Univ. of Florida Announces Plan To Save CS Department

New submitter WIGFIELD7458 writes "This appears to be a major change in plans that will save the Computer Science Department. Thanks to everyone in the Gator Nation and beyond for speaking out! The battle isn't over yet, but this is very encouraging news. I would urge the students, faculty, and alumni of UF to continue to express your support for the essential academic mission of your university."

Sounds like a "Statue of Liberty Play"

[mbone]

If you are the Park Service, and your budget gets cut, one ploy is to close the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument, not some campground in South Dakota, hoping to get a reaction and thus get the money back.

Sounds like the University of Florida did the same thing.

Damage is already done

[pegr]

Why would you even consider getting a CS degree here now?

Re:Damage is already done

[O('_')O_Bush]

Why not? A CS degree is almost the same as a math degree, and most good schools group it either with the math department or the engineering department (though, typically this is not a good idea, since CPEs/EEs look down on CS).

They are simply doing what everyone else does already. UF is a good school in general, not one to simply wave away because of department restructuring.

I'm a VT grad, btw. No bias for or against UF.

Re:Sounds like a "Statue of Liberty Play"

[snarkh]

The Statue of Liberty is not going to go to California, while the professors from the CS department might.

STEM is the future

[EmperorOfCanada]

Science fiction writers (fundamentally artists) rarely write about a poem or some business major (businessman maybe but not an MBA) who changes the world. It is most often some cool technology. If you look back into history there are undoubtedly influential works of art, like it or not writings like the bible have had a profound effect. But the reality is that inventions like electricity, medicines, etc have changed the world for the better over and over. Right now the technology is computers and their related technologies like robots that are setting the world on fire.

The primary focus of any healthy society should be to churn out the most skilled STEM students possible. We still need barbers and bankers but keep in mind that Taiwan churns out something like 55,000 Electrical Engineers a year. I have no idea if they are glorified electricians or the next Tesla but it certainly shows that they know where to focus their efforts.

Plus look at what happened to the world economy when it had too many MBAs around?

The mere thought of cutting the CS department shows the thinking of a group of weak minds. These are the sort of people who don't save any grain for the next spring's planting.

Re:STEM is the future

[Overzeetop]

$70k/yr CS grads don't send multi-million dollar thank you checks to the University Fund, businessmen do.

And most of the MBAs and Finance majors are doing just fine on Wall Street again. The market has almost doubled in 4 years, so big bonuses all around! The smart ones in the back room are trying to figure out how to pop this current bubble to they can take 2 quarters off without the obscene bonuses, and then have another 100% runup to skim another 10% off the top. Stability is not profitable, volatility is!

Re:But do we really need a separate CS dept anymor

[eclectus]

No. I speak as someone with a MS in CS, so I may be a little biased, but saying CS should just be Math & Engineering is much like saying Physics is just applied math, or chemistry is applied physics. While one is built on the other, there are basic tenets taught in CompSci that would never come directly out of Engineering or Math. While there is a lot of overlap, subjects such as Data Structures or Autonoma Theory (off the top of my head) are VERY different than anything that would be thought of as engineering or math. Core concepts such as these affect the very way that CS majors view the world. It is a different level than just applied math & engineering.

Re:STEM is the future

[the eric conspiracy]

Just so you are aware, Wall Street bonuses have little to do with the market being up.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/business/29bonus.html [nytimes.com]

It is the investors who generally gain the most from the market being up, the largest investors typically being pension funds, university endowments or 401K accounts belonging to individuals.

So learn a little before shooting off your mouth.

Re:Sounds like a "Statue of Liberty Play"

[luis_a_espinal]

Hell, you Can get into Harvard with B+ averages. It takes a really good SAT and a bit of showing off, but its certainly doable. Very few doors are permanently closed just because you screwed up in High School, I hate the fact that Guidance Counselors and the media in general make adults think they can't get a good education just because they didn't do awesome when they were in high school.

I understand the feeling. Guidance counselors were totally useless for my siblings and I (who end up choosing careers in CS, STEM and Health.) But I can understand them, their inability that is.

The way I see it, college-level guidance counselors are an extension of the HS concept of daycare. We shove droves and droves of youth through HS without methodically and systematically exploring their options in a post-HS life. That is the type of discussion that should occur when nearing the end of Middle School (and that's what is done in many countries.) It should not be occuring when a 17-18 year old kid is out of HS asking himself for the first time "now what?".

Guidance is a years-long process that starts early on. It cannot be pigeonholed into a 30-minute stop-by session with a counselor in college. That is too little and too late, in particular for kids who would have been better off *NOT* going to college. Some of the young people we see nowadays with useless degrees, they would have been much better off if they had just worked a lot and explore what the world had to offer (before committing to 4 years of grief and student loan debt.)