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Software engineers earn degrees online
A bug’s life
Master’s program targets professionals, undergraduates By Noboru Okuyama For the Daily Titan
Rebecca Bremer/For the Daily Titan
Cal State Fullerton students team up with Beechwood Elementary School students to explore the diverse insect life on campus last week.
Students who plan to earn a master’s degree in software engineering at Cal State Fullerton might not have to come to school at all. The Department of Computer Science introduced an online program last semester that specializes in software engineering. The Master of Science in the software engineering program enables students to fulfill all degree requirements anywhere, from their workplaces to their homes. The online program, called MSE, “prepares individuals for careers as
software engineers and software process managers in industry and government agencies,” according to the program’s Web site. Chang-Hyun Jo, a CSUF professor and faculty member of the software engineering program, said the primary targets of this program are professionals who have sufficient working experience in the field of computer science, as well as undergraduate students. Instead of sitting in chairs and taking notes in the classroom, MSE students make use of audio lectures on Blackboard, a site used by faculty and students where assignments, notes and syllabi can be posted. Blackboard also serves as a place for discussion among online students. “In today’s IT market, the ability to architect and manage a successful project is very important, so I
Faculty frustrated with lack of funds Academic Senate examines budget, understaffing concerns By Stefanie Franklin Daily Titan Staff
Students may notice that certain classes are impacted, offered in fewer sections or no longer offered at all – and a faculty shortage may be the reason. The Academic Senate recently met to ask the Cal State Fullerton campus committee to make the budget more transparent. They said this would better allow administration, faculty and students to see exactly how school funding is allocated, members said. Gangadharappa Nanjundappa, California Faculty Association chapter president for CSUF, said that more of the budget should be allocated to instruction, not to more bureaucracy. “The growth of administration
is higher than the growth of faculty,” Nanjundappa said. “We need more instructors in classrooms than administrators in offices.” Nanjundappa said the number of tenured faculty has decreased significantly due to instructors who retire or transfer elsewhere, in pursuit of better opportunities or better salaries. Budget issues can also hinder plans for hiring staff replacements. The CFA and the CSU chancellor agreed to increase the number of tenured and tenure-track faculty over the next eight years, and the agreement was scheduled to start this year. Due to budget issues, the additional money has not been provided. CSUF’s current student to faculty ratio is approximately 21-to-1. Ideally, the lower it is, the better. This figure is often confused with class size, said CSUF Academic Senate member Diana Guerin. She said the number is only a statistic for how much funding the school receives for instruction. Average
class size may be a very different figure, she said. Guerin, a member of the CFA, explained that the campus’ problem lies in its ability to attract and retain faculty. It’s hard, she said, because the salary just doesn’t match with the cost of living. “It’s sad when instructors with Ph.D.s qualify for low-income housing,” Guerin said. At of the end of February, the median Orange County price for new and re-sold homes was $553,000, and average rent was $1,317 a month. According to California PostSecondary Education Commission findings, CSU faculty salaries are 12 percent to 13 percent less than the national average at comparable universities. Exacerbating the dilemma is the fact that Orange County has some of the highest-priced housing in the nation. California State University full-time professors get paid, on average, 20 percent less than professors in other states. “CPEC provides an objective
Web site offers confidential, free Internet file sharing YouSendIt.com aims to eliminate virus transfers, protect users By Courtney Pugatch For the Daily Titan
With peer-to-peer networking programs like Kazaa, WinMX and Limewire being filled with corrupted files and spyware, the Internet will
once again provide a new avenue to share files among Internet users. YouSendIt.com is the latest Web site to offer Internet file sharing, but with a twist: it’s confidential and offers users the ability to share files for free. While other Web sites charge users to sign up and send files with limitations, YouSendIt.com has made it their mission to offer a better solution to file sharing, and at no cost to the user. This means that while other programs can track personal
information back to the IP address, YouSendIt.com has made it a point to keep all information private. Some students on campus are starting to use the Web site to share music, movie and other types of files. “YouSendIt.com is better in my mind than the other peer-to-peer sharing programs because there is no risk of spyware or virus transfer
Damaris Vasquez, a museum staff member, said the program was created to benefit children by “teaching them about different skills and how to make it on their own.” The program benefits the students because it gives exposure to basic art concepts that are fun topic matter, said Joe Felz, director of the Fullerton Museum Center. The children who are involved participate in artwork such as making fish banners by creating collages and using sand painting techniques based on Tibetan artwork. Participants can paint fabric, learn a form of artwork called Adrinkva, or paper mache. Aside from traditional art projects, young students are also introduced to printmaking, which is an art that is reproduced.
