Radford University serves the Commonwealth and the nation through a wide range of academic, cultural, human service, and research programs. First and foremost, the university emphasizes teaching and learning and the process of learning in its commitment to the development of mature, responsible, well-educated citizens. RU develops students' creative and critical thinking skills, teaches students to analyze problems and implement solutions, helps students discover their leadership styles, and fosters their growth as leaders. Toward this end, the university is student-focused and promotes a sense of caring and of meaningful interaction among all members of the university community. Research is viewed as a vital corollary to the teaching and learning transaction as it sustains and enhances the ability to teach effectively. Radford University believes in the dynamics of change and has a strong commitment to continuous review, evaluation, and improvement in the curriculum and all aspects of the university, so as to meet the changing needs of society.

The 1999 Governor’s Commission on Information Technology estimated that Virginia had 30,000 unfilled information technology jobs. Nationally, the number of unfilled jobs is over 300,000. The Commission also noted that "Attracting, educating, training, recruiting, and retaining the necessary workforce is the major limiting factor on the continued growth of the Commonwealth's vibrant Information Economy." Information Technology promises to be the growth industry of the new millennium and, as a result, job demand will continue to be high for the foreseeable future.

The demand for technologically competent employees is not limited to mainline IT jobs. Information technology related knowledge and skills are becoming a critical component of almost all professions.

A new College of Information Technology and Information Sciences would help to build the programs and infrastructure necessary to increase Radford University’s output of qualified IT professionals, as well as insure that all students are being equipped with basic technological competencies in a cost efficient manner.

Many students and their parents have been quick to take note of the demand for IT graduates and the salaries they are commanding. Recent press releases from Virginia Tech indicate they are turning away interested majors because of an inability to meet demand. Enrollments in Information Systems and Computer Science programs at Radford University are also growing with approximately 500 of the Universities 9000 students enrolled in one of these programs. The recent growth in these programs has prompted discussion of enrollment limitations. Radford is also aware of an unmet demand at the University for IT education for adult students, graduate students, and Community College graduates.

A new College of Information Technology and Information Sciences would help to build the programs and infrastructure necessary to meet the demands in terms of quantity and breadth of programs currently being sought by capable students.

Clearly, information technology will play a greater and greater role in the education and training of tomorrow’s professionals. If Radford University is to evolve and mature as an educational institution it must respond to these new demands. The environment in which Radford University functions is changing and it must adapt accordingly.

The Governor’s Commission on Information Technology notes that there is not one solution to the current shortage of IT workers but that many different solutions will have to be combined. Radford University can be part of the solution by providing opportunities for IT education to the population of students that Radford serves.

Information technology is now a critical component of many professions. As a result, education in information technology at many colleges and universities is being co-developed in many departments. This results in an uncoordinated and, therefore, inefficient delivery of core IT concepts and skills.

A new College of Information Technology and Information Sciences, with a well defined processes to integrate it with other Colleges and programs at Radford University, will provide the centralized coordination and control necessary to delivery IT education in a cost efficient manner while still providing for program specific technology skills to be developed.

In keeping with Radford University's commitment to improving the curriculum to help meet the changing needs of society, the Radford University College of Information Technology and Information Sciences prepares students with skills and expertise essential to the Commonwealth and the nation as it moves from an industrial based economy to an information based economy. First and foremost, the College emphasizes technological applications in the classroom, which will lead to creative and socially responsible innovations once students enter the workplace. The College develops students' creative and critical thinking skills, teaches students to analyze problems and implement technological solutions to a vast array of challenges in the arts, sciences, and every aspect of business. Faculty in the College are comfortable with the dynamics of change, and have a strong commitment to continuous review, evaluation, and improvement in the curriculum to meet the changing needs of society.

The College of Information Technology and Information Sciences aims to ensure that all students have a basic foundation in information technology, that some students develop specific expertise in information technology, and that students, faculty, and staff are able to seek additional training in information technology. In order to support its mission, the College will have the following goals:

• Support the tenets of information technology proficiency through courses in the general education curriculum

• Support a core of technology-based courses common to all affiliated technology majors offered through university departments, including courses in problem-solving methods, law and ethics, web design, and computer programming. Affiliated majors may include media studies, educational media, music and technology, and many others to be determined by departmental interest.

• Support undergraduate and graduate degrees in disciplines where technology plays a major role, including computer science, information systems, software engineering, database development and management, networks and systems administration, and business systems development.

• Support facilities where faculty, students, and citizens of the Commonwealth have the opportunity to learn technical skills relevant to specific applications, including word processing, database management, multimedia development and application development.

