The first meeting of the Whitman CS faculty was today!
I wrote about our first hire, John Stratton, in an earlier post. We have now filled our second position.
We have a team!
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Author Archives: Janet Davis
How I spent my time at SIGCSE 2016
Each year in March, the Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) hosts the Annual Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, SIGCSE for short. SIGCSE is a medium-sized conference; the final registration count for SIGCSE 2016 was 1243. It’s usually in a medium sized city big enough to have a convention center, but not too expensive for the high school and community college teachers who often don’t have institutional support to attend. This year it was in Memphis. Don’t ask me about Memphis: As usual, I didn’t see much beyond the convention center.
Reflections on starting my second semester
With the start of the spring semester, it’s been a a busy three weeks since my last post. This post will reflect on what’s been keeping me busy in teaching, scholarship, and service. Continue reading
Search status; Reflections on teaching
Happy new year! I have two topics for this post: an update on our faculty search and some reflections on my first semester teaching at Whitman.
On the life of the teacher-scholar-founder
Today is my last day of class. While that means students are filling out course evaluations and finals are coming up, it’s also a time to for me to look back at what I accomplished this semester and what my plans are for the upcoming break. It’s in the air, too: There’s been some discussion at Whitman the last few days about the teacher-scholar model. What does that mean for me, as the founder of a new program?
Building or gardening?
Over the Thanksgiving break, I bought one non-food item: a real book, printed on dead trees, and purchased from a brick-and-mortar store (albeit one in a brand new development with a “Main Street” that really isn’t a Main Street at all).
The book is Michael Pollan’s A Place of My Own, which I approach with both interest and trepidation as one who is partway through the process of designing and building a new home. I was surprised to find connections with software development and with my enterprise at Whitman. Continue reading
Pre-registration for Spring 2016
Spring 2016 pre-registration ended a week ago last night. After considering how Whitman’s system compares to Grinnell’s, I will discuss the build-up, the enrollments, and the aftermath.
What I like about Whitman and Walla Walla
After last week’s post, I realized a note of melancholy had crept in. That’s no good for public relations, and it’s not making me any happier. I decided to reflect a bit on what I like about Whitman and Walla Walla, both the ridiculous and the sublime.
Public relations
When I took on this new role, I knew I would become the face of computer science at Whitman – at least for the first year or two. But I didn’t fully appreciate what that would mean. In this post, I consider the many ways in which I am representing computer science at Whitman.
On independent study
Some readers have expressed interest in hearing about differences between Whitman and Grinnell. I recently encountered and responded to one such difference.
On Thursday, I met with a student to discuss possible independent study projects for the spring semester. At the end of our discussion, we talked about next steps. I asked, “How does one register for an independent study at Whitman?” The student didn’t know; he hadn’t done one before. Being resourceful people, we checked the college catalog online and discovered there was an independent study course in Mathematics, but not in Computer Science.
Counting From Zero 