The Debugger          Spring 2008

         Remembering Things Past

From the Chair - Bill Oblitey

Carol's Corner - Carol Miller

News From Tompkins Lab - Joseph Shyrock

Remembering Jim Maple

Your 2 Cents - Jim Wolfe

Goodbye - Jim Wolfe

Computer Science Faculty

This will definitely be the last issue of The Debugger that I edit. In two months, I will retire from IUP and someone else will have to take over the editing. At the moment, I don't know who that will be; but it will be worked out before the next issue. Identifying my successor as editor has been slowed down because of the delay in electing a new chairperson for the department.

This issue is dedicated to the memory of Jim Maple, one of the co-founders of the Computer Science Department at IUP. He and Howard Tompkins were the earliest faculty members. So, this issue contains a section devoted to memories of Jim Maple from the other members of the department who were here when Jim was. The cover is also inspired by memories of Jim. It shows an 8-inch floppy for booting the CPM system, a boot tape for the Microdata, a punch card and a printout from the CP-6 system. As I write this, I don't know how the image will copy; so if you cannot recognize the elements in the picture, you now know what they are supposed to be.

In addition to the regular features, this issue contains an early announcement of the Homecoming Breakfast and an notice about a 20-year reunion that T.J. Hall is trying to organize. There is also a self-centered version of "Your 2 Cents" and a brief article by me.
 

Jim Wolfe, Editor
 

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Hello everyone, I'm sure things are going very well with you and you are eager to read about how things are faring in the department.

To start with, I'm sure you will be excited to know that Carol Miller was honored by the University for completing twenty-five years of service with IUP. She was given a plaque by the president at a lunch provided for people who were recognized for length of service. Carol will actually have been with IUP for twenty six years this semester. I'm sure you share my sentiments in congratulating her and thanking her for sharing twenty six years of her life with us.

Jim Wolfe, who has also shared twenty seven years of his life with us has decided to retire at the end of this semester. He has been an extremely productive member of the department; the College, and the University. He has introduced several courses into the curriculum, has chaired most of the departmental committees, and also as chair of the department. He has also served on several committees in the colleges and also in the University. Particularly he has been a University senator and served on the University's technology committees. He is respected by both faculty and students. He will be remembered by the department as one of its most effective professors, its capable chair (both of the department and also of departmental committees, especially the curriculum committee), and also by the tremendous work he did as editor of the departmental newsletter, The Debugger. Many in the university will remember him through his GRADER program. Jim Wolfe was acknowledged by the college with the award of its annual outstanding achievement award in Spring 2001. While on sabbatical during the Fall 2001 semester, he developed a server simulator for use in the operating systems class. In doing this, he introduced several security-related components into the course. He has been very prominent in the department's current endeavor to obtain ABET accreditation for the Systems and Languages track. He has, for the past fifteen years been the editor of The Debugger, which is read by both current students and alumni. As chair of the department, he established a faculty research lab with up-to-date computing machines to help faculty embark on research. When IUP used mainframe programming, Jim Wolfe wrote a program, called GRADER, for maintaining grades. This was used by many professors within the university and when IUP switched mainframes from a Honeywell system to a Digital Equipment system, he transported his GRADER program over to the new mainframe thus helping the professors to continue to maintain their grading on the computer. The department is sure to miss Jim.

I want to share my excitement with you. We received some exchange students from China this semester and I have thirteen of them in my Fundamentals of Computer Science class. What is interesting is that they take time to study; and it did not take long for our American students to realize their enthusiasm for learning and joined the band wagon. So, now, I have an exciting class with students eager to ask questions and to learn and I'm cherishing it.

Another interesting thing happening in the department is that, as I get close to the end of my term as chair, we need to elect a new chairperson for the department. We had two candidates, Sanwar Ali and Charley Shubra; and the department was deadlocked over the election for nearly two months. However, just before the April 15 deadline, the election took place and Charley Shubra was elected. Congratulations to him. We will need to start the transition process almost immediately as technically, he becomes chair on May 1.

In our quest for the ABET accreditation for the Languages and Systems (LaS) track, we have made a few changes to the curriculum: COSC 220 - Applied Computer Programming - is removed from the core for students in the LaS track; COSC 380 - Seminar on Computer Profession - is now going to be two credits and will include topics on ethics; there is now no foreign language requirement for LaS track students; and they have to take the normal two lab science sequence and a third lab science.

Our faculty search to replace Mike Bigrigg has not been successful. We did a telephone interview for five of the candidates and brought two down to interview. We liked them both and we extended the offer to them individually but they both turned us down. Meanwhile, we have Ms. Andrea Morman and Mr. Mike Everett teaching for us. Ms. Morman is teaching four sections of the Microcomputer literacy courses and Mr. Everett is teaching the Object-Oriented and GUI Programming course. They are both performing very well for us.

The Howard E. Tompkins lab in Stright 112B is going to be renovated this semester. The lab has 27 computers and one printer and is available for students to work on their assignments and other necessary and personal computing. The machines in the lab were purchased in 2003 and are overdue for replacement.

I think you may have heard of our beloved Jim Maple's passing. We do miss him and we have planned a memorial for him. The memorial will be held on May 3rd at one o'clock in the Blue Room of Sutton Hall.
 