One method for achieving these goals is for the College to support information technology-based service projects and activities to serve other units within the University and within the Commonwealth as well as provide internship and service learning opportunities for students and faculty. To facilitate the development of such projects, a College Advancement and Development Committee will be developed whose mission would be to inspire, to expand the debate and to infuse creative life and social purpose into the College's teaching of technological developments and applications. The A &D Committee would allow a wide variety of ideas to be proposed, considered, tested and supported by students and faculty in various ways. Specifically, the committee would focus on innovative public service student projects and grant proposals; would bring in nationally known speakers; would initiate university debates and seminar programs; and would consider other means to infuse the technological mission with the humanitarian spirit and democratic traditions of Virginia and the nation. Some initial suggestions include:

• An expanded streaming media Web site for the Appalachian Regional Studies Program and Selu Conservancy, with music education and oral history projects;
• Public service information projects for the region, including economic development, municipal government and regional environmental information;
• Innovative news and information systems experiments, such as experimentation with the MIT "Fishwrap" democratic newsroom system.
• Seminars concerning ethics and law in areas such as free speech, libel, privacy and copyright.

The College of Information Technology and Information Sciences will have an academic structure containing six levels:

• A set of service courses designed to ensure that all Radford University graduates achieve a level of minimum information technology competency as well as providing discipline specific expertise. In this area, the College will provide efficiency by eliminating duplication of programs across multiple colleges and flexibility by allowing the development of a wider variety and depth of general education information technology courses.
• A set of core majors focusing on the development of information technology such as the existing accredited Computer Science and Information Systems programs, as well as new programs in Database, Software Engineering, Business Systems Development, and Networks and Systems Administration. The College will also provide a supportive environment for the development of additional core majors as resources and expertise become available. These might include Library and Information Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Medical Informatics.
• A set of core minors such as Software Engineering and Information Technology. Again, the College will provide a supportive environment for the development of additional minors as the need arises.
• A set of affiliated technology majors focusing on the application of technology such as Media Studies, Music Technology, and E-Commerce which will require a core set of information technology courses as well as discipline specific technology courses. The core technology courses will be taught by CITIS core faculty. The discipline specific technology courses will be taught by faculty from the related discipline. Those faculty would be designated as Affiliated Faculty of the College of Information Technology and Information Sciences.
• A set of courses with a prerequisite structure designed to allow students from any major to develop concentrations in information technology without having to take additional courses to meet prerequisites.
• Specific product certification training provided by the training center to University students either free of charge or at a greatly reduced price. Training courses may be used to fulfill up to three hours of elective credit within the College.

This structure will allow the College of Information Technology and Information Sciences to become a center of activity with respect to the development of new information technologies through the core programs. The College will also become a center of activity with respect to the application of technology combined with expertise in other disciplines through the affiliated programs. This affiliate structure will allow the inclusion of a wider variety of information technology courses in the new College allowing students to choose from a much wider variety of technical electives.

The General education program has a deep tradition at Radford University and aims to develop significant skills such as written and oral communication and critical thinking and problem solving. The program further serves to introduce students to the varied of modes of inquiry in the arts, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. For several years, students have had the opportunity to take either computer science or information systems as one of their general education requirements. Increasingly, the focus on information literacy--the location, creation, management, and analysis, and interpretation of information-- has been a part of the academic program and integrated into UNIV100 and English 102, taught by library faculty, as well as integrated as part of research skills in all courses.

These technology and information literacy foundation competencies are essential for success in the rest of the academic program just as are communication skills or quantitative reasoning. Although there is some focus on specific applications and skills, the test of the general education program will be to what extent students learn the principles that lie behind current technologies so that they can understand the fast evolution of these tools and adapt their skills and understandings to keep pace with the changing environment. Attention will be given to ethics, social consequences, organizational impacts, public policy, and personal responses to information technologies in order to build a context for responsible and adaptable users.

In 1999, the ITR Strategic Planning Process identified a set of University-Wide Competencies to be expected of all graduates of Radford University. The foundation for these competencies is established first in the General Education program. The further development of these competencies relies upon the identification within each major of those competencies most relevant to study in that field as well as the identification within each course of those competencies that will be enhanced by that particular course.

With these goals in mind, the College of Information Technology and Information Sciences will address general education in three ways:

• The current CPSC 106 and Information Systems 181 courses will be merged into a single, technology breadth course that will address many of the issues raised above (e.g. ethics, social consequences, organizational impacts, public policy, and personal responses to information technologies in order to build a context for responsible and adaptable users). This course will be designed such that 75% of the course content is standard and the remaining 25% of the course content is flexible. In this way, sections of this course may be offered with content (25%) designed for particular majors.
• Courses in the new College have been intentionally designed to have a greater variety of topics (e.g. web development, database) introduced at lower levels without substantial pre-requisites to allow greater access for non-majors.
• Due to the addition of the affiliated courses, many of which may not have pre-requisites, there will be many more options available for non-majors.

