telecom labs both DT and RC
  6. Utilize Miner Funding wisely; enhance new student recruiting
  7. Support Dr. Jin Tang and efforts to revamp CST 352 and 354 (telecom content)
  8. Transition CST 150 / 250 / 280 to Visual Studio .Net C++
  9. Discourage registrations in external studies during open registration periods
  10. Foster a better sense of teamwork within the CST dept.
  11. Distribute student newsletter each semester
  12. Encourage all CST faculty to utilize Blackboard.com as a class supplement
  13. Establish job descriptions and more written operating procedures
  14. Promote merits of a faculty workload based on "work units" vs. mere teaching load
  15. Make our curriculum internally consistent (e.g. cross-listings w/ Math)
  16. Maintain democratic decision making environment
  17. Revitalize student clubs at Gage and Robin

Final thoughts and summary

The restructuring of the CST Telecom. Program at the undergraduate level has been completed and is well positioned for the coming year (as the new BS in Network Computing). It has been difficult this past year in terms of telecom. faculty turnover with one retirement and one termination. Dr. Berkowitz did a tremendous job by stepping in as Director of the new Network Computing programs. We look forward to further progress in this area next year with the additional of Dr. Jin Tang from Georgia Tech.

It appears we will return to funding by the Miner endowment and should have $67,500 for CST general use and $67,500 in student scholarship and GA support. My hope is we can be allowed to use this money to attract new talented students. If this money can be re-funded on a regular basis, we can keep the pipeline going with excellent academic students coming into our program each year.

The nationwide trends in I.T. employment have significantly improved this year. But there is typically a one to two year time lag before people begin enrolling in CS degree programs as a result of the improved employment outlook. Our enrollment trend has been a 10% decrease per year for the last six years. Our new Network Computing programs are designed to respond to the market need for security analysts and network specialists. Our BA IT degree is also one that should be very successful since these types of business oriented I.T. graduates are projected to be in demand also. According to the U.S. Bureau of labor statistics the top six fastest growing occupations through 2014 will be:

  1. Network Systems and Data Communications Analyst (54.6%)
  2. Physician's Assistant (49.6%)
  3. Computer Software Engineer, Applications (48.4%)
  4. Computer Software Engineer, Systems Software (43.0%)
  5. Network and Computer Systems Administrator (38.4%)
  6. Database Administrator (38.2%)

We continue to look for joint ventures overseas. We still have some chance of developing a joint program in the future with China, but we also will look at other options such as Mexico, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere. CS degrees are in demand in other countries plus we can offer our students a chance to travel and learn in foreign countries.

This past year we worked with the marketing department to produce new marketing materials to distribute to potential students. We now have new "fact sheets" to distribute.

We have some personnel issues and workload balancing challenges to address related to our smaller enrollments, and these are naturally very sensitive issues. We are very pleased with the way our "point count" system has been working with faculty annual reviews, and might like to try to expand this model to CST administrative staff.