INSIDE:The Computer Science Department
The University Daily
KANSAN
November 10, 1983 Page 6
Budget collides with high enrollment
Computer science faces class, faculty problems
Eisa Abdellatif, Sudan graduate student, works on one of the general-use computer terminals at the Academic Computer Center.
By CHRISTY FISHER Staff Reporter
Gary Smith/KANSAN
Sindiya Satsangi was upset when she could not enroll in two introductory computer science classes last semester.
Not only did the Lenexa junior have to spend the semester taking only objective classes, but she also will have to complete a graduation date by at least one year.
Satsangi only needs the computer science classes to graduate. She will transfer to another university, she will also be required in required classes this semester.
Unfortunately, her situation is similar to that of "a substantial number" computer science majors, according to Victor Wallace, who has resigned as chairman of the computer science department.
Budget problems, a lack of senior faculty and a doubling of enrollment in computer science classes in the past seven years has forced the department to limit course enrollment. Wallace said recently. As a result, students have been unable to meet their graduation requirements.
Wallace said he resigned as chairman last month out of frustration after dealing with the department's budget problems for the past three years. He was replaced by chairing and research duties after his resignation becomes effective Tuesday.
William Bulgern, professor of computer science and mathematics, last week was named acting chairman of the department by Robert Lineberry, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. A national search will begin this month for a new chairman, but Lineberry said last week that the search might take a year.
Despite the increase, he said, the department retains virtuously, the same number of senior faculty appointments as it did in 1970 — about 250.
According to Wallace, enrollment in computer science has doubled in the past seven years from 4,139 student hours to 8,128 student credit hours in 1989.
But the department now has nearly 25 full-time graduate teaching appointments, up from 10 in 1976. And the department's base budget has increased almost 80 percent from 1978 to 1982.
Wallace, however, said that the budget figures did not reflect the department's true state of affairs.
he said that more department money now is being allocated to the base budget to allow for shrinkage — the estimated amount an institution's salary budget will decrease because of a turnover in faculty members.
The actual budget, he said, has never been allocated in proportion to the current budget.
Wallace's resignation came in part, he said, after the department's budget was cut 1.6 percent in 1983 and its budgeted budget was cut by 3 percent in 1984.
He said he was discouraged by the administration's inability and unwillingness to fulfill his requests.
"My resignation from the chair was prompted because I was getting less convinced that I had valid expectations of what the administration could do." Wallace said. "Something needed to be done to stimulate the kind of resources the department should have."
Lineberry, dean of the College, agreed that the computer science department needed more money and more faculty to meet its increased enrollment. But he said that other departments in the College — such as political science and economics — had been hurt worse by budget problems.
"It's a serious problem. There no question of that." Lineberry said. "The budget has been boosted every year for five years, but enrollments continue to outrun the budget. The increase is just staggering."
Still, he said, many College department are experiencing increases in enrollment and losses in faculty. He also said that departments had had declines in enrollment.
Faculty losses have been of particular concern to Wallace. Twelve senior faculty members, with the help of graduate students, now must advise and teach 596 undergraduates, 140 graduate students and 1,140 non-majors who are enrolled in computer science classes.
Again, Wallace said budget constraints had limited the department in recruiting qualified new faculty.
Only one of the department's four full-time professors who have resigned since August 1981 have been replaced, Wallace said. The positions have been filled with graduate students with faculty with one-year appointments.
Wallace said he thought that graduate students were qualified to teach, but that more senior faculty be teaching entry level courses.
"I'm concerned about the increase use of graduate students in entry level classes because they do not have the experience with the diversity of ideas, questions and problems that the students can present," he said.
Wallace, however, said he thought the University was establishing a dangerous precedent.
But Lineberry said the administration was hiring graduate students to fill open tenured faculty positions because it gave the budget more flexibility and helped strengthen the graduate program.
Moreover, Wallace said that the administrators had responded to his repeated requests for more financing by saying that they simply did not
have the money to spend on computer science.
"To me, it's not understandable that the priority was not to set allow us to do serious recruiting of new faculty," he said. "We cannot hire faculty to replace those who have worked in this is not the place to do the cutting."
Lineberry warned that the University should not over-invest in comp
Job market growth in computer science, he said, will be relatively small for highly specialized computer scientists. And he said that most people would need only a small degree of computer science in the future.
"It would be a mistake to rush headlong into University expansion." Lineberry said. "Now we must strengthen computer science as an academic discipline . . . and make it an integrated part of the University."
Wallace, however, said that the administration had sought expansion when it decided to establish a new program in computer engineering. The University, he said, cannot afford to finance its existing programs.
"This is not the time to start a new program and I'd like to see some promises kept with regard to the department's expectations," he said.
However, Deanell Tacha, vice chancellor for academic affairs, said that computer engineering was an education that needed to be developed.
Tacha said the state needed KU to develop the program because no other Kansas universities offered it. She said the KU School of Engineering had the expertise and the commitment to business businesses to begin a successful program
OFFICIALS FROM THE department and the University say they will limit the number of computer science majors to deal with the budget problems and the enrollment increases. They hope to do this by establishing a minimum overall grade point average in English 101, Math 121, CS 200 and CS 210. The department also plans to require a minimum overall GPA in computer science classes.