The core majors of the new College are those that are designed to educate students on the development of new information technology tools. Two existing majors, Computer Science from the College of Arts and Sciences, and Information Systems, from the College of Business and Economics, will move into the new College. Each of these programs is described briefly here and more fully described in Appendix A.

The Computer Science Department offers a program of study leading to the Bachelor of Science degree. This program prepares students for careers in industry, government and education as well as for graduate study in computer science. The Bachelor of Science program in computer science is accredited by the Computer Science Accreditation Commission (CSAC) of the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB), a specialized accrediting body recognized by the Council on Post-secondary Accreditation (COPA), and the U.S. Department of Education. This program has a distinguished history of preparing students for careers in computing as well as for graduate school.

The Computer Science program requires the following:

CITIS (CPSC) 43 credit hours

Math 12 credit hours

General Education 50 credit hours

Additional Science 7 credit hours.

Free Electives 8 credit hours

Total 120 credit hours.

There may be some overlap between the general education and major requirements allowing students the option of additional free electives. Students are encouraged, but not required, to pursue minors in other fields (e.g. Business Administration) and non-credit internships. The only substantial change to this program will be the addition of a much wider variety of electives in the senior year due to the expansion of course offerings in the new College.

The Business Information Systems (INSY) major consists of courses in both the College of Technology and Information Science and the College of Business and Economics. Students graduating in this major will understand business processes as well as the information technologies used to implement and in many cases transform those processes. Employees with these skills are in high demand.

With over thirty hours of coursework in each college, unique issues of control and coordination arise in this major. These issues include:

• The INSY degree will be subject to AACSB accreditation and therefore its standards.
• CITIS and COBE faculty and administrators must coordinate on changes to both the business and information technology sides of the curriculum such as:
• changes to the business core
• changes to the content of CITIS courses required by the INSY major
• implementation choices for programming languages, database management systems, and other technologies.
• Joint advising or cross training for advisors will be necessary.
• Both colleges should feel like "owners" of the program so they will actively council prospective students into the program.
• A portion of the CITIS faculty will need business degrees and backgrounds.
• Certain CITIS courses will need to maintain a business orientation even though they may be part of degree programs other than the INSY program.

Possible methods for providing coordination and control include*:

• An INSY program steering committee consisting of two members from the College of Business and two from the College of Technology and Information Science.
• Joint appointments of INSY faculty between the Colleges.
• Assignment of a CITIS liaison to COBE that would be a member of the COBE curriculum committee.
• Assignment of a COBE liaison to CITIS that would be a member of the CITIS curriculum committee.
• COBE hired and evaluated faculty assigned to teach in CITIS. This would place a faculty member physically in the new College but logically in COBE.
• COBE and CITIS representation on search committees charged with hiring new INSY faculty.
• Credit for "number of students graduated" may need to be shared.

* It is not being suggested that all these methods be employed, only selected ones or others not listed here that will provide the same effect.

The Information System,s program requires:

General Education 50 credit hours

COBE core 36 credit hours

CITIS (CPSC and INSY) 28 credit hours

Free Electives 6 credit hours

Total 120 credit hours.

As with Computer Science, there may be some overlap between the general education and major requirements allowing students the option of additional free electives.

Several new degree programs have already been proposed for the new College. These programs were designed to take advantage of existing expertise, resources, and markets. Each of these programs will be briefly described here and more fully described in Appendix A. Additional majors will be developed as needed and as resources allow.

These programs will be developed as tracks within a single degree, Bachelors of Science in Information Technology, all sharing a common core of classes. This development model is designed to allow greater flexibility in reacting to new trends and new ideas in information technology. Tracks within a degree program may be altered, or new ones developed, in a much more timely manner than degree programs. The core of the Information Technology degree is made up of::

General Education 50 credit hours

CITIS 18 credit hours

Math 8 credit hours

Internship, Capstone, or Certification

3 credit hours.

Total 79 credit hours.

The general education program within this core will include a communications requirement of either COMM 114 or COMM 337. The CITIS courses within this core include Introduction to Technology, Principles of Computer Science I, Principles of Computer Science II, File Systems and Data Representation, Object Oriented Programming, and Senior Seminar. Of these courses, only the Introduction to Technology course is a completely new offering. This course will provide a broad introduction to problem-solving and the fields within the realm of information technology. By design, this course will assist students in deciding which of the majors in the College to pursue. The Math courses within this core are Discrete Math and one additional Math course chosen from an approved list (121, 145, 151, 161). The final 3 credit hours come from either an internship, a capstone course, or product certification training through the training center.

Building on this core, five tracks have currently been designed: 1.) Database, 2.) Software Engineering, 3.) Business Systems Development, 4.) Networks and Systems Administration, and 5.) Information Technology Specialist. Complete course descriptions and pre-requisite charts are available in Appendix A.

