‘Virtual department’ offers
innovative graduate program
The new masters degree
in software engineering
is a joint effort among
several Oregon schools
By Michael Hines
Editor in Chiet
It’s a new kind of math at a
unique kind of school.
The sum of four Oregon colleges,
several Oregon businesses and the
Oregon University System equals
one brand new, highly touted mas
ters program based in Portland.
The Oregon Master of Software
Engineering degree was approved
by OUS in August and awaits final
approval in October.
“Initially, it was started by Ore
gon industry,” said University as
sociate professor of computer and
information science Michal Young.
“They formed an advisory board
and the universities held meetings
with those advisory boards.”
The result of the industry’s initi
ation two years ago is that the Uni
versity of Oregon, Oregon State,
Portland State and the Oregon
Graduate Institute of Science and
Technology are now collaborating
on the new program.
“I think it’s relatively unusual
and innovative," said Schafer, who
has run his own software business
in the past. “This particular se
quence of study was unique."
It is rare that companies do sur
veys and petition for a new pro
gram of study, he said. Companies
such as Tektronix, Intel and Men
tor Graphics were key in starting
this graduate program.
“The four universities got to
getherand essentially pooled their
resources,” Young said. "It’s like
we have a virtual department.”
The program is initially only be
ing offered in Portland because the
area has a higher density of possible
students. Pilot courses began last
spring with only a few students, and
they continued through the summer.
Bruce Schafer, the program’s in
terim director, said the classes are
already popular.
“We were actually oversubscribed
for one of them this summer,” he
said. One class had 50 students.
“The pilots had almost no ad
vertising,” Young said. “By fall,
we should be getting something
resembling real classes.”
But that something will only
partially resemble a real class be
cause the students in these classes
are so different, he said.
“These are by and large not tradi
tional students,” Young said. “These
are people who have been out in the
field a few years. They're very, very
active in their own education.”
By credits, the new degree is a
two-year program, but most stu
dents work full time in the com
puter technology fields, he said, so
it may take them up to five years
to complete it.
“These students are very highly
motivated,” Young said. “The
courses are very interactive.”
The classes, which have so far
included an equal number of men
and women, are often offered in
the evenings to accommodate the
part-time students.
The uniqueness of the students
and material has affected the pro
fessors.
"We found that we have to real
ly change the way that we teach,”
said Young, who plans on teach
ing courses at the Portland site in
both the fall and spring this year.
“I don’t think it’s the line on the
resume they want,” he said. “It’s
the skills they pick up.”
Students who graduate with the
new software engineering degree
will be trained as team leaders and
managers. They will be ready to
move up in their companies.
Young said program coordina
tors are hoping that some of the
companies will pay for their em
ployees to go through the program.
“To be honest,” he said, “these
are fairly expensive courses. And
we're counting on the same com
panies that said, ‘We need this,’
will be picking up the tab and
sending their employees.”
Each class comes with a $1,525
price tag, Schafer said, because the
program is self-supporting.
“If you take a look at Oregon’s
software industry, the ability to
deliver high-quality software
products on budget and on time is
critical,” he said.
The trend is not completely
new to Oregon.
“Masters programs in software
engineering are popping up every
where,” Young said.
Eventually, coordinators want
to offer the program in Eugene.
“The plan is in '99 we’ll be of
fering some courses on a delivery
basis in Eugene and Corvallis,"
Schafer said.
The software engineering program
has a Web site for more information
at http://www.cs.pdx.edu/omse/.
DDS: Group currently
running one vehicle
H Continued from Page 6A
ly, this gave DDS the right to
tap $76,212.
ASUO Vice President Mor
gan Cowling told the Emerald
in July that she urged Smith to
be “cautious” with his spend
ing to avoid any appearance of
fiscal irresponsibility.
When Smith attempted to
buy the $16,383 nine-passen
ger van in early July, the exec
utive blocked the purchase or
der because of the outcome of
a second DDS ballot measure,
j Students voted in the spring to
deny DDS $22,200 for the pur
chase of a 16-passenger van.
“Students made it clear in
the election that they did not
want their money to be spent
on a new van," said ASUO
President Geneva Wortman.
“Because of that, the ASIJO felt
| it was in the best interests of
students to stop that purchase."
Smith, however, said the
failed ballot measure and his
action were two separate
things. “The intent of the ballot
measure was a third vehicle.
The intent of the purchase was
a replacement vehicle,” he
said.
Currently, DDS’ fleet con
sists of a 12-year-old nine-pas
senger van and an 8-year-old
15-passenger van. Smith said
he wanted to replace the old
est vehicle with 1-year-old
nine-passenger van.
According to Smith, DDS
had done a cost analysis com
paring the repair cost of the
older van and the cost of a
new one and concluded that
buying a new vehicle would
save about $1,500. “We can ei
ther dump a lot of money into
an old vehicle or buy a new
one. We felt our choice was
the fiscally responsible one,”
he said.
Smith said he plans to ask
the constitution court to inter
pret the meaning of the failed
ballot measure.
Shortly after blocking the
van purchase, the executive
also froze DOS’ entire $70,212
funding for about a week.
"The initial freeze was to al
low time to get the facts
straight and figure out what
was going on," WdHman said.
According to Smith, the sit
uation prompted a verbal al
tercation in mid-July between
him and Cowling, “i went
through the roof,” Smith said.
“It was like ‘Clash of the Ti
tans.”’
Smith admitted that his
“short fuse” may have made a
difficult situation even worse.
“It should not have happened
that way. I’ve apologized to
her,” he said.
According to Wortman, first
the original $26,212 PFC allo
cation was released in order to
allow DDS limited spending
and payroll during the sum
mer. Later, the student senate
transferred $23,788 to DDS on
Turn to DDS, Page 16A
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