new academic building

okinawatyphoon · October 26, 2013, 09:17:43 AM

President Heckler gave a Strategic Plan update to the student senate. According to this Torch article, a new academic building is planned:

"To accommodate for new academic programs and a larger student body, physical changes for campus are in the works as well. Heckler noted the need for biology and chemistry lab space, and introduced the plans for a new building near the Center for the Arts, Kretzmann and Meier Halls."

Does anyone know details of the proposal?

http://www.valpotorch.com/news/article_5a54cc80-3d7d-11e3-aa55-0019bb30f31a.html

78crusader · October 26, 2013, 09:50:39 AM

No. I had assumed the new building would be just west of the union and south of the softball field. I thought it would be a new nursing building to replace LeBien. That might still be the plan, although this building might combine nursing and some other (possibly new) health and science-related programs the university plans to offer.

VU is right to concentrate its recruiting efforts in the Great Lakes region, as President Heckler noted in the article. That has been and always will be our base. He also said they were concentrating more in urban areas than the suburbs. That is a mistake. And I still do not think it is in any way possible to expand the student body population to 6,000 (he reaffirmed this goal in the article) without compromising either admission standards or academic quality.

The article mentions expanding the ARC to include additional seating. I can tell you the seating will be increased, but only by a little bit. We won't see a 7,000 or 8,000 seat ARC. More like 5,500 or so.

Paul

valpotx · October 26, 2013, 04:35:44 PM

Someone should tell them that Chinese is not a language (Mandarin is most common)

agibson · October 28, 2013, 12:51:20 PM

Quote from: okinawatyphoon on October 26, 2013, 09:17:43 AMDoes anyone know details of the proposal?

To be located west of Gellersen, somewhere around Meier. I think this has been the location on the master plan for a while of a "STEM Village" (STEEM?). The notion is that the eventual science building will be built in two or three phases with only this, the first phase immediately in the cards. Wet lab space for sure (benches, sinks, gas, fume hoods) for biology and/or chemistry. Maybe some faculty research space and offices. Probably little or no lecture space. It's likely that biology and chemistry will each split their time between Neils and the new building, but the details are still being worked out.

Some renovation of Neils is expected to happen at the same time.

An architectural firm has been selected, and a couple of planning groups have been meeting. There have also been meetings with larger groups of science faculty and students.

Groundbreaking is supposed to be late spring or early summer. About the same time as the chapel expansion - so it's going to be a busy summer on the south side of campus!

valpotx · October 28, 2013, 01:26:47 PM

Does anyone have an idea of how many people pursue an IT or Computer Science-related degree at Valpo nowadays? My company is primarily a software development organization (just bought by SiriusXM in mid-August), and I have always wondered how well these classes do at Valpo. I had a few friends that were in the program, but I didn't know many overall. Then again, that was before IT really started gaining massive traction in the last decade.

vu72 · October 28, 2013, 02:22:39 PM

Quote from: valpotx on October 28, 2013, 01:26:47 PM
Does anyone have an idea of how many people pursue an IT or Computer Science-related degree at Valpo nowadays? My company is primarily a software development organization (just bought by SiriusXM in mid-August), and I have always wondered how well these classes do at Valpo. I had a few friends that were in the program, but I didn't know many overall. Then again, that was before IT really started gaining massive traction in the last decade.

No idea how many students, but the Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences has 20 faculty members. That is the same number as the Business College. Business has about 450 or so students. Not sure you can draw a conclusion based on these facts. My guess is agibson could give you a pretty solid number.

agibson · October 28, 2013, 04:50:47 PM

Quote from: vu72 on October 28, 2013, 02:22:39 PMMy guess is agibson could give you a pretty solid number.

Wrong department! I actually don't have a very clear number in mind for "Math+CS", let alone for "CS". The faculty is combined, and they teach a _large_ number of "service" courses for other departments. I'm not sure how widely distributed these sorts of numbers are. One could ask someone in administration, or the chair of the department. I suspect they're not confidential. I can at least ask casually when I bump into Math and/or CS folks.

a3uge · October 28, 2013, 06:12:21 PM

Quote from: valpotx on October 28, 2013, 01:26:47 PMDoes anyone have an idea of how many people pursue an IT or Computer Science-related degree at Valpo nowadays? My company is primarily a software development organization (just bought by SiriusXM in mid-August), and I have always wondered how well these classes do at Valpo. I had a few friends that were in the program, but I didn't know many overall. Then again, that was before IT really started gaining massive traction in the last decade.

