Change in schedule

The best laid plans - I was planning to be on the downtown campus tomorrow but now I'll be somewhere in Westchester.

And so it goes....

Where is the semester going? And where have I been?

Ooops-how did an entire month go by without a post. I've just broken rule #1 of the blogosphere-post predictably.

The beginning of the semester has been very very busy. Both cohorts of the DPS program have gotten off to a good start, our new group of Seidenberg Scholars are now settled, and all of the beginning of the semester "bugs" have been ironed out. It's practically time for midterms, as a former student who ran into me at the parking lot in Pleasantville reminded me.

Cathy Dwyer and I were invited to speak at a Women in Engineering conference sponsored by the IEEE in White Plains at the end of September. Marleen Waijjer, an alum of our graduate program, contacted us. I put together a panel that included Staci Burke, a graduate student in our Information Systems program, and Christelle Scharf attended. It was nice to see the Seidenberg School so well represented.

We also sponsored two graduate students who attended the Grace Hopper Conference in Tucson at the end of September (September was a busy month).

As many of you know, the University has decided to move programs out of One Martine Avenue by June. Geoff Brackett provided some details at our Faculty Council meeting on October 9. The folks affected by the move will form a Seidenberg Team, working with Tobias Bisharat of facilities planning. We'll provide details as they become available. We're looking at all options, including leasing smaller space in White Plains and moving some programs to the Law School on a temporary basis.

The kickoff for the First Tech Challenge went well-many thanks to Rick Kline and Bernice Houle who led the effort, and all who participated in the planning and/or attended the event.

The chairs and I have been experimenting with every-other-week conference calls to supplement our once a month face-to-face meetings, and the Associate and Assistant Deans and I have been keeping in touch with every other week conference calls to supplement the one-on-one meetings we try to have each week or so. The frequent conversations have been very helpful to me, and I hope to all who have been participating.

I'll be downtown today, October 22 and part of tomorrow. Next week I'll be on the Pleasantville campus on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, downtown on Tuesday and I'm not sure where on Thursday!

I had hoped to schedule office hours this semester but so far my schedule has been too fluid. I'm hoping that things will "settle down" soon, and that I'll be able to hold hours in Pleasantville on Mondays and at 163 William Street on Thursdays, but we'll see!

The High Holydays are upon us as is the second week of school

First, let me wish l'shanah tovah to all who are celebrating the Jewish New Year, year 5770. May you have a sweet year.

The semester is well underway. Special thanks to everyone who made the beginning of the year as smooth as possible and who stayed as late as necessary, or came in as early as necessary, to make this happen.

I hope by now you've received the announcement of the departmental chairs for this academic year: Information Technology, NY: John Molluzzo, Information Technology Westchester: Dan Farkas, Computer Science, NY: Sotiris Skevoulis, Computer Science, Westchester: Narayan Murthy.

We are starting our first academic year with our new structure, and we'll be evaluating it and "tweaking" it as needed during the year.

Enjoy your weekend, and I'll look for each of you as I move around the campuses next week, beginning with half a day in Pleasantville and at One Martine Avenue on Monday, and then the rest of the week at One Martine with the exception of Thursday when I'll be downtown for Dean's Council and Management Council.

Welcome back!

School has started-boy has it ever! Sunday was Convocation, where Reverend Carter Via gave us much to think about - "What kind of person do you want to be?" Reverend Via has worked with Wangari Maathai for many years had many "Mangari" stories. His stories helped to make the heroine of the book Unbowed come alive for me.m What a wonderful way to start off the semester!

I was lucky enough to hear Wangari Maathai preach at White Plains Presbyterian Church when Reverend Via was the senior minister there. I found her words inspiring then, as I did anew when I read her memoir.

A few quick highlights of the year ahead:

• We will begin the process of restructuring the academic departments in the School with the formation this fall of the Information Technology Departments on each of the campuses. Departments will be meeting next week and chair elections will be held before the week's end.

• We are working on the promotional materials for the new Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, with interdisciplinary tracks in cybersecurity, web and digital media, networking and information management.

• Within the next week I'll be circulating a review of the last year, highlighting the many recruiting and retention activities we conducted, the enhancements we've made in all areas of our curricula, and the awards and grants members of the School have received.

Tomorrow I'll be in Pleasantville. For those of us who were downtown, or for that matter anywhere in the metropolitan area, the events of September 11, 2001 might still seem very close-I know they are for me.

I'll be in Pleasantvillle on Monday and Friday, at One Martine Avenue on Tuesday, at Midtown on Wednesday morning for a meeting with our advisory board and then at 163 in the afternoon.
Thursday is still up in the air.

Enjoy the first week of school!

It's Back to School Time

Hard to believe but here it is, time for a new semester.

I hope to see many of you at convocation on Sunday, September 6. And I also hope that many of you have had a chance to read Unbowed, Wangari Mathaai's memoir.

The summer has flown by but I trust that we are all looking forward to a fruitful academic year.
A few quick reminders:

• Richard "Rick" Kline has been named Associate Dean and will be working with the department chairs on the schedule; working with faculty and Victor Goldsmith and others in Sponsored Research on grants, especially those from stimulus funding, and will be coordinating our interdisciplinary work. You can find Richard's office across the hall from mine in New York.
• We will be coming back to a reorganized School with four departments for this next transition year; please refer to the Restructuring Document that was distributed in June for more details.
• Faculty, please make sure that your chair and Fran O'Gara both know your office hours.

I'll be at One Martine Avenue on Monday, at 163 William Street on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and off on Friday next week.



The following week I'll be in New York on Tuesday morning and in Pleasantville on Tuesday afternoon, then New York on Thursday and Pleasantville on Wednesday and Friday.

I look forward to seeing you at Convocation, at Academy Day, and around campus.

Enjoy this last weekend of the summer!

Vacation from Blogging

I've been taking a vacation from blogging, and much to my surprise, a few of you said you missed it! I'm flattered that you've been reading this-thanks!

And next week I'm taking a real vacation-a week off to explore the area around Hudson, New York. Hardly far from home.

I'll also be catching up on my reading, and working on brushing up my time management skills. I'm trying to fit in a 9 hour course called-are you ready?-Get Time Video Boot Camp by Dave Crenshaw, the author of The Myth of Multitasking. If I follow his regimen he promises me 10 to 20 hours a week-I could sure use an extra 10 hours a week!

I'll be downtown tomorrow, on vacation next week, and then in Pleasantville on July 20 and 21, maybe even the 22, downtown the morning of the 23rd and at the Grad Center the afternoon of the 23rd and all day the 24th.

I know I'll be downtown on Tuesday the 28th for a breakfast event with Year Up, a group that we've partnered with to provide college credits to "urban young adults."

Beyond that I don't know what my schedule is!

I hope everyone is getting a chance for some well earned "r & r" and taking advantage of this uncharacteristically lovely July weather.

The Semester is coming to an end

and some days I feel as though I am, too!

Sotirious and I had a great visit with Dean David Miller at the College of Computing and Digital Media at DePaul University in Chicago. The College is made up of two schools, the School of Computing and the School of Cinema and Digital Media.

Lots for the Academic Restructuring Task Force to think about-we're meeting Tuesday at 11 AM to discuss our recommendations.

I'll be in NY on Tuesday, at the Graduate Center on Wednesday and Friday and in Pleasantville on Thursday.

Hope to see some of you at the Michael L. Gargano Research Day at the Graduate Center this Friday, May 8.