Computer Science department now accredited
The computer science department has grown rapidly since its official creation 20 years ago.
The department’s first goals were to become accredited and to become a doctorate-granting program.
“The program achieved accreditation three years ago and plans to start their Ph.D. program next year,” said Donald Cooley, computer science department head.
Accreditation is when a university program seeks an outside source to measure its quality, he said.
The Computer Science Accrediting Commission sent three individuals to the campus to review the faculty, classes, content and curriculum of the computer science program.
“It took the faculty four years to prepare for accreditation,” Cooley said.
He said the computer science program at Utah State University is one of the only two accredited programs in the state of Utah. The other accredited program is at BYU. Furthermore, there are only 121 accredited computer science programs worldwide.
If computer scientists are required to earn a license, accreditation of the program will be more effective because potential computer scientists will want an education from an institution which has proven to be qualified. Potential employers are also more likely to hire students from accredited universities because those institutions have proven their competence in the field, Cooley said.
The doctorate program will change the computer science research environment because of its increased depth. For example, it takes a doctorate in computer science a full year to complete his or her dissertation. This will dramatically increase the depth computer science majors go into, he said.
“The first year of the program will be very competitive and selective,” Cooley said.
“The new program will also help in finding faculty. The number of applicants for the faculty went from 200 people in 1994 to 17 today,” he said.
“The program should attract many Ph.D.s in computer science who want to enter teaching,” Cooley said.