I was a CS major. I would say from 2007-2011 there were about 7 CS majors per class with 1-2 people minoring in CS. The CS professors all taught a variety of math classes that served the non-CS student body. The Computer Engineers (about 5 per class?) also took a handful of CS classes with the CS majors. Each year there were rumors of discontinuing the program due to lack of interest. Overall, I think the program was rather weak and the hardware in Gelerson was (is?) incredibly outdated.

valpotx · October 29, 2013, 10:50:56 AM

Wow, I didn't think it would be that low! There is definitely a shortage in CS graduates nationally, as I usually have to move people from other states to my area in order to fill some of my positions (I am an HR Manager for our IT staff of around 160, mostly developers).

valpopal · April 11, 2014, 09:44:28 AM

An update: Heckler addressing the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce yesterday:

"...new running track will open in the fall, and Heckler said VU plans to increase the seating at the baseball field. Laboratory space is needed for the science program, and Heckler said construction is expected to begin soon on a new biology-chemistry building..."

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/vu-president-touts-past-success-future-promise/article_dcd271df-aa89-57e6-93b9-4c0979f079ea.html

valpotx · April 11, 2014, 10:09:57 AM

I am sure that the expansion of the seating at the baseball field would help us possibly host a conference tournament. We have been able to do so in softball, so hopefully we can for our successful baseball team as well.

It is also really smart that we are adding a graduate program for Cyber Technology/Security. This has been a very 'hot' field for the last 7-8 years, and we definitely want to have plenty of IT programs for students. I read somewhere that we are supposed to add a total of 200,000+ more Software Developer positions in the next decade in the US, and we want to make sure that prospective students see us as an option for such things. Since I interact daily with tons of IT professionals at my company (SiriusXM), I cannot stress enough how important it is that we stay on top of IT programs at Valpo, as everything is going to be connected to a device of some sort in the near future.

FWalum · April 12, 2014, 12:35:37 PM

Quote from: valpotx on April 11, 2014, 10:09:57 AMI read somewhere that we are supposed to add a total of 200,000+ more Software Developer positions in the next decade in the US, and we want to make sure that prospective students see us as an option for such things. Since I interact daily with tons of IT professionals at my company (SiriusXM), I cannot stress enough how important it is that we stay on top of IT programs at Valpo, as everything is going to be connected to a device of some sort in the near future.

Totally agree that this is important, just wondering if you see these jobs growing in the US at the same rate as they are in the eastern bloc countries, India and China. I know that salaries in many cases have not continued to be as high as they use to be. All the developers that I deal with on a daily basis are in India. I like the fact that I work from home and was able, for a while, to work around my basketball "hobby" but don't love working with the 9.5 hr time difference. Probably the reason why I am on the verge of some major insomnia.

LaPorteAveApostle · April 12, 2014, 12:40:48 PM

Yikes. Sorry to hear that.

Probably the worst thing is that stupid half hour tacked on there. Isn't that the only place where you have to do something like that?

My father (an engineer) added another hour hand (diff color) to our kitchen clock because he was commuting to South Bend. But yours seems like too much hard work.

For analog, anyway.

a3uge · April 12, 2014, 05:05:41 PM

FWIW I took a call with the IT graduate students 3 years ago at Valpo and all the grad students were Chinese. I think all the students in that graduate program were foreign.

bbtds · April 13, 2014, 11:50:02 AM

Quote from: valpopal on April 11, 2014, 09:44:28 AM
An update: Heckler addressing the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce yesterday:

"...new running track will open in the fall, and Heckler said VU plans to increase the seating at the baseball field. Laboratory space is needed for the science program, and Heckler said construction is expected to begin soon on a new biology-chemistry building..."

