Where is the semester going?

By now I hope everyone is settled in to the rhythms of academic life. Some of you are preparing for midterms, some of you are working on projects.

We've had alot going on at the Seidenberg School and around the School. The Pace Computing Society in New York has a full schedule of Wednesday speakers-two of our own students spoke about internships in early October.

The First Tech Challenge, an event for high school students to compete using LEGO robotics, will be held in Pleasantville in the Spring, and the kick-off on October 9 was well attended. Congratulations to all who are working on this important event.

I was invited, along with Cathy Dwyer of the Information Technology Department in New York, to speak at a Women in Engineering Conference sponsored by the IEEE in White Plains. I encourage you to look into joining a professional society if you haven't already done so. I'm a member of the ACM, the IEEE, and AIS. Many of these groups offer student memberships at a fraction of the cost of a professional membership. I'm sure that any of your professors will be glad to "sponsor" you and sign your membership applications.

Best of luck on exams, projects, and whatever else this semester is throwing at you! I'll be on the downtown campus on October 22, 23 and again on Tuesday the 27, at the Goldstein Academic Center on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of next week, and I'm not sure where I'll be on Thursday. Feel free to drop in and say hello.

It's Back to School Time

I hope everyone is enjoying these waning days of August.

Let me be the first to welcome you (back) to campus-I look forward to seeing you all as the fall 2009 semester gets underway.

During the fall semester I will be holding student office hours. I haven't yet posted the times, but will do so soon. Please feel free to drop in during those hours; stop by to compliment a professor, or discuss your summer reading, or talk about whatever is on your mind.

So enjoy this last weekend before Labor Day signals an end to the summer vacation!

Hope you are enjoying your summer!

I haven't been blogging; I figure everyone is enjoying the summer weather that finally! arrived here in New York.

But I have been reading-some for pleasure, like His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman. The movie The Golden Compass was based on the first book of the trilogy.

And for work I've been reading a bunch of time management type books-The Myth of Multitasking by Dave Crenshaw, and The Now Habit by Neil Fiore. Both of these fit in with David Allen's Getting Things Done.

What about you? Reading anything good this summer? Comment and let us all know.

Good Luck on Finals

and have a great summer, everyone.

Stop by to say good bye if you get a chance-I'm in New York, at 163 on Tuesday, at the Graduate Center on Wednesday and Friday, and in Pleasantville on Thursday.

Pretend this is Thursday's post

because I've been confused ever since the holidays.

Hope everyone enjoyed whatever holiday they celebrated-in my house we celebrated Easter and Passover, and now I'm celebrating getting to the gym to lose the few pounds I put on in hard boiled eggs, chocolate macaroons and some fabulous meals.

I hope everyone is getting enough rest and exercise as the semester winds down.

I'll be away this Wednesday and Thursday, and mostly on the Westchester campuses for the next week and a half or so.

Good luck with all of the end of semester work, and as always, keep in touch.

See you on campus and/or in cyberspace!

Countdown to finals!

Hard to believe but the semester is almost over. For those of you completing your first year at the Seidenberg School, congratulations! You made it.

Get ready for finals-they'll be here before you know it. Post a comment and let us know what your summer plans are.

A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines

I'm a huge fan of public radio. I have favorite shows, like Radio Lab; Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me; The Takeaway and BBC News.

But my favorite is Speaking of Faith (which I actually listen to as a podcast, since it broadcasts on WNCY at 7 am on Saturday, without me!).

It's a show about religion, meaning, ethics and ideas with wide ranging guests. A while ago Jana Levin, an assistant professor of astrophysics at Barnard College, was on the show talking about her novel, A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines. The novel imagines what was going through the minds of Alan Turing and Kurt Godel and is written in a very compelling style.

And so even though I know many of you are studying hard and getting ready for the end of the semester, if you have a few hours (it's a very quick read-I finished it on my commute from Croton yesterday) I highly recommend this book!

Relay for Life

I hope that you all know that we participate in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. You can learn more about the event here: Relay for Life

And here you can see a short video about last year's event. I really enjoyed the event, and I encourage you all to consider joining the Seidenberg Team.

Spring Break

I hope you are all enjoying the break and that you will return to class refreshed and ready to finish the semester with new energy. For those of you taking classes that don't necessarily "fit" with our traditional calendar, you haven't had this break- you started after the traditional semester and/or you're ending and beginning a different term. We aren't all on the same schedule.

Thanks to those of you who responded to the poll I posted last week. Did games and simulation, medical informatics and computer forensics each get three votes because they were first? What should I have added, rather than just saying "other?" Comments, please.

I've been thinking about education in the age of all of this technology. One of my colleagues Twittered "Who needs a university when we have Google?" - Jeff Jarvis #hackedu http://tinyurl.com/d5dyj7 This gave me pause-what do you think about this?

Comment, please! You can also follow me on Twitter; I'm ProfK.

Johnny Bunko

I've just "read" a really good book on careers by Daniel Pink. The book is The Adventures of Johnny Bunko and I really loved it.

I encourage you to look it up.

From the web site:

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko is America’s first business book in manga and the last career guide you’ll ever need.

The book, which you can read in an hour, tells the story of Johnny Bunko, a beleaguered Everyman toiling away at the Boggs Corp.