Additionally, Styrofoam, cardboard and stone are a few of the materials that are available to children in the program. By using a printing plate and etching, children learn to draw or cut images onto a plate. In different ways, ink is applied and paper is pressed onto these plates by hand. The finished product is then pulled from the plate. The participants will be “painting and doing art projects that centered on and around the ‘world’ theme every week, including countries such as Asia and Africa,” Vasquez said. Students who join the program learn a variety of techniques as they are exposed to different art
study that most people don’t know about,” said Alice Sunshine, spokeswoman for the CFA. “It shows the salary gap between California and other states’ university faculty.” Additionally, because of budget cutbacks, CSU faculty hasn’t had a cost of living increase in two years. “The senior faculty is becoming frustrated,” Nanjundappa said. “The understaffing situation is affecting faculty morale.” Though making less, the faculty may be working more. According to documents published this year by the CSU Advisory Committee, CSU faculty is on the job about 4.4 hours more per week than faculty at comparable national institutions. Lower-than-average pay and longer hours can make recruiting and retaining faculty difficult. “We can’t hire,” Nanjundappa said. “We can’t provide attractive workloads, research support money, lab equipment and other opportunities. The incentives to teach in the CSU system are minimal.”
Despite the problems, he said instructors are doing a wonderful job and remain committed to serving the students. Nanjundappa said another issue is the ratio of full-time and parttime instructors. The current ratio of permanent professors to temporary and part-time instructors is even at a ratio of 50-to-50. Guerin said the number should be closer to 75-to-25, with more full-time instructors. Part-time professors are typically business professionals who teach students as current experts in their field. “Temporary and part-time faculty may teach on many different campuses,” Nanjundappa said. “Our temporary colleagues do a wonderful job, but they can’t devote the same amount of time as tenured instructors do.” Together with the tenured faculty members, part-time faculty brings the number of CSU faculty to over shortage 2
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Kids explore arts at local museum Fullerton museum offers art education programs for children By Kristi Allen Daily Titan Staff
Young artists are exploring the many facets of creative expression in an art education program offered at the Fullerton Museum Center called “Saturday Art Studio for Kids.” The program, which allows children ranging in age from 6- to 10-years-old to actively engage in such artistic endeavors as drawing, painting, charcoaling, clay modeling and mask-making.
youth art 3
suzanne sullivan/Daily Titan
At the Pollak library, students study for midterms late into the night.
feel I am receiving the right type of training for today’s demanding market,” said Brook Gonsowski, an MSE student who waited almost two years for the program to begin. “It has been worth it.” Currently, 45 students are enrolled in the program with another 45 students expected to join in the fall. Although the number of current and prospective students sounds favorable for the future of the program, there are resource issues stemming from the program’s annual budget. “We don’t have enough funds,” said Jo, about the prospects of MSE. “It directly affects the number of instructors and course materials.” Bing Cong, a CSUF computer science professor who is also the mse 3
CSUF nurses receive grants $1.6 million will fund nursing credential, master’s program By Carolina Ruiz-Mejia Daily Titan Staff
The Cal State Fullerton Nursing Department received nearly $2 million in grants to improve working conditions at hospitals and to create credential and master’s degree programs. The department received one grant of $1.6 million from the Federal Department of Health and Human Services and another award from the Orange County Children and Families’ Commission of $385,000. The goal of the federal grant is to improve the workplace environment for nurses, said Christine Latham, a nursing professor and director of Extramural Funding at CSUF. By improving the nurses’ working conditions, hospitals will be able to keep them in the workforce, she added. “We have an extreme nurses shortage,” Latham said. “Hospitals struggle to get enough nurses and they have trouble retaining them.” Latham said her goal is to get involved with the community hospitals to help them maintain their nursing staffs by improving their working environment and having nurses mentor each other. If the nurses’ expectations are met, then people will receive appropriate health care when they visit a hospital, she said. To ensure education, mentoring and the retention of nurses, Latham has partnered with Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach and UCI Medical Center in Orange. “I philosophically believe that as a professional department, we need to be very involved with our community [and work together] to advance the profession,” she said. The need for mentors is great, said Karen Ringl, a full-time CSUF lecturer and registered nurse. Ringl is providing education and training grant 3