May 8 2008

From MWCSWiki

Meeting 10:00am Present: Ernie Ackerman (Ernie), Karen Anewalt (Karen), Stephen Davies (Stephen), Jennifer Polack-Wahl, Ron Zacharski (Ron), Marsha Zaidman (Marsha).

1. Updates on Unix SLA, VCCS Course Transfers,
   1. No update on the Merit Pay Plan
   2. there is a brochure for GIS. The plan is to send these to our alumni. Our GIS certificate is different from other GIS ones in that we have a programming component.
2. Teaching load and Individual Study Release Policy. Regarding teaching load, Jennifer suggests going down to 9 credits by spring. She suggests reducing the number of 100 level courses to four or five max. Fall 2008 we have 9 (5 110s, 2 105s, and 2 FSEMs). Stephen says we wouldn't be able to get course releases for independent study if we went to 9. Marsha says that we can't support our major if we had 9 and independent study course releases. Marsha says that the dean and provost's support for this is to encourage more mentoring. Marsha thinks the problem we will face is that in the short term we will not have additional faculty. Marsha says that with one exception, our adjuncts can only teach 100 level courses. Stephen says that we need to offer 13 sections per semester to support the major. Ernie suggests the intermediate step of having a 3/3 course load with the expectation that we supervise independent study. We all agree.
3. Attracting more majors: brochure, letter to incoming students, letter to alumni, Department Web site, representation at College Fairs (e.g. Wakefield H.S.), contacting high schools, other? Ernie said that when he did the exit interviews none of the students decided to study computer science before coming here. Karen said in her exit interviews a number of people said they were interested before coming here. There was some discussion about sending a letter to incoming students (even though it will put us over budget we should do this). We also agreed to send out the brochure. We should send out the letter May 30th. For business majors we will send out an email that emphasizes CIS. Stephen volunteers to draft the letter. He will email a draft to us by May 19th.
4. We had a general discussion about how to recruit students, both high school students and UMW freshman.
   1. Perhaps we can do something either orientation week or first week of classes. Club Carnival September 1 (4-6). Crystal Carnes / Joel Peck local bands).
   2. Karen thought we could get ACM and Perls to do high school outreach. Students should be driving this. We will follow up in the fall.
   3. Department website needs overhaul. Ernie will take the lead on this.
5. Stephen reports on a survey he conducted regarding programming languages (mostly Java and C++). Several people questioned whether we should have a language change between 220 and 230. Stephen's survey shows that students think that hands-on vim tips and tricks should be covered in class. Marsha suggested that the lab aids get trained in this. Stephen suggested a one credit course to cover this material. Several people did not think the course idea was a good one. Perhaps we can find an online course on this (Linux and Windows software development tools).
6. Course Offerings for the spring. We need to offer 125, 220 (2 sections), 230, 305, 310, 330, 350, 401, 405 414, 430. There is a possibility we do not need to offer 310 in the spring.
7. Student Retention. We had some discussion as to whether Alice was a good language to use in 110. Ernie reports that students who went on to other computer science courses thought Alice was not the best choice. Jennifer believes that after the workshop she will attend on this, the Alice 110 course will be more applicable to computer science majors. Ernie suggests that in the letter we send first year students they be informed as to which sections of 110 will be Alice based and which will be Python.
8. Internship. Marsha asked if we want to change our policy since now they can only take it for credit to the major if they have 2.9 or higher. People thought the current policy is a good one. Ernie suggested that one faculty be responsible to manage internships (if we get more than 10 then we will add a second faculty person). Everyone agreed with this.
9. Discussion of Honors, Individual Studies & Internship Policies.
   1. Should the honors proposals (applications) be separate from independent students. Ernie made a motion that we should separate honors proposals from independent studies proposals. Stephen seconds. Karen believes that some students don't have a clear precise idea of what they are doing. Motion carries.
   2. Should honors be committee based or full department. Jennifer makes a motion that honors proposals and final papers are voted on by committees of three faculty members. One member is the student's honors advisor, one is determined jointly by the student and honors advisor, and the third by the chair. If the final decision is not unanimous it comes to the department. Karen seconded. Motion carried.
   3. What is the criteria for honors.
10. Providing additional CIS electives. Jennifer is looking for 400 level courses what would be good for CIS electives. It was suggested that we explore the possibility of cross-listing MSMIS courses as 400 level courses. Jennifer will explore this.
11. We will discuss whether we should require 125 for both tracks in fall.
12. We will have a department meeting at 2pm August 21st.
13. Department Service Roles. Web site (Department Service Roles) updated with faculty assignments.
14. Role of the CPSC placement exam. Karen says talking with them for 5 minutes is a better gauge of their abilities than them taking this test. Karen and Jennifer will revise this.
15. CIS Outcomes Assessment. Marsha says that ETS CS exam is geared toward traditional computer science. Karen made a motion that we conduct exit interviews with declared CIS majors during their final semester. Stephen seconds. Motion carried.
16. Department Coding and documentation Standards (if time permits)