Here’s my usual report on our fall 2023 enrollments, as of week 2 of the semester. Continue reading
Category Archives: Curriculum
Enrollments for Spring 2023
The Pre-registration for fall is almost upon us, and once again, I have been too busy to make note of our enrollments for the current semester. Here is the story as of the start of the semester in January.
Pre-registration for Fall 2022
Once again, we face a (minor) crisis in enrollments! That’s on top of a crisis in staffing. Here’s the scoop.
Pre-registration for Fall 2021
The CS department met yesterday and agreed that our enrollments for fall are refreshingly crisis-free. It’s also time for a six-year retrospective on fall pre-registration. Time flies when you’re having fun!
Senior exit interviews and other program assessments
In this post, I report on our first senior exit interviews. This spring also marked our second year of participation in the CRA Data Buddies survey and Whitman’s second year of major program assessments. Continue reading
Senior assessment
A distinctive component of Whitman’s curriculum is the senior assessment in the major. Indeed, Whitman claims to be “the first college or university in the nation to require undergraduate students to complete comprehensive examinations in their major fields.”
In this post I address the design of the senior assessment in computer science and reflect briefly on my first experience with that assessment. Continue reading
Pre-registration for Spring 2019
Pre-registration for spring 2019 courses concluded earlier this week. This time around, we faced a real crisis: CS 210, Computer Systems Fundamentals, closed with the end of pre-registration for the junior class, leaving a waitlist of 23 second-years and 2 first-year students. CS 210 is supposed to be a second-year class, open also to first-year students with advanced placement. Continue reading
Pre-registration for Fall 2017
In what has become a tradition, I report on pre-registration for next semester. The highlights:
- Major declarations are off to a strong start.
- With the exception of Data Structures, our classes filled.
- Two courses have long waiting lists, and one of them needs a response.
We have a major!
This was a big week for Computer Science at Whitman:
- On Saturday, I learned that Personnel Committee is recommending me for tenure.
- Yesterday, the faculty voted to approve the creation of a new Computer Science major.
Pre-registration for Spring 2017
In what has become a tradition, I report on pre-registration for next semester. The highlights:
- Enrollments blew up at the 200-level.
- Enrollments in CS 167 and two out of three 300-level courses are strong but not overwhelming.
- Enrollments in Algorithms are underwhelming, but we’re not worried about it.