Students Opting Into Streamlined Information Technology Programs

Prior to the fall of 2004, three colleges of the University of Cincinnati -- the College of Applied Science and the former College of Evening and Continuing Education and the former University College -- offered an array of Information Technology programs to about 500 students.  By recently streamlining these once-scattered programs in UC’s College of Applied Science, the university is better serving its IT students, according to Hazem Said, assistant professor, Information Engineering Technology.

The proof is in the numbers.  The newly unified program has even more students than the six collective programs of former years.  According to Said, about 400 of last year’s IT students opted to return to UC this fall, into the CAS program.  Joining them were 113 IT students from former years along with about 70 new students.  In all, close to 600 students.

“Right now, our enrollment stands at where we projected we would be in two years,” explained Said.  “We have the highest enrollment of any program in the college.  It’s certainly very promising.”

One of those students is Bethiah Dunn, 56, of West Chester, who plans to earn her baccalaureate degree within two-and-a-half years.  She’d begun her latest information technology studies in CAS’ former Information Engineering Technology program but took the option of switching to the new program this fall.  Said Dunn, “One of the reasons I opted for the new program is that within the first two years, students choose a specialty area – software development, Web technologies or networking.  I like this opportunity to go in different directions and am going to opt for the Web specialty.  I once did programming for five years, and five years is enough.”

Said and Margaret Vornhagen, program administrator, used every means available to foster one-on-one, electronic and phone communications with former, current and prospective IT students.  “We made 800 individual calls to current and former students about the program.  We held town-hall meetings to allow students to ask questions face-to-face.  We sent out e-mails throughout the summer to remind students what deadlines they needed to meet,” explained Said.

Their efforts to serve students have not only paid off with higher-than-expected enrollment, it is also paving the way for a number of articulation agreements with community colleges around the state, along with a possible agreement with a technical university in Egypt.  An articulation agreement with Edison Community College in Piqua may be signed as early as December with later agreements possible with UC’s Raymond Walters College, UC’s Clermont College, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, Southern Ohio College and Sinclair Community College in Dayton. 

In addition, Jim Sullivan, department head of CAS’ Math/Physics/Computer Technology Department, has just returned from the Middle East where he participated in discussions regarding a distance-learning partnership in which CAS faculty may provide IT training to students from Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.  “An entire CAS team may go to Egypt in winter quarter for further discussion,” according to Said.  “The best-case scenario is that CAS faculty will be teaching, via distance-learning technology, in the Middle East by this coming fall.”

It’s expected that information technology program at CAS will receive Ohio Board of Regents approval by this December.