1.) The Database track requires the following in addition to the core:

CITIS 15 credit hours

Technical Electives 15 credit hours

The fifteen credit hours of additional CITIS courses for the Database track are designed to provide the student a depth of knowledge in both database systems (9 credit hours) and web development (6 credit hours). The technical electives may be chosen from any 300 or 400 level CITIS courses, including affiliated courses that are cross listed, or any approved electives from other colleges within the university. In this way the students will be encouraged to develop an expertise or a breadth of knowledge outside of the database area.

2.) The Software Engineering track requires the following in addition to the core:

CITIS 15 credit hours

Technical Electives 15 credit hours

The fifteen credit hours of additional CITIS courses for the Software Engineering track are designed to provide the student a depth of knowledge in Software Engineering (9 credit hours) and an introduction to advanced data structures and programming languages concepts (3 credit hours each). The technical electives may be chosen from any 300 or 400 level CITIS courses, including affiliated courses that are cross listed, or any approved electives from other colleges within the University. In this way the students will be encouraged to develop an expertise or a breadth of knowledge outside of the software engineering area.

3.) The Business Systems Development track requires the following in addition to the core:

CITIS 9 credit hours

Communications 3 credit hours (in addition to the core req.)

Management 3 credit hours

Finance 3 credit hours

Accounting 9 credit hours

Marketing 3 credit hours

Economics 3 credit hours

The nine credit hours of additional CITIS courses for the Business Systems Development track are designed to provide the student a breadth of knowledge in database, software engineering and web development (3 credit hours each). The business courses are designed to provide the student a breadth of exposure to business concepts. This track has been designed so that the major courses could be completed within two years allowing a two-plus-two option for students transferring from community colleges with their general education requirement already completed.

4.) The Networks and Systems Administration (NSA) track requires the following in addition to the core:

CITIS 24 credit hours

Technical Electives 6 credit hours

The twenty four credit hours of additional CITIS courses for the NSA track are designed to provide the student a depth of knowledge in operating systems, networks, and administrative techniques. The technical electives may be chosen from any 300 or 400 level CITIS courses, including affiliated courses that are cross listed, or any approved electives from other colleges within the university. In this way the students will be encouraged to develop an expertise or a breadth of knowledge outside of the network and systems administration area.

5.) Information Technology Specialist

This program has been designed as an inverted two-plus-two for those students completing Associate Degrees in Applied Science (A.A.S.) in Technology from community colleges. This program will require the completion of an A.A.S. in Technology and the CITIS core requirements listed above.

This program will allow a student to transfer from community college with an A.A.S. in technology, and complete their bachelors degree in a 2+2 format. This graduate will have an information technology specialty as demonstrated by their Associates degree and will have a breadth of knowledge in information technology as demonstrated by their completion of the core requirements.

Two minors, Computer Science and Information Technology, have been designed for the new College. As with the core and affiliated majors, this is not meant to imply that other minors will not be developed. These minors were chosen to capitalize on existing resources and expertise. The minors are available to students in any college and any major.

The Software Engineering minor will not be substantially different from the current Computer Science minor. The name has been changed to further distinguish this program from the Information Technology minor described below. The Software Engineering minor will consist of 17 credit hours:

Introduction to Technology

Principles of Computer Science I

Principles of Computer Science II

File Systems and Data Representation

Object Oriented Programming.

A student completing this minor will be well qualified to develop software within the domain of their major.

The Information Technology minor is a much broader, more flexible minor consisting of any 18 credit hours of CITIS courses. Students choosing this minor may choose to build their minor around web development, database, or a concentration of affiliated courses in media studies or marketing. In this way, students may build information technology expertise most appropriate for the careers they intend to pursue.

Affiliated majors are majors that are administered in departments outside of the CITIS but include a substantial information technology component consisting of CITIS courses As input from industry and other academic untis suggests the need, new programs and/or courses will be developed. In the cases where this need suggests an application of technology within a particular area of expertise, CITIS representatives will work with the appropriate college(s) and department(s) to develop a CITIS affiliated major or concentration. The information technology courses included in affiliated programs may include courses typically offered by the CITIS as well as affiliated courses designed to meet the needs of specific programs. These affiliated courses would be cross-listed and would be added to the technical elective list for all majors. Several such existing majors and concentrations have already been identified (e.g. Media Studies, Marketing–eCommerce, Music Technology). Appendix B contains suggested course outlines for two of these majors. Other possibilities for affiliated majors and concentrations have been identified including Medical Informatics and Library Science. However, this list is in no way meant to be exhaustive.

CITIS concentrations could include both inter-disciplinary concentrations for CITIS majors outside the College as well as Technology concentrations for majors within CITIS. For example, a student majoring in journalism could elect to take a concentration of CITIS courses in WWW development and a CITIS major could elect to take a concentration of courses in technical writing or media studies.

