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III. Faculty
Intent: Faculty members are current and active in the discipline and have the necessary
technical breadth and depth to support a modern computer science program. There are
enough faculty members to provide continuity and stability, to cover the curriculum
reasonably, and to allow an appropriate mix of teaching and scholarly activity.
If different programs have different faculty members, please identify which faculty members are
associated with which program(s), and the percentage of time allotted, if they are associated with
more than one.
Standard III-1. There must be enough full-time faculty members with primary commitment to the
program to provide continuity and stability.
A. Faculty Size
The purpose of this section is to determine whether you have sufficient faculty to offer courses
often enough for students to complete the program in a timely manner.
In Section II you gave the course numbers of courses required for the major which are offered
less frequently than once per year, and those allowed for the major but not required, and
explained how it is determined when they will be offered. Explain (if applicable) any difficulties
you have offering required or optional courses frequently enough, particularly as they might be
affected by faculty size.
The number of faculty has declined from 17 to 11 over the last six years, but we have so far
been able to offer required and elective courses sufficiently often so students haven’t been
unduly delayed. The recent elimination of lecturers has further reduced the scheduled course
offerings, which will probably lengthen average time-to-graduation.
B. Faculty with Primary Commitment
1. Indicate the number of faculty with primary commitment to the program, that is, who
regularly teach courses in the computer science segment of the program: 13 .
The purpose of the next question is to ascertain the continuity and stability provided by the
faculty with primary commitment to the program.
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2. Please list below the number (FTE) of faculty with primary commitment to the program in
each academic rank, broken down within rank by tenure status.
Instructor
Full Associate Assistant Other
or
Professor Professor Professor Faculty
Lecturer
Tenured 8.5 2.0
Untenured 1.0
Details:
Faculty
FTE Rank Tenure Status
Member
Hillam 0.5 Professor Tenured (FERP)
Kerbs 1.0 Associate Professor Tenured
Lee 0.5 Professor Tenured (FERP)
Liu 1.0 Professor Tenured
Przymusinska 0.5 Professor Tenured (FERP)
Raheja 1.0 Associate Professor Tenured
Rich 1.0 Professor Tenured
Salloum 1.0 Professor Tenured
Sang 1.0 Professor Tenured
Soroka 1.0 Professor Tenured
Tang 1.0 Assistant Professor Untenured
Yang 1.0 Professor Tenured
Young 1.0 Professor Tenured
FERP is the Faculty Early Retirement Program. Retiring faculty on FERP continue to teach
half-time for up to five years after retirement.
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Standard III-2. Full-time faculty members must oversee all course work.
Standard III-3. Full-time faculty members must cover most of the total classroom instruction.
C. Faculty Oversight
Full-time faculty must oversee all computer science course work allowed towards the major.
That means each course must be either taught or coordinated by a full-time faculty member with
primary commitment to the program. For those courses with sections not taught by full-time
faculty during the last or current academic year, list the course numbers below and the name of
the full-time faculty coordinator. (The last academic year is the academic year prior to the year in
which this report is prepared.)
Full-time Faculty
Dept Course Course Title
Coordinator
CS 128 Introduction to C++ Raheja
CS 130 Discrete Structures Tang
CS 140 Introduction to Computer Science Soroka
CS 141 Introduction to Programming and Problem-Solving Soroka
CS 210 Computer Logic Salloum
CS 240 Data Structures and Algorithms I Soroka
CS 241 Data Structures and Algorithms II Salloum
CS 245 Programming Graphical User Interfaces Soroka
CS 256 C++ Programming Raheja
CS 264 Computer Organization and Assembly Programming Salloum
CS 301 Numerical Methods Liu
CS 311 Language Translation and Automata Sang
CS 331 Design and Analysis of Algorithms Young
CS 352 Symbolic Programming Soroka
CS 356 Object-Oriented Design and Programming Sang
CS 365 Computer Architecture Yang
CS 370 Parallel Processing Young
CS 375 Computers and Society Rich
CS 380 Computer Networks Young
CS 408 Programming Languages Liu
CS 411 Compilers and Interpreters Sang
CS 420 Artificial Intelligence Liu
CS 431 Operating Systems Liu
CS 435 Database Systems Soroka
CS 445 Computer Graphics Kerbs
CS 450 Computability Rich
CS 460 Secure Communication Rich
CS 463 Undergraduate Seminar Yang
CS 480 Software Engineering Salloum
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Standard III-4. The interests and qualifications of the faculty members must be sufficient to
teach the courses and to plan and modify the courses and curriculum.
Standard III-5. All faculty members must remain current in the discipline.
Standard III-6. All faculty members must have a level of competence that would normally be
obtained through graduate work in computer science.
Standard III-7. Some full-time faculty members must have a PhD in Computer Science.
D. Interests, Qualifications, and Scholarly Contributions
The Criteria states that the interests, qualifications, and scholarly contributions of the faculty
must be sufficient to teach the courses, plan and modify the courses and curriculum, and to
remain abreast of current developments in computer science. This information should be
contained in the faculty vitas attached to this report and need not be repeated here. A sample vita
questionnaire is attached in Section G below. Although it is not necessary to follow this format,
it is important that whatever format is followed contain all the information asked for. And, to
make things easier for the visiting team, please see that all faculty vitas are in the same format,
whichever format is used.
This is an appropriate place to insert a description of general departmental or institutional
activities that promote faculty currency, if such exist.
