Notes from Department Head Cal Ribbens

“It’s a good time to be a CS major!”  This upbeat observation was one of academic advisor Terry Arthur’s favorite ways to encourage students.  (We miss you, Terry!)  The context for this remark was usually the promising employment prospects of our graduates.  But it’s more than that, isn’t it?  It’s always good to be in CS for many reasons!   After almost forty years in and around computer science, I am still grateful every day to participate in such a rich discipline, marked by a unique confluence of analytical precision, theoretical elegance, creative innovation, powerful impact, and broad application.

Of course, it’s still a good time to be a CS major in terms of career opportunities as well.  Many of our alumni have fond memories of the career fairs organized by our corporate partnership program, the Computer Science Resources Consortium (CSRC).    The CSRC continues to play a significant role in the department, under the direction of Laurie Brogdon, Director of External Relations.  Besides two career fairs each year, the CSRC helps connect over seventy companies with CS majors and minors throughout the year, and provides critical support for student activities and scholarships.   The CSRC’s impact can be measured in many ways: last fall the career fair was attended by nearly 1000 students; in a survey of graduating seniors this semester, nearly 90% reported that they have had career-related internships, most with companies in the CSRC;  and the annual university survey of recent graduates always ranks CS graduates near the top in all the usual measures of employment.  So as May commencement draws closer, we trust that our newest alumni will agree that their decision to study CS at Virginia Tech was a very good one!