Faculty The tenure-track faculty have a broad range of research interests and expertise. Particular strength in the department exists in the areas of software engineering, artificial intelligence, graphics, networking, and parallel and distributed computing. Tenure-track faculty each have the Ph.D. in computer science or a closely related subject. Full-time lecturers and senior lecturers have graduate education in computer science, and in some cases the Ph.D. in computer science. They interact regularly with tenure-track faculty on their instructional assignments, and in some cases also participate in research activities. Part-time lecturers and senior lecturers also have the equivalent of graduate education in computer science, and most have graduate degrees in computer science. They are practicing computing professionals in the Central Ohio community, and bring a practical side to the delivery of the curriculum. This enriches the students' experience, and students often comment positively about this on their class evaluations. Upon admission to the major, each student is assigned a faculty advisor. While registration each term does not require that a student meet with an advisor, many do so, and in any case, advisors are available to meet with students to give both academic and career counseling. Many faculty also interact with undergraduate students as part of our diversity enhancement program. This program, among other aspects, provides incentives for undergraduate students to engage in research-related projects with faculty. There also are opportunities for students to do independent study work with faculty. Furthermore, there are student chapters of the ACM, IEEE-CS, and UPE, each with faculty advisors. Finally, the department has a faculty member as industry coordinator. This individual helps promote interaction between the department and industry, including assisting in arranging student visits to company installations. The size of the faculty is adequate to deliver the program, because the size of the program is regulated to be sensitive to the faculty size and other resources. The university has approved an enrollment management plan, which restricts entry into the major based on a GPA cutoff, which is set each year based on financial and personnel resource availability. Facilities Computing facilities provide access to modern Unix and NT systems in all faculty offices and in all student laboratories used by students in the program. The Department maintains facilities for the program that include 130 seats for open lab use, and an additional 20-seat closed laboratory that is used for the introductory computer science sequence (and for other courses on occasion). Remote access to the laboratory stations is available, and students in the program can use special dial-in numbers that are not available to non-majors. Thus, they do not compete with the rest of the students on campus for access to the systems. The CIS network includes both ATM and fast ethernet, with high-powered servers for both compute power and file management. Printing facilities exist in each lab (except for the closed lab, whose print facility is just down the hall). Appropriate software resides on the servers and is accessible by all accounts from any lab seat or office. CIS controls three classrooms that have full internet access, including the closed laboratory classroom used by the introductory sequence. Other classrooms assigned to our course have overhead projectors as standard equipment. The Department also maintains laptops and laptop projectors that can be reserved by faculty to give, for example, power point presentations or other demos. CIS's own 13-person computing staff maintains the facilities used in the program by faculty, staff, and students. Because they are employees of the Department, they can be more responsive to the needs of the program and can plan upgrades and maintenance activities to minimize disruption to the program. The Department's Computer Committee is responsible for computing policies and plans. The director of the Department's computing staff, and representatives from the student community, sit on this committee with department faculty to ensure that the different perspectives are represented when setting these policies and plans. Institutional Support and Financial Resources Budgets for the Department are set by the Dean of the College of Engineering. The Department has a separate budget for its computing facilities management, and this budget is managed by the computing facilities director. Beginning in FY2001, the College (and all colleges at Ohio State) will be budgeted by a process that more closely reflects actual enrollments. The Dean has indicated that his method of allocating his budget to the departments will largely reflect the method by which he received his budget from Central Administration. All levels of the university administration are supportive of our desire to provide a quality program to the students. Toward that end, they supported the reinstitution of enrollment management when demand for the major increased significantly. This ensures that students admitted to the program will be able to get the courses they need and allows the department to keep classes supported in a manner consistent with its faculty and financial resources. The university supports a faculty professional leave (sabbatical) activity after seven years of service. Most faculty take advantage of this opportunity. The Department Chair also routinely supports, from the department's budget, travel by faculty to professional meetings, including workshops that promote effective teaching. Resources to acquire, maintain, and operate the computing facilities in use by the program are contained in the department's computing facilities budget. This budget includes a $200K equipment line. In addition, the students in the program pay a computing fee, which is returned to the department to purchase hardware, software, and access to the labs. Approximately $150K per year is in this budget. The Department maintains an advising staff consisting of a full-time professional and two half-time graduate students. These individuals advise students prior to their becoming majors. There are 7.5 additional administrative staff who provide various kinds of support to the Department and the program. The College of Engineering also maintains an advising staff, a coop office, and a career services office that are of great value to students in the college, and hence, in our program. Standard support functions exist on an institution-wide basis to meet other student needs.