As with the undergraduate degree programs, The College of Information Technology and Information Sciences will have both core and affiliated graduate programs. Two such programs have been identified, the existing Computational Sciences program which is an example of a core program, and an Information Technology Management Concentration in the MBA program which is an example of an affiliate program.

The existing Computational Sciences graduate program leading to a Masters of Science degree is currently under review and re-design. The outline reported here is the result of that review process. Building on a survey of regional industries and a survey of technology employment advertisements, the program has been redesigned to include more computer science and management, and less mathematics. The new program would include:

Computer Science 15 credit hours (Analysis of Algorithms,

Database Systems,

Hypermedia Media Programming,

Networks and Telecommunications,

Software Engineering)

Management 6 credit hours (Quantitative Methods,

Operations Management)

Statistics 6 credit hours (Data Mining,

Statistical Computing)

Internship 6 credit hours

OR

Final Project 6 credit hours.

The new curriculum will attract students, both full-time and part-time. The program will attract working Virginia residents who want to join in the information based economy and those who want to advance from their current position in it. The program is designed so that it could be completed in three semesters by a full-time student.

The growing need for a technologically competent workforce is well documented. A related need is for managers who have a sufficient understanding of information technologies to apply IT strategically, fundamentally changing the way an enterprise conducts business and solves problems. Additionally, and understanding of IT is necessary to effectively manage IT resources and support functions. The Masters in Business Administration with a concentration in Information Technology Management is designed to meet these demands.

In addition to completing the MBA core, students would be required to complete a four course sequence offered by the College of Technology and Information Science. The purpose of this sequence of classes would be to:

• Demystify the core technologies underlying modern information systems. Includes the study of database management systems and data networking.
• Study the major business applications that run on top of these core technologies such as Messaging Systems, ERP, and Decision Support Systems.
• Examine philosophies and methodologies for applying IT to strategic planning.
• Examine IT’s relationship to business process reengineering.
• Examine the issues related to the management of IT systems and resources.

Possible course would include:

MIS 530 Information Focused Organizations.

MIS 540 Knowledge and Information Management

An overview and study of systems and software designed to acquire, maintain, and analyze data, including database management systems, data warehouses, data marts, data mining, and decision support systems.

MIS 550 Computing Infrastructures

An overview and comparison of client/server computing and host based computing models. Includes a study of underlying networking technologies, communications applications, and security issues. Also includes discussion of equipment acquisition, deployment, maintenance, support, and retirement.

MIS 560 Enterprise Software

An overview and study of the system life cycle with emphasis on choosing between development of custom systems and purchase of off-the-shelf accounting and ERP software. The course will include study and use of ERP software from leading vendors as well as case studies of software development successes and failures.

 

Training Programs

Develop and implement a Technology Training Center designed to provide technology training to students, faculty, staff, and external constituents.

The need exists to develop a central point of contact within the University for the provision of technology training. There are not fewer than 6 technology training centers on the RU campus. In addition, at least two administrative units within the University are involved with the development and delivery of training programs to external constituents. In order to effectively and efficiently meet the needs of internal and external constituencies, maximize the effective utilization of resources, and provide essential support for the College of Information Technology and Information Sciences, a coordination of technology training functions must occur. Finally, the reputation of the University as an efficient service provider depends upon the ease of access to education and training services. Therefore, there is a critical need to develop and implement a single point of contact for persons (internal and external) to access technology training.

• Facilitate the attainment of the goals developed by the Technology Training Committee.
• Implement policies and procedures for technology training at Radford University.
• Promote expanded use of technology among University faculty, staff and students by raising the level of technology knowledge and skills and documenting progress.
• Serve as a single point of contact for all technology training services for faculty students, staff, and external constituencies.
• Enhance the utilization of resources by coordinating the services available through existing training units in the University.
• Evaluate and modify training programs to meet changes in competencies and the specific needs of constituencies (internal and external).
• Promote the use of technology among faculty, staff, and students.
• Coordinate the development and delivery of technology training programs.

• Consolidate the coordination of all technology training activities in the Technology Training Center.
• All training units represented in the center will collaborate in the development and delivery of technology programs both internally and externally.
• Implement assessment procedures to insure quality of programming, interface with identified competency and skill levels of constituencies (including exit competencies for students), and provide documentation of program completion.
• Implement assessment procedures to insure the quality and integrity of instruction.

• Systematic coordination of technology training will streamline marketing of all training programs, allow for advanced integration into existing curriculum, promote a strong customer service ethic, and provides quality control of instruction.
• Utilization of resources will be maximized by eliminating duplication of effort.
• Enhanced quality and comprehensive training will result from bringing together the talents and resources of technology specialists.
• The existence of a single point of contact will eliminate problems of access for constituent groups.
• A comprehensive training calendar/schedule can be developed which will facilitate meeting the needs of campus based groups and which will be compatible with the schedule for personnel decisions.
• Representatives of training units can also serve to develop additional training resources, including adjunct faculty, online programs, satellite programs, etc. that can serve the needs of internal and external constituent groups.

