[dfranke]

I graduated from UF in 2007 and have in no way since kept up with departmental politics, but as of then, CISE was a bit of a Frankenstein creature. As an undergraduate, if you were looking for a computing-related degree, you had five possible majors to choose from:

* Computer Science (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; CISE Department)

* Computer Engineering with Software Emphasis (College of Engineering; CISE Department)

* Computer Engineering with Hardware Emphasis (College of Engineering; ECE Department)

* Electrical Engineering (College of Engineering; ECE Department)

* Computer Information Sciences (College of Business; CISE Department).

So basically, the CISE department was answerable to three different colleges, and some of those colleges offered very-closely-related degrees that weren't in the CISE department.

As for myself, I started out in Computer Engineering with Software Emphasis. I later switched to Computer Science. The reason for this change was that I wanted to double in Mathematics, which belongs to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Having a double major is a lot easier when both majors are in the same college, because you then don't have to worry about satisfying conflicting and redundant gen. ed. requirements.

So, as a CISE alumnus, I have a vested interest in maintaining the reputation of that department, and this reorganization sounds likely to damage it. However, the status quo (as of 2007) is a mess, and this change might overall be for the better.

[JoeAltmaier]

I can't deny that the department being cut back is a good one. But sometimes there isn't room for all the good departments.

I plant 4 tomato plants every spring. In a few weeks I pull up 2 of them, even if they are thriving. There is only so much soil, water and sunlight to go around.

[wpietri]

Great point. After all, computer science is a relatively unimportant discipline. It's obviously a waning field. As we've seen in the news, people with CS degrees don't make much money and almost never get rich, so they are unlikely to donate to schools later on in life.

[JoeAltmaier]

AsI understand it, there are several CS departments in the college. Several tomato plants.

[myp3]

Tomatoes? EE one of 5 CS department? All the good courses (and one bad one)I had were taught by CISE faculty.

[Gormo]

No, they're potatoes. The CISE ones are conveniently chopped into french fries. Turlington's is still raw.

[achompas]

I'm also a 2007 alum, and I steered clear of CS as an undergraduate because of the confusing organization you describe above. If that organization wasn't so confusing, I would have tried CS out (vs. the econ BA I hold right now and the MSCS I'm working on now).

The department may have problems, but shutting down research throws the baby out with the bathwater. Degree consolidation would go a long way to improving student enrollment.

[dfranke]

It's not obvious that they're actually "shutting down" any research, though. They seem just to be moving it under the aegis of other departments.

[k3dz]

All faculty members that remain in CISE will have to stop their research program and focus only on teaching. About 50% of the faculty will be able to continue their research in other departments.

They will also be stopping all departmental TA support.

The proposal is here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwzZsds2XcGnMWFpcnFiNEhvQkk/...

[aggronn]

I'm about to graduate from UF's eco department. How is your MSCS program treating you? I'm likely going down a similar route.

Also, just a department update: the our department accepted its last PhD class for the foreseeable future this year because of money and declining faculty. Denslow is retiring after this semester.

[Gormo]

I graduated in 2002, and the situation was even more convoluted then.

There was no "Computer Science" major available; the traditional CS curriculum was known as "Computer and Information Sciences", which, due to the acronym, can be confused with a MIS-equivalent degree (I once had a manager who insisted that I show him the course catalog for my major to prove I studied the relevant CS topics). The MIS/IT curriculum was offered as "Decision and Information Systems".

And despite the CISE department being a part of the College of Engineering, the CS curriculum was offered as an independent major only by the liberal arts and business colleges. I opted for the business college, so my actual degree is "Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in Computer and Information Sciences", wording which is rather poor at conveying that this is indeed a CS degree.

I don't think they got around to renaming the degrees until 2004-2005.

[BrentRitterbeck]

I graduated from UF in 2004. This was the exact reason why I did not pursue a degree in computer science alongside my finance degree. The only course I took in the computer science department (Something like Problem Solving with MS Office) was completely unorganized. I picked up my programming background on my own and in graduate school.

[uf_cise_alumnus]

No clarity will result.

The two Computer Engineering Degrees (software and hardware) are to be combined into one that has N (not yet decided) tracks that will be supported by "certificate programs."

So, now you reduce by one clearly defined separation and increse by n-1 less well defined certificate programs.

[Gormo]

Why not just have a CE major, with CS and EE minors available?

[dfranke]

What of Computer Science? Is that staying under CLAS/CISE?

[guelo]

That's funny because I graduated from UF in 1996 and computer degrees were just about as confusing back then.

[excuse-me]

So which had the best football team?