CIS program celebrates 30-year anniversary
■ The department, popular among students, will host a
gathering and dinner Saturday in Deschutes Hall
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Despite being one of the more
prominent computer science pro
grams in the country and the most
popular major among next year’s
incoming freshmen, computer
and information science is still
maturing in the mind of its de
partment head.
“We’re still a developing de
partment,” said Sarah Douglas,
CIS department head. “We’re not
established like biology or mathe
matics.” Since it was established
more than 30 years ago, CIS has
grown tremendously. The pro
gram, which moved from the first
floor of the Computing Center in
1969 to the basement of Prince Lu
cien Campbell Hall and then to its
current home in the 30,000
square-foot Deschutes Hall, has
awarded more than 1,800 degrees.
“Students apply from all over
the world to come here to study,”
Douglas said. “We get a lot of stu
dents coming here to just do com
puter science.”
To celebrate its 30-year an
niversary, the department — com
posed of 18 faculty members — is
holding an open house and din
ner on Saturday that will feature
a keynote speech by Pulitzer Prize
winning author Doug Hofstadter.
The festivities begin at 1:30 p.m.
in Deschutes Hall.
Hofstadter, a professor at Indi
ana University who wrote
“Goedel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal
Golden Braid,” will give a public
lecture titled “Will Spiritual Ro
bots Replace Humanity by 2100?”
in Willamette Hall at 7:30 p.m.
CIS was created in the fall of
1969 by three math professors
who understood the demand and
significance of computer technol
ogy. David Moursund, one of the
founders, said the University
granted the program $1 million to
purchase the 1966 IBM 360, a
computer running on 256 kilo
bytes of memory - 250 times less
memory than a modern 64
megabyte machine.
During its first years, Mour
sund said he wanted CIS to be a
department that offered tradition
al degrees. The program was
strongly oriented toward majors
who wanted to pursue computer
science as a career, he said.
“Oodles of students wanted to
take our course,” said Moursund,
now an education professor. “It’s
a ticket to a well paying job.”
One of the goals of the CIS
founders was to establish a con
nection with the education pro
gram. Today, the relationship be
tween CIS and the University’s
College of Education is strong as
they jointly offer a masters degree
for computers in education,
Moursund said.
“That has had a major impact
on the whole country,” Moursund
said of the number of graduates
who go on to teach about comput
er education at other schools.
The focus of the department
has shifted from math to an exper
imental science.
“We’re very research oriented,”
Douglas said.
Because of its expansion in 1982
that made doctorate degrees avail
able, Douglas projected that the CIS
program is one of the nation’s top
50. According to the Office of the
Registrar, three of the 506 CIS stu
dents are working for a doctorate.
“A lot of computer science de
partments have become more engi
neering oriented, and of course
we’re not an engineering school,”
Douglas said. “We very much think
of ourselves as one of die sciences.”
Both Moursund and Douglas
said they are looking forward to
Saturday’s anniversary party.
“It’s going to be fun to see some
CIS Timeline
1937: English mathematician Alan
Turing proposes the idea of creat
ing a machine that could replicate
logical human thought.
1966: IBM’s360 computer is re
leased.
1973: The Palo Alto Research Cen
ter, a prod uct of Xerox, completes
the first personal computer, a
$40,000 product called “Alto.”
1977: Apple Computer, Inc. is offi
cially created.
1982: The CIS department adds a
Ph.D. program to its offerings.
1999: CIS creates a new minor pro
gram, called Computer Informa
tion Technology.
SOURCE: CIS and various Websites
of the old guys,” Moursund said.
“It’s nice to know that somebody
recognizes us for the stuff we did
a long time ago.
Candidates meet informally to discuss their platforms
■ Bobby Green and Charlie Strange talk over ice cream as
part of a forum hosted by the Rubicon Society
By Darren Freeman
Oregon Daily Emerald
At an occasion unusually cor
dial for an election season, two of
the three candidates running for
the Lane County Board of Com
missioners seat representing the
North Eugene area met Thursday
at the Pearl Street Ice Cream Par
lour and Restaurant to discuss the
future of Lane County.
Eleven other people gathered at
the noon meeting to hear Bobby
Green, D-Eugene, and Charlie
Strange, R-Eugene, speak at the
meeting organized by the Rubi
con Society, which regularly
holds public forums featuring
state and local politicians.
Rep. Kitty Piercy, D-Eugene, is
the third candidate for the seat and
was not present at the meeting. All
three candidates will be on the
May 16 primary election ballot.
“This election is important be
cause Lane County hinges on
good leadership at the local lev
el,” Green, who currently holds
the District 4 seat, said. “Local
government, county government,
is the closest government to the
people.”
The Lane County Board of
Commissioners is made up of a
board chair and four commission
ers who represent five county dis
tricts. The board makes policy de
cisions affecting Lane County
infrastructure, roads, public safe
ty, land use and social services.
Green, 45, is a New Orleans na
tive and University graduate. At
Thursday’s meeting, he stressed
what he called his “leadership
based on achievement,” mention
ing his efforts to encourage long
term goals for the board, his role
in creating the Boys and Girls
Clubs of Emerald Valley, and his
work in funding construction to
make the Beltline Highway safer.
“I’m standing for re-election be
cause I have a record I’m proud
of,” Green said.
Green has served on the board
since 1995, and prior to that he
served on the Eugene City Coun
cil from 1989 to 1995. He is also a
current board member of the Uni
versity Alumni Association.
Green said if re-elected, he
would address traffic problems
proactively, work to encourage
economic growth without sacri
ficing Eugene’s green lands, and
create social service programs for
troubled youths to help prevent
crime.
Strange, a newcomer to poli
tics, said
he decided
to run for
public of
fice after
the city’s
Christmas
tree was
removed
from the
Hult Cen
ter in De
cember.
The tree
was removed after a Eugene resi
dent complained that the city
shouldn’t give preference to any
religious celebration.
“I grew up with Christmas
trees, and they always represent
ed peace on Earth and good will
to men,” he said. Strange said the
§
LANE CO.
ELECTIONS
tree shouldn’t have become an
item of political debate but
should have been left in place as
a symbol of holiday cheer. The
tree’s removal was a symptom of
the community’s diminishing co
hesion, he said.
“People always tell me: ‘Char
lie, that’s just the way it is,”’
Strange said. “But why does it
have to be that way?”
Strange said he wants to revive
the patriotism and optimism that
he said has waned during the past
three decades. He said he would
work to promote political partici
pation and reduce public cynicism
of government. He said he would
also address traffic problems and
ease tensions between businesses
and Eugene residents concerned
about the environment.
Strange recently retired from
the Eugene Water and Electric
Board where he worked for 28
years. A New York native,
Strange, 65, played eight years in
baseball’s minor leagues before
moving to Eugene. He started at
EWEB reading meters and moved
his way up the public utility’s
ranks to the position of communi
ty affairs coordinator.
During a telephone interview,
Piercy said she too was con
cerned about low public opinion
of local government.
“One of the reasons I chose to
run was because many people
have come up to me and said
there’s no communication be
tween the commission and the
community,” she said.
Piercy, 57, said she would con
sider founding a commission
newsletter and create programs to
receive suggestions from county
employees.
“We have to really think about
how our decisions affect people’s
lives,” Piercy said. “They’re not
just grids on a map, but people.”
Piercy said she hopes to boost
efficiency in Lane County’s social
programs to better service senior
citizens and troubled youths, pro
mote dense urban growth to pro
tect the outlying farms and forests
and better include all of Lane
County in decision making.
Piercy is currently a state repre
sentative and has worked as an
educator and a Peace Corps vol
unteer.
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