Needs/Assumptions:

1. The Technology Training Center will directly bring together the resources of Conferences and Noncredit Programs, Distance Education, Academic Computing, the Faculty Development Center, the Multimedia Center, and the Business Assistance Center to coordinate technology training activities. To further facilitate the work of the center and the committee, it will be necessary to involve additional constituent groups, including the Business and Industry Council, K-12 school divisions, community colleges, the Virginia Economic Bridge, human services boards, and similar agencies and organizations to provide information and assistance in program development and delivery.
2. The center will include sufficient support staff to provide clerical support for all training activities.
3. The center will insure continuing, systematic communications with internal and external constituent groups and promote expanding the technology training infrastructure to meet training needs.
4. A comprehensive training program will be developed to include staff and supervisors.
5. The center and the coordinating committee will collaborate with faculty to design and deliver instruction to enhance existing and proposed RU courses.
6. The center and the coordinating committee will work with faculty and external clients to secure quality training that may include RU personnel and facilities as well as imported programs.

Radford University has an excellent core of hardworking dedicated faculty and those in the technology areas, both core and affiliate, are no exception. These faculty work diligently to balance the responsibilities of teaching, professional contributions, and university service, as outlined in the Teaching and Research Faculty Handbook and will continue to do so in the new College. However, with the fast pace of technological change and the rise in industrial and academic salaries, it has become increasingly difficult to attract and hire qualified faculty, and then to maintain their expertise through continuing education.

The CPSC department currently has 8 full time, permanent faculty members: four tenured, two tenure track, and two special purpose. One of the tenured faculty members has taken a Leave of Absence for the 2000-2001 academic year. The special purpose faculty teach lower division majors and service courses.

The department Systems Administrator (Sys Admin), who also has responsibility for the Chemistry and Physics Science Lab in Curie Hall, holds a faculty position so that a Sys Admin with an MS can teach one course per semester. The current Sys Admin holds a BS and does not teach; he has resigned his position effective August 15, and as of July 17, there have been one applicant for the position, which has been advertised since June 25.

Seven (of about 35) CPSC courses are scheduled to be taught by temporaries in Fall 2000. Locating properly qualified temporary faculty is difficult and expensive in the current labor market.

The CPSC department currently has a full time secretary.

The Information Systems program, which is currently part of the Department of Accounting, Finance, and Information Systems, has three full time, permanent faculty members: two tenured and one special purpose. One of the tenured faculty members was hired in accounting information systems, but now teaches only INSY courses. One tenured faculty was hired in administrative systems, but now teaches only INSY courses. The Department of Accounting, Finance, and Information Systems is currently

recruiting for two vacant faculty positions.

Information Systems currently shares the full time secretary of the Department of Accounting, Finance, and Information Systems.

Programs with Affiliated Majors, such as Media Studies and Music Technology, also have faculty members who have expertise in certain specialized technology applications areas.

The following Personnel Services positions were identified in the

University's budget request to the state:

Academic Affairs

1 Dean

10 IT faculty

Training Center

1 Director of Technology Training Center

2 Training Center Technology Specialist (administrative faculty)

7 Certified Trainers (administrative faculty)

1 Online Training Manager

1 Program Support Technician (Director of Training)

4 Program Support Technicians

1 Online Training Technician

The following positions were not identified in the internal submission

1 College Technology Support (administrative faculty)

1 Administrative Assistant

1 Secretary Senior

An advising coordinator position was not contained in the budget request, however, since the number of students potentially involved is high (some 500 in the CPSC and INSY majors alone) and since technology programs typically have high student attrition rates, this position is recommended.

The labor market in computer science is extremely tight, and the market in academia is no exception. Virtually every program is hiring, many with multiple positions. This increase in demand is the result of new programs (e.g. the VT Bioinformatics Initiative) and of new student demand (new undergraduate enrollment in CS at PhD granting institutions doubled between 1995 and 1997). Trends discussed in the 1999 Taulbee survey of CS PhD-granting institutions indicate that the supply of new PhD's will decrease:

Years Number of new PhD's per year

1991-95 between 1000 and 1100

1996-99 between 900 and 950

Further decrease is expected since the number of students who have completed the PhD qualifier decreased 14% last year.

Attracting new PhD's in technology to RU has been quite difficult. Of the 944 new PhD's produced last year, only 25 (3%) entered teaching institutions, leaving us competing for a very small pool of candidates. The CPSC department has conducted faculty searches for each of the last four years. Three of these searches were unsuccessful; the search concluded in 1999 yielded two new tenure track and two new special purpose faculty. (One of the new tenure track faculty has since resigned for health reasons.) Only one of these new hires was a new PhD. A common characteristic of the new faculty members is that each had a particular reason to be in or remain in the area.

