BACKGROUND

• This meeting was requested by Jerry McKenny, chair of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. The stimulus was Moshe Vardi's proposal for a revised Computer Science major.

ISSUES:

HOURS, COURSES REQUIRED FOR ACCREDITATION

Computer Science Department indicates that 85 hours in the major are required for a B.S. degree. This puts the total number of courses at 134 under the present structure, which is fit to be too many. The ceiling for a degree should be dropped to 128. It would raise the number of hours in Computer Science by one, but reduce the total number of courses required.

• Bioengineering is considering going to 94 hours for the major, with 124 total, leaving only 40 hours outside the major.
  
  
• Some natural science departments may request a B.S. degree for their current requirement. (They already require what other schools require for a B.S.)
  
  
• Some sentiment exists for using current requirements as appropriate for a B.S., then relaxing the requirements for a B.A.
  
  
• Accrediting agencies are shifting from numbers of hours to specific courses in humanities and social sciences.

WHAT COMPANIES WANT

• People who can write, talk, work in teams.

WHAT IS NEEDED

• Producing technically competent students with ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE, and to work in MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAMS. Some feeling that the emphasis should be on particular skills rather than on specific courses.

G. McKenny noted that we are not educating students regarding critical changes in science and engineering.