Tacha and Wallace said they regretted having to limit enrollment. But they said that the department must do this to stay within its budget.
Last year, the department decided not to add courses so that it could restrict enrollment. As a result, enrollment rose only 1 percent last year, a significant drop from the annual yearly increase of 14 percent.
Lineberry said he favored the
restricted policy because he thought the classes would attract more high quality students. The strength of a computer science program can be measured by the quality of its students, he said.
"If the department does not maintain high academic standards, then it will really begin to feel the financial woes," he said.
LINEBERRY SAID THAT he doubted that computer science would ever become a core requirement because he thought basic computer science would be outdated by the time such a change was made at the University.
"Our job is to make the program intellectually rigorous, not a mass education on computer programming. We simply don't need it," he said.
Earle Schwepe, professor of computer science, strongly disagrees that a small number of computer scientists will be needed in the future.
He said that there was already a severe shortage of people with computer science degrees and that the shortage would get much worse if computer science departments limited enrollments.
A SHORTAGE OF 800 computer scientists now exists, according to a national study by O Tauleer *professors* at the University of Pittsburgh. The report University of Pittsburgh. The report
said the number should get much worse as only 250 doctors of computer science graduate each year. Only 25 percent of those people go into research and teaching at the university level.
"How are we going to train computer scientists when we won't have anyone to teach?" Schwepe asked.
And Wallace said that he was worried that the University's existing faculty would leave for higher-paying jobs in the private sector or for universities with lighter, teaching loads. At least one of four professors who resigned from the department in July 2014 moved to a position with a lighter course load.
Wallace said that he used his resignation partly to call attention to the problems in the state.
But he said he did not intend it to be a "brandstand play."
"I GENUINELY meant that I was discouraged. There are better things I could do with my time," he said. "You have to give an awful lot to an administrator. You have to give up time with your students and you have to give up the ability to maintain your national reputation as a scholar."
"When you find the result of having to give all that up is rather minimal, you have to ask yourself, 'Is it worthwhile?' "
Gary Smith/KANSAN
The Honeywell 66/DPS computer system is housed in the operations area of the Academic Computer Center. The system was donated to the University of Kansas by the Honeywell Corp. and is the heart of the KU computer network.
Acting chairman takes positive approach
By CHRISTY FISHER Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
When William Bulgren was named acting chairman of the department of computer science last week, his colleagues joked that they did not know whether to congratulate him or offer him condolences.
But because he is committed to the University and has been with the department for a long time, he will make a good interim chairman, he said.
But Bulgren said that although he knew the department had many problems, he thought of his new role as a challenge to make the computer science department a growing, positive entity on campus.
Bulgen, who was one of the first senior faculty members hired when the department was formed 15 years ago, worked as a researcher and an educator.
BULGREN MAY HAVE to trade in his sweaters and casual slacks for the three-piece-suits many administrators wear when he replaces Victor Wallace as chairman of the department Tuesday.
"I do not want to be chairman of the department because I am very effective as a teacher and a resource of satisfaction and reward out of it."
"I do not see myself as an administrator." Bulgren said. "I enjoy doing research and I enjoy interacting with the students. That's why I went to the University. If I didn't enjoy it, I would be in the private sector.
Wallace resigned Oct. 3 because he was discouraged about budget problems within the department.
Because the University has a hard time competing with the big money organizations,
"I don't think I will do anything dramatic," he said. "I can only do the short term things — the things that need to happen."
ren think that he should strive to make the department as enjoyable as possible for the educators. He thinks it is important that a celebration exist in meeting faculty needs.
He said his primary responsibilities were overseeing the promotion and
I do not see myself as an administrator. I enjoy doing research and I enjoy interacting with the students. That's why I'm here at the University. If I didn't enjoy it, I would be in the private sector.' William Pulleyman
Professor of computer science and mathematics
tenure process, taking care of merit pay increases for faculty and beginning the search for new faculty. He said the search for faculty was particularly important to lighten the department's heavy teaching
THE DEPARTMENT NOW has 12 senior faculty members who advise and teach 596 undergraduates, 440 graduate students and 1,140 non-
Bulgren also said he must assist the dean in two transitional issues — the search for a permanent chairman and the need to investigate the possibility of establishing general computer education for the entire University.
"We need to search for a chairman
Bulgren said he had two priorities in taking the job — that the department would meet the needs of the students in a rational manner and that the faculty would be given better equipment to teach classes.
THE ADMINISTRATION has approved limiting the number of computer science majors by putting an overall minimum grade point requirement on four core classes 121, Math 121, CS 200 and CS 210. He said the administration as discussing what the minimum GPA should be.
Bulgren he hoped to start by next fall a program that would limit the number of students majoring in computer science. He said that
computer science would have to
college students to do this.
"But this would leave a large number out," he said. "The University has a responsibility to furnish that education to others."
He said that introductory computer science classes would not be limited only to computer science majors. Students who need to take computer science classes to graduate will still be able to do so.
BULGREN SAID THE the administration and the department were interested in starting a computer science literacy program for the entire University. Because computer literacy is a relatively new field, he thinks the University should invest the time and the money needed to conduct experiments on how such a program should be taught.
Gary Smith/KANSAN
Thousands of computer discs are stored in the operations area of the Academic Computer Center.
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