Departmental and institutional activities and policies that promote faculty currency include:
The campus Faculty Center for Professional Development offers workshops on a wide range
of topics, many of which involve the application of emerging technologies to teaching and
learning. Faculty are thereby encouraged and assisted in the use of advanced software tools
and web-based resources in support of their classes. This provides an additional opportunity
for students and faculty to experience the practical application of the technology while it
enhances the learning experience.
The campus has several competitive mechanisms for faculty to obtain course release for
professional development. These include the CSU-funded Research, Scholarship and Creative
activities (RSCA) program and various annual grant programs from the Division of Academic
Affairs.
The department’s Retention, Tenure and Promotion (RTP) policies state explicit expectations
with regard to curricular development and professional development activities. Candidates
being evaluated for RTP actions are required to show their accomplishments in these areas.
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New hires bring new expertise and new areas of research to the department. We expect that
they will continue their research, create new courses and refresh existing ones. Their input to
these courses, their participation in joint research, and their service on thesis committees gives
existing faculty an opportunity to expand their expertise.
CS 463, the Undergraduate Seminar, requires students to make presentations on topics of
current interest to computer scientists. These topics tend to focus on new developments that
have piqued the interest of students. Faculty benefit from helping students in the preparation of
these presentations and from the group discussions that follow.
The department operates a Masters program in Computer Science that currently enrolls about
50 students. Most of the faculty teach one or more graduate courses, and most are active in
thesis supervision. Department-hosted graduate forums help match graduate students with
faculty having common interests. Faculty members also post their interests on the department
web site. Students and faculty both tend toward thesis topics suggested by current
developments in the field.
Standard III-8. All full-time faculty members must have sufficient time for scholarly activities
and professional development.
E. Scholarly Activities
Describe the means for ensuring that all full-time faculty members have sufficient time for
scholarly activities and professional development.
The university’s mission is derived from the California Master Plan for Higher Education.
Consistent with this mission, teaching is the primary function of faculty in the department.
80% of the time (12 out of 15 WTUs) of a tenure-track appointment is assigned to teaching.
While the teaching mission of the CSU assigns faculty a relatively heavy teaching load, there
is time to spend on scholarly activities and professional development. All faculty teach on
9-month contracts, with no obligation to teach or be on campus during the summer, which
gives them three months that can be devoted to research or professional development. When
quarterly class scheduling occurs, faculty express what courses and time slots they prefer, and
those preferences are usually met. Almost all faculty have teaching schedules that afford them
one or two days a week without classes. The amount of internal and external funding, research
papers, publications, conference presentations, journal review, thesis supervision, and course
development is evidence that there is sufficient time beyond teaching.
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Faculty professional development activities include research and scholarship to support the
university’s mission, as well as efforts to improve teaching, advising, faculty governance and
administration skills. The previous section discussed assigned time mechanisms available to
faculty to pursue professional development. New tenure-track faculty are released from
teaching one course per quarter during their first year in order to establish their teaching and
research portfolios.
In the past year, most faculty have obtained some time reassigned from teaching for various
professional activities, as indicated in the following table.
Quarter
Name Source
units
Kerbs 24 Quality Learning Fund, SCI 101 development, Sabbatical
Raheja 10 SCI 101/102 development, Thesis supervision, Laszlo substitution
Rich 28 CS 375 development, Dept Chair
Salloum 2 Thesis supervision
Sang 14 Grad. Coordinator, JPL SIRI, Thesis supervision
Soroka 12 Accreditation/Assessment Coordinator
Tang 10 Grant writing, Quality Learning Fund
Yang 6 Chair, WEEA Grant
Young 4 Quality Learning Fund
Standard III-9. Advising duties must be a recognized part of faculty members’ workloads.
F. Support for Advising
Advising duties must be a recognized part of faculty members’ workloads, which means that
faculty with large numbers of advisees must be granted released time. Explain your advising
system and how the time for these duties is credited.
All tenure track faculty members participate in student advising, and have advisees assigned to
them. A standard tenure track appointment consists of 15 WTUs (weighted teaching units) per
quarter, of which 12 are for teaching and 3 for related activities including advising. The
department currently has 508 majors, of which 129 are classified as freshmen. All incoming
freshmen are assigned to Brian Pangan, the department Advisor/Admissions Coordinator. The
rest are assigned to faculty members based on the last two digits of their ID number. Students
are encouraged to see Brian or their faculty advisor for all advising questions. Department
policies related to electives, dropping classes, disqualification, etc. are posted on the
department web page.
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All Computer Science students receive mandatory advising annually, using a schedule based
on their BroncoNumber, to ensure adequate progress toward their degree. Students whose
GPA falls below 2.2 must see an advisor each quarter according to campus policy. A standard
advising worksheet is used in each case, which requires students to plan their course selection
two quarters ahead. The department maintains a folder for each student that contains
transcripts, grade reports, petitions and other relevant paperwork that assist in the advising
process. The campus has implemented an online Degree Progress system that students can
consult in order to determine what requirements they have yet to fulfill.
G. Information Regarding Faculty Members
On separate pages, please furnish the following information for all faculty members that teach
courses allowed for the major, including those who have administrative positions in the
department (chair, associate chair, etc.). Use the form given below as guidance. This form need
not be followed exactly, but all requested information should be supplied. Please use a common
format for all vitas. Please limit information to no more than three pages per person, if at all
possible. Please place the form(s) for administrator(s) first, followed by the others in alphabetical
order.
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