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Department Overview
MISSION STATEMENT
The Department of Computer Science mission is to advance the knowledge of computer science and
technology through education, research, and service for the betterment of industry, government,
and society.
VISION STATEMENT
The department seeks to become a competitive doctoral-granting department and to expand its depth and breadth in the research and study of applied computing.
GOALS and OBJECTIVES
Education:
- Graduating students with strong technical backgrounds and communication skills.
- Improve the quality of programs by using the relevant results of assessment.
- Maintain curricula responsive to community needs and standards of professional societies.
- Graduating students who understand the values and requirements of responsible professionalism and lifelong learning.
- Improve student awareness of professional issues and the need for life-long learning by using the results of student and alumni surveys.
- Improve the quality of programs by using the relevant results of assessment.
Research:
- Building a sustainable research program.
- Acquire sustained funding.
- Engage a greater percentage of students in research.
- Build sustainable research infrastructure.
- Promote interdisciplinary research.
- Developing international visibility for our research.
- Publish in quality conferences and journals.
- Present invited talks in international venues.
- Form more international collaboration.
Service:
- Providing quality service to the university, the profession, and the community.
- Serve on more departmental, college, university, professional, and other discipline-related committees.
- Chair national and international conferences.
- Serve as editor-in-chief and on editorial boards of national and international journals.
Current Computer Science Strategic Plan
Students and Curriculum
The Department has approximately 400 undergraduate majors working on the BA and BS degrees in Computer Science, and more than 150 graduate majors working on the MA and MS degrees. The department also has a number of students who have selected Computer Science as their minor. In addition, students in Computer Science can obtain teacher certification.
The undergraduate curriculum consists of about 30 courses: some required, some elective. The elective courses include such topics as automata theory, software engineering, numerical analysis, hardware, networks, translators, human factors, operating systems, databases, mathematical modeling, artificial intelligence, expert systems, computer science education, real-time applications, computer center management, simulation techniques, UNIX programming, object-oriented programming, and computer graphics.
The graduate curriculum consists of about 35 courses: some required, some elective. For the most part, the graduate courses cover the same topics as various undergraduate courses, albeit in more detail and depth. Additional topics include algorithm analysis, computational geometry, formal languages, concurrent programming, system reliability, parallel processing, distributed computing, computer vision, and neural networks.
Texas State Computer Science classes are relatively small, usually numbering fewer than 40 students per class and often numbering 20 to 30 students. Classes, for the most part, are taught by regular, full-time faculty members who are uncommonly accessible to students outside of class time.
Some financial support is available for selected students. Most financial aid is arranged with Texas State's student financial aid office. Some scholarships, lab assistantships, teaching assistantships, and research assistantships are available directly from the department.
Computer Resources
Students have access to a large number of computing platforms ranging from Digital Equipment Corporation's 64-bit Alpha mainframe to a very large number of personal computers and workstations running various operating systems with a wide range of applications software.
Students have unlimited access to Internet via several computer labs around campus, including different WWW browsers. Thus, students can communicate (E-Mail and bulletin board conferences) with their friends and colleagues at Texas State as well as at other institutions in Texas, in the U.S., and around the world.
Industrial Advisory Board (IAB)
The Department of Computer Science also has an Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) comprising approximately 20 Chief Executive Officers, Vice Presidents, or top management for Texas's computer science industries. The IAB Board members' host companies are interested in providing financial support in the form of co-op internship programs. And, not only do the IAB Board members provide advice regarding keeping the department curriculum up-to-date so as to satisfy the needs of the employers of our students, but they also provide employment to our alumni.
Disability Assistance
Texas State has a firm commitment to assist any person who has a disability. Anyone who needs such assistance should please contact the Texas State Office of Disability Services at 512.245.3451.
For more information please visit Office of Disability Services homepage.