The Department of Computer Science and Information Technology has made changes to the bachelor’s degree program. Instead of a general computer science major with multiple concentrations, APSU will now offer three different bachelor’s degrees to showcase each specialization.
The three new majors are computer science, computer information systems and computer information technology. Implementation of the new program came into effect with the start of the Fall 2016 semester, with the university phasing out the old program by next August.
Bruce Myers, the department chair, said the new degree structure would benefit students currently earning a computer science degree at APSU.
“There are so many resume searches that are done just online, so if the degree doesn’t show the right content, it’ll really be a problem,” Myers said.
The new degree programs and their titles are meant to make students more marketable. The current degree is simply named Bachelor’s in Science in Computer Science and Information Systems. Depending on the concentration of the student, the degree’s title may mislead potential employers.
The three new degree titles will give more essential information to employers immediately, just from the degree name. For example, a bachelor’s in computer information technology shows a greater understanding of computer databases or computer networking.
As the computer science industry develops, APSU seeks to evolve its degree to meet the needs of future students and their employers.
“I think it will really make a lot of difference,” Myers said, “knowing the name of the degree matches what [students] are actually doing.”
The changes will not affect current computer science majors, but new students will not be able to apply for the current program. Instead, students will apply for one of the three new degree programs. The content of the concentrations and their respective new degrees will remain unchanged.
“The problem we have is that the [computer science and information systems degree] indicates things that aren’t true for all our concentrations,” Myers said in an APSU press release.
APSU created the current computer science degree in 1979, with the five concentrations in place since 1996. The new degree program is the result of two years of work by Myers and the rest of the computer science department.
More information on APSU’s Department of Computer Science and Information Technology can be found at apsu.edu/csi.