Salary expectations of new hires are quite high, and being competitive has forced the CPSC department to accept severe salary compression and, in some cases, inversion. In this environment, faculty retention also becomes an issue.

The Information Systems program has also conducted several unsuccessful

searches in recent years.

Rapid change in CITIS fields requires that resources be allocated to allow faculty to maintain currency and to contribute to the field. Funds for travel and training are also essential for recruiting and retaining faculty, as are teaching loads that are consistent with other schools and with accreditation guidelines. Computer Science Accreditation Board (CSAB) guidelines require that the normal teaching load be 9 hours per semester. AACSB guidelines also require 9 hour teaching loads. The BS in CPSC has been accredited by CSAB since 1992, and the INSY program is accredited by AACSB.

Hiring and maintaining qualified faculty will be critical to the new College. There are several possible solutions:

• The new College may place the University within a new peer group allowing for increased salaries,
• Money should be made available to support Ph.D. candidates in technology programs at other institutions with a commitment to teach at Radford for a specified number of years,
• Industrial partnerships should be pursued allowing technology specialists from industry to come to Radford to teach on a limited basis,
• Technology expertise on campus could be better utilized by allowing computer services and training center personnel to teach general education technology courses.

There are many other possible solutions to this problem. However, this may be the single most difficult challenge for the new College. Students will beat a path to our door, but without qualified faculty, we may have to turn them away.

Radford University has been very successful in developing and maintaining state-of-the-art laboratories and classrooms for technology education. However, as with the problem of faculty resources, the fast pace of technological change means that these facilities will have to continue to be updated and expanded on a regular basis. Careful planning may allow funds to be available in the College budget. Partnerships with industry may also provide possibilities for keeping equipment and software up to date.

The Computer Science Department has four student labs:

• The Unix Laboratory is used for undergraduate instruction for the Computer Science major. It has 33 Pentium III, 500 MHz computers running the SUN Solaris operating system, and it is served by a dual-processor SUN SPARC Ultra Enterprise 2 with over 20 gigabytes of disk space.
• The PC Lab is used primarily for general education courses taught by the department. It has 28 Pentium III, 500 MHz computers running Windows NT.
• The Advanced Teaching and Research (ATR) Laboratory contains about 15 SUN Ultra 5's, Pentiums, and Macintosh G3 machines. It is used in upper division computer science courses and for faculty sponsored research.
• The Networking Lab has 15 computers and networking equipment that allows it to be used as a stand alone network which can be separated from the campus network for teaching purposes.

Computer Science department faculty have a variety of machines in their offices, including SUN Ultra 5's and Pentium III 500 MHz and Macintosh G3 machines, all of which are served by a SUN Ultra 5 with two 9-gig SCSI 2 ultra wide hard drives.

The department's file servers are housed in a machine room that has special air conditioning, an uninterruptable power supply, 220 volt power, and a Halon fire protection system. The machine room, and all of the department labs, have a pull-up floor and non-glare lighting.

The machine room, computer science offices, and department labs are all located on the top floor of Davis Hall.

The department's connection to the campus ATM backbone is through a 155Mbit router which is located on the floor. Machines in faculty offices and the labs have 10BaseT connections to the router.

Davis 212, a multimedia classroom located on the top floor of Davis Hall, is heavily used by courses within the department because it contains a Pentium computer that can be booted in either Windows or Solaris so the computer can run software needed in department courses. The department also has a cart that contains a LCD projector and a Pentium machine that can be dual booted in either Windows or Solaris.

The Information Systems program uses the COBE computer labs in Whitt Hall which contain some 60 Pentium machines running Windows NT. These labs are used for INSY 181 as well as other courses within the INSY program. One of the labs is scheduled for installation of second, key switched, harddrives in all machines to allow INSY students to boot to an installation of Win2000 with local administrative permissions.

An additional lab, Whitt 009, is used for INSY 371, Applied Computer Networking. It contains 6 Pentium machines running Windows NT. These machines are not connected to the campus network but are configured and administered as an independent network by students as part of a project in the INSY 371 Class. During the summer machines in the lab are used for independent studies and research projects. The room allocated to this lab is too small and additional space for it is needed.

Whitt hall is equipped with three multi-media classrooms which play an important role in INSY courses that do not meet in a lab.

Other labs on campus would support CITIS Affiliated majors. These include the Media Studies Computer Lab in Porterfield 173 (21 Macintosh G4), the Educational Studies Computer Lab in 211 Russell Hall (16 Pentium), the Music Computer Lab in Powell 106 (14 Power Macintosh). Core and Affiliated majors, as well as Technology Across the Curriculum, would also be supported by the four computer labs in the Walker Technology Center.