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/vu-president-touts-past-success-future-promise/article_dcd271df-aa89-57e6-93b9-4c0979f079ea.html

By President Heckler's lack of comments on the parking situation I assume they have not foreseen a problem with student parking near the new dorm. That seems to mean that the parking garage for the Union is not a priority.

valpotx · April 14, 2014, 11:12:20 AM

I do believe that the development positions in the US will grow at a quicker rate than overseas. A big reason is protection of IP. Though there are many reputable offshore companies (Tech Mahindra, InfoSys, etc), there are many more that will take your code and either sell it to another company, or use it to further their own product on the side. This actually happened to my business unit within the last few years, before being acquired by SiriusXM last year, in dealing with a Chinese mobile app offshoring company, so we had to quickly switch over to a safer Indian-based provider. We have around 70 developers in my business unit of 550 employees, and another 20 or so offshore consultants. Our plan for growth is very much domestic vs. offshore, and you do see many technology companies following the same route.

In regards to Graduate IT programs, it is very true that most students are of foreign origin. I will try my best to steer my son (soon to be born in a few days) towards a STEM career, as it makes it virtually impossible for you to NOT find a job.

a3uge · April 14, 2014, 11:51:17 AM

Quote from: valpotx on April 14, 2014, 11:12:20 AM
I do believe that the development positions in the US will grow at a quicker rate than overseas. A big reason is protection of IP. Though there are many reputable offshore companies (Tech Mahindra, InfoSys, etc), there are many more that will take your code and either sell it to another company, or use it to further their own product on the side. This actually happened to my business unit within the last few years, before being acquired by SiriusXM last year, in dealing with a Chinese mobile app offshoring company, so we had to quickly switch over to a safer Indian-based provider. We have around 70 developers in my business unit of 550 employees, and another 20 or so offshore consultants. Our plan for growth is very much domestic vs. offshore, and you do see many technology companies following the same route.

In regards to Graduate IT programs, it is very true that most students are of foreign origin. I will try my best to steer my son (soon to be born in a few days) towards a STEM career, as it makes it virtually impossible for you to NOT find a job.

I would agree with this if most of the code is written by US developers to begin with. Most offshore developers don't really write anything worth stealing anyways. Anything intuitive or innovative is still developed in the US (or UK/Aus). I think you could probably attribute this to a language barrier, as all code is still English.

Ironically, in one of my dual CS/IT classes at Valpo a foreign student gave a presentation on his Visual Basic final project where a copyright notice was inconveniently displaying at the bottom of his code. Woops.

valpotx · April 14, 2014, 12:16:09 PM

Yeah, the problem we ran into was that the mobile app development for this particular project was only being done by this Chinese firm. We quickly rectified that by hiring several full-time team members, and using an India-based firm for supplemental help.

valporun · April 16, 2014, 02:35:10 PM

I hear "software developer", and immediately think, "What am I going to do with forty subscriptions to VIBE?". Drastic unemployment will spread when companies hire these guys only to fire them when the company's computer is hacked by some teenager who didn't need an IT professor showing them how to get into a "protected server".

LaPorteAveApostle · April 16, 2014, 02:48:04 PM

actually man, I make more money selling magazine subscriptions than I ever did at Intertrode

valpotx · April 16, 2014, 03:38:52 PM

Run, I highly doubt that Software Engineers will ever have any type of drastic unemployment

. These types of skills will always be in demand

LaPorteAveApostle · April 16, 2014, 04:17:36 PM

...confidently stated the head of the Telegraph Workers' Union.

valpotx · April 17, 2014, 12:35:18 AM

But think about it, technology is not going away. While the programming languages will change, can you honestly see Software Engineers being replaced by something else? Unless they develop a computer that can write its own code, it isn't happening

LaPorteAveApostle · April 17, 2014, 05:15:31 AM

Technology is always changing. Not necessarily improving, but always changing, and going away. Not to go all Voltaire on you, but just because I cannot easily imagine a world without computer programmers, I am unwilling to make the leap that "it will always be thus". ("One word: 'plastics'.")

History is strewn with the carcasses of those who made that assumption and missed.

a3uge · April 17, 2014, 09:40:51 AM

Quote from: valporun on April 16, 2014, 02:35:10 PM
I hear "software developer", and immediately think, "What am I going to do with forty subscriptions to VIBE?". Drastic unemployment will spread when companies hire these guys only to fire them when the company's computer is hacked by some teenager who didn't need an IT professor showing them how to get into a "protected server".

I'm not sure you know what software developers actually do... But I like the risqué glamorous description!