One night Johnny meets Diana, a magical and butt-kicking adviser who teaches Johnny -- and you -- the six lessons of satisfying, productive careers:

1. There is no plan.

2. Think strengths, not weaknesses

3. It’s not about you.

4. Persistence trumps talent.

5. Make excellent mistakes

6. Leave an imprint.

Interdisciplinary Work

The University is interested in providing more courses that cross disciplines. What are you interested in learning about?

For example, the Pace Gamers Association was started on the Pleasantville campus by two undergraduate students who are interested in gaming.

We have students studying computer forensics; we're looking to develop digital art.

Respond to the poll, comment on this post, or send email to me at cknapp@pace.edu.
Enjoy the weekend!

Blogging Friday

instead of Thursday because I totally forgot on Thursday!

I really enjoyed the Digital Gallery talk last night with Joe McKay which is why I totally forgot to blog yesterday.

And Wednesday Ivan Seidenberg visited with the Seidenberg Scholars and with the Computer Club at the downtown NY campus.

We held the UPE induction on Monday evening and it was a pleasure to see the new members of the chapter as well as to meet their families.

I hope everyone's semester is underway, and that you are all working hard and making your studies priority number one, regardless of what else is going on in your lives. I do know how hard it is to work and go to school, as some of you are, because I earned my MBA and my PhD while working full time. Make sure that you make your education a priority; work will always be there but school won't!

Some of you are probably getting ready for midterms. Study hard, get a good night's sleep and remember to breathe during the exam.

See you on campus and in cyberspace.

Lots going on!

I hope your semester is going well. Some of you might be getting ready for midterm exams or projects. Study/work hard and I wish you good luck.

Some things going on that might interest some of you:

• Monday at the Graduate Center at 5 PM we are inducting students into Upsilon Pi Epsilon, the international honor society for the computing and information disciplines. Congratulations to all of you who are being inducted-you can be proud of your academic achievements.
  

• Mr. Ivan Seidenberg, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Verizon Communications for whom our School is named, will be meeting with the Computer Club at the New York campus on Wednesday during common hour.

• The Digital Gallery will be hosting Joe McKay on Thursday evening, with a reception to follow. The current exhibit, The Aesthetics of Gaming, is an excellent example of the kinds of interdisciplinary activities that we are pleased to promote. Professors Frank Marchese and Jillian McDonald co-curate. Please plan to join us at 6 PM on Thursday at 163 William Street.

As always, I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can. If you see me on a campus, please introduce yourself. If you are not on campus but join us in cyberspace, please send me an e-mail and let me know something about you!

The Aesthetics of Gaming

At the New York city campus, at 163 William Street, the Seidenberg School and Dyson College collaborate on the Digital Gallery, co-curated by Dr. Frank Marchese and Dr. Jillian McDonald.

The latest exhibit, which opened on February 10, is entitle The Aesthetics of Gaming. The artist Joe McKay will speak publicly about his work on Thurs Feb 26, 5:00 pm, followed by a reception at 6:00 pm. This is a free event, open to the public. I look forward to seeing you; bring your friends, too.

The Semester is Under Way

I hope your classes are going well, and that the weather hasn't interfered too much with the beginning of the semester.

If you have had a class canceled due to the weather, please make sure to find out when and how it will be made up. Contact your professor.

Many thanks to Staci Burke, a student in our graduate program, and Mirkeya Cappellan, a graduate of our graduate program and a student in our DPS program, for participating in the NY Computer Club's meeting to discuss the Grace Hopper Conference. Grace Hopper was a computing pioneer and one of the developers of the programming language COBOL. The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology has held a conference for women in technology each year since 2004. We have been lucky enough to be able to sponsor some attendees; Mirkeya attended in 2007 and Staci attended in 2008.

I hope that each of you will consider joining a professional organization. The ACM, the oldest professional computing organization, has student memberships available. Professional organizations provide a way to stay current, to meet others in the profession, and can help keep you learning and growing all during your professional career. Other organizations that you might find interesting are the IEEE, DSI, AIS and INFORMS. You can find information about any of these at their websites; ask your professors which organizations they might recommend. I belong to the ACM, the IEEE Computer Society, AIS and INFORMS. I have also been a member of DSI in the past.

Have a great week, keep the momentum of the beginning of the semester going. Feel free to comment on this post or to email me at cknapp@pace.edu with questions/comments/compliments/complaints.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Comments

I asked you to comment but the comments feature apparently isn't working.

Blogger is working on this (and thanks to Professor Richard Kline who pointed this out!).

How's the semester so far?

Whether you are joining us for an on-line class, or seeing us face-to-face, I hope your semester got off to a good start.

You might be interested in seeing what President Obama's plans for education are - the stimulus plan provides more money for Pell Grants.

Here's a quote from The New York Times article that I've linked to above:

"In higher education, the bill would increase spending on Pell Grants, the most important federal student aid program, to $27 billion from about $19 billion this year.

“It’s a very good idea to increase Pell Grants in the stimulus,” said Terry Hartle, a senior vice president for public affairs at the American Council on Education, which represents colleges and universities."

You might also want to look at the White House's Education Agenda.

Best of luck as the semester begins-I love beginnings, and I hope you do too.

Welcome to Dean Knapp's Blog!

And welcome to the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. Welcome back to the spring 2009 semester, and if this is your first semester with us, please drop by my office and introduce yourself.

I will be blogging every Thursday and welcome your suggestions for announcements, your compliments and your concerns. Email me directly at cknapp@pace.edu and I'll be sure to respond.

What kinds of things would you like me to blog about?

I look forward to hearing from each of you.