As stated in the universities strategic plan, "Radford University has a unique responsibility to serve the human, social, cultural, and economic development needs of southwestern Virginia. The university takes great pride in its many successes achieved through fostering a strong sense of community and partnership with internal and external constituencies. The university will continue to involve faculty, staff and students in all levels of decision making and to encourage the development of collaborative partnerships and alliances with various groups at the local, regional, national, and international levels. By enhancing these relationships, the university will continue to contribute to the viability of both the region and the Commonwealth of Virginia, strengthen its reputation, and improve the quality of life for all of its partners." The College of Information Technology and Information Sciences will depend upon, and build upon these collaborative partnerships in a variety of ways.

The College will depend upon input from industrial partners into the creation and maintenance of programs that provide graduates to meet the needs of industry at all levels. This input will come from a variety of sources including the existing Business Industry Council, current employers of Radford University students and graduates, and alumni of Radford Universities technology programs. As time and resources permit, a technology advisory committee will be formed specifically to act as an advisory board for the new College.

The College will depend upon industrial partners to provide internship opportunities for students within the new College. Internships, both for credit and not for credit, offer tremendous opportunities for students to expand their knowledge and experience, and build upon the lessons learned in the classroom. Internships will be a major component of many of the programs within the new College.

The College will work with both the community colleges and other institutions within the state to guarantee the smooth articulation and transfer of students into programs within the College. This relationship will provide four year degree opportunities for community college students receiving associate degrees in technology as well as providing technical elective opportunities for CITIS students looking for courses not offered at Radford.

The College, through both the training center and the academic programs, will provide certification and continuing education options for local industry as well as providing faculty resources for advanced problem solving through consulting and research.

Assessment of the College of Information Technology and Information Sciences will focus on both specific student outcomes and the educational process and will focus on the courses, the programs, and the overall effectiveness of the College.

1. Course Level Assessment:

a. Course specific student outcomes can be assessed through various course assignments and activities as well as success in the next course in a sequence.

b. Course specific educational processes can be assessed through the standard end-of-the-course Student Evaluation of Faculty survey which provides data on both the instruction and the course as well as reviews of syllabi by industry partners..

2. Program Level Assessment:

a. Program level student outcomes can be assessed through standardized exams where available, retention and graduation data, the standard survey of employment, the one year out survey of employment, surveys of employers, and Academic Program Review.

b. Program level educational processes can be assessed through senior exit surveys, focus groups with internship sponsors, focus groups with faculty, and accreditation reviews of the relevant programs.

3. College Level Assessment:

a. The overall effectiveness of the College in meeting its academic and outreach goals can be measured through applications/admissions/matriculation data, success in articulation with and retention of community college students, number and quality of internship sites available to students, number of workshop and non-credit enrollments, number of students achieving certification level training, and analysis of employment success after three years.

b. The overall effectiveness of the College educational process can be assessed through self reported data from faculty and employers on the reputation of the College and evidence of repeat requests for customized contracted programs for local business and industry.

The portfolio of assessment options is very broad. The most important aspect of assessment is the commitment to make use of the information for continuous improvement of the program.

In order to accomplish these goals and develop programs so that the College opens in the Fall of 2001, an aggressive timeline has been laid out:

May 15 to July 15 2000 planning groups prepare plan for College of Information Technology and Information Sciences (CITIS)

July 15 to August 15 planning groups review each other's reports and prepare integrated draft for discussion with external constituencies

Summer 2000 plan for financial support developed

Summer 2000 post position announcements for open faculty positions

Summer 2000 hire Microsoft trainer

August 15 to September 15 plan revised for presentation to faculty

September to November consultation with colleges, departments, and Faculty Senate curriculum review by relevant committees

September work with Faculty Senate on process for hiring Dean and begin search

September design recruitment plan for students

September post training schedule for 2000-2001 market opportunities

Fall 2000 fund raising underway

Fall 2000 faculty hiring underway

October to December follow-up discussions with community colleges and industry liaisons

November presentation to Board of Visitors for review and approval

November 2000 request for administrative reorganization to SCHEV

Fall 2000 Training Center opens

Fall 2001 College of Information Technology and Information Sciences opens

 

 

 

Required hours in the major 75

Major hours counting toward general education 17

Remaining general education hours 33

Total required hours for graduation 120

Elective hours 12

Required hours in the major 68

Major hours counting toward general education 17

Remaining general education hours 33

Total required hours for graduation 120

Elective hours 19

Required hours in the major 68

Major hours counting toward general education 17

Remaining general education hours 33

Total required hours for graduation 120

Elective hours 19

Required hours in the major 71

Major hours counting toward general education 20

Remaining general education hours 30

Total required hours for graduation 120

Elective hours 18

Required hours in the major 68

Major hours counting toward general education 17

Remaining general education hours 33

Total required hours for graduation 120

Elective hours 19