Mission Statement

The mission of the Bachelor of Science Program in computer science at Kent State University is to instill the student with a system-level perspective that transcends the implementation details of individual software components, to appreciate the structure of such software systems, and understand the processes involved in their construction. Graduates of the program understand not only the theoretical underpinnings of the discipline but also how that theory influences and is applied in practice. The program emphasizes the key themes of abstraction, complexity and evolutionary change as applied to development and analysis of software. The program provides a solid foundation that allows the student to maintain his or her skills in this rapidly evolving field.

Student Organizations

The department sponsors a local student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and a local chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA).

The Faculty

The department has 18 professors and four lecturers at the Kent Campus and one lecturer at the Stark Campus. The department’s undergraduate advisors and faculty assist students in planning short-range and long-range coursework to meet the student’s career goals. Many of the faculty are nationally and internationally recognized for their research. They regularly apply their experience and knowledge directly in the classroom. The first two courses are delivered with a lecture and laboratory component, where lab instructors assist and direct students in a hands-on interactive learning environment.

Degree Requirements

Students begin with foundation courses that focus on programming and problem solving. These courses are followed by a set of core topics that prepares the student for the senior level courses. A Capstone Project course acts as an integrative experience via a term-long team software project. The degree program has a total of 70 credits in the major (CS & Math courses).

Facilities

Department facilities include a large number of servers supported by a state-of-the-art network infrastructure (wired and wireless) with a Gigabit backbone. The department is an Internet2 site. Four systems staff members maintain and support the facilities. Three instructional laboratories (with approximately 22 machines each) are available in the building for use by students. Both Linux and Windows platforms are supported. Additionally, there are a number of special purpose and research laboratories that support the learning environment.

Graduate Studies

The department also offers degree programs leading to the Master of Science, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Philosophy in computer science. Most of the faculty are very active in research, publishing and training graduate students. Undergraduate students who qualify can gain early entry into the graduate program and count part of their undergraduate coursework toward a master’s degree.