 

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Hi Everybody! Nice to see that Spring is finally in the air. I was beginning to think it would never arrive as I'm sure many of you were.

We have a new faculty member here this semester. Mike Everett (5/97) is helping us out of a bind we're in until we can get some people hired on a permanent basis. As you probably remember, Mike works for IBM, but pretty much works out of his home, so he has a little freedom to come in and teach. He's thinking that if he enjoys it, it may move on for a PhD and maybe start a new career. And, he lives here in town, so that's an added advantage. It's good to have him here.

First, we extend our condolences to Jim Maple (5/86) on the loss of his father, Jim, in January. As those of you who were here at the time know, Jim was one of the founding fathers of the Computer Science Department. And, we've dedicated a part of The Debugger this Spring to his memory. I'd also like to invite everyone to attend a Celebration of Life to be held on May 3 at 1:00 p.m. in the Blue Room here at IUP.

I received so many nice Christmas Cards.

Mark (5/85) and Bev (Green) (5/85) Landry with Justin and Ryan. One thing I have to finally admit, Justin and Ryan are changing their looks. They're still the spitting images of their parents but now it's a mixture. Thanks guys!! You need to hop in the car on Homecoming morning and have breakfast with us.

Jane (Cunningham) Harnagy (5/87) and the gang. After the horrible experience with rain and wind (see later), they were able to enjoy the holidays. Jane always sends a neat newsletter, so let me share: Olivia, the oldest, started clarinet and is also interested in the violin; Isabel is an artist and lives life with a passion. She's developed an English accent which she uses while drinking tea with her pinkie properly poised. Reagan loves to play catch with his daddy and loves to watch football on TV. He also plays the student or the knight to Olivia's teacher or Isabel's princess. (Reagan and Isabel are the twins.) Callie is the baby and she is content, cheerful and a bit devilish. The ice cream business they purchased two years ago is incredibly busy and late last spring, they added a pizza shop. Bob runs the ice cream shop and Jane has been working in the pizza shop. Bob's mother is also staying with them after the death of Bob's father in October. Our condolences on your loss, Bob.

Kari (Robson) Behune (5/98), Greg and Braden. I haven't had any recent pictures of Braden, Kari!! I need to see how he has grown.

Vickie (Pearce) Ringhoff (12/94), Jeremy, Rylee and Tico with an adorable pictures of Rylee and Tico. You know, now that I think about it, Vickie, you're an Indiana girl and you guys could also come for Homecoming!

A nice card from Peggy Mogush (5/87) and all is well with Peg. Thanks Peggy. You need to come down for Homecoming too!

Received a card from Yiming Sun (5/91) and, as always, it's great to hear from you, Yiming.

And from Jason Livingston (12/95) and Jennifer along with Emma, Sean and Ian. I thought I might see them at Seph Mack last month, but that didn't happen.

And from Enrique Rodriquez (5/85) who is working for MobilVox in Reston VA.

From Mike Gutzat (5/87) and family. Always good to hear from you.

Chris Claire (12/94) also sent a card and a little update. He's living in West Chester PA and works for Mars Information Services (as in Mars Candy) and has been there for seven years. He provides IT support to the corporate office. And, he's also gotten involved with (surprise, surprise) home brewing and judging. He's won many awards and is a certified judge. Great hearing from you, Chris. Thanks for the update.

Janie (Pike) (5/92) and Ron Kustaborder and family. We were talking about you, Janie, as I write this. You know I always love seeing pictures of your neat family. Thank you! We need to get together.

Had a nice e-mail and also a visit from Bob Schlentz (5/84). He visited right before Thanksgiving with his family and stopped in to show his daughter, Kelsey, (who is now 16 and thinking about college), where he spent his college years. I'm sure Bob told Kelsey how lucky he was to have been among such wonderful people here in the Computer Science Department. But, he mentioned that he tortured his family with his memories so maybe he didn't mention us. I was really sorry we didn't get to see you on your trip through. Bob, his wife, Lisa and their three children, Kelsey, David who is 14 and Richie who is 8, were on their way to Lisa's parents' home near Greensburg. He and Lisa hadn't been back to IUP since they graduated. Bob is married to his IUP sweetheart and they are living in West Chester. In addition to the three kids mentioned earlier, they also have a few pets.

Bob's career has involved application development work at ATT Bell Labs for two years, ICI Americas for ten years where he got involved with SAP, then he spent six years consulting with Anderson Consulting/Accenture, before leaving in 2002 to start his own practice. Right now he is a partner/owner of a small SAP consulting firm called ThinkIt Partners, with a client focus in the metro Philadelphia area (www.thinkitpartners.com). Bob says that eighteen years of SAP work has been a great experience, not only is it an interesting product, but it's been a great global experience and he's formed some terrific relationships, not to mention the continual learning. Bob plays soccer, but recently tore his Achilles tendon in tournament playing against 25 year olds from Poland. He's on a slow mend & hopefully will be better in time to coach this year which he's been doing since his kids became old enough to play and enjoy the game. In 2006, he took 67 people to Germany for the 2006 World Cup, where his U14 team (son David) got to play teams from Germany and Austria. Bob also sends his best to the 1984 CS gang and I'm sure he'd be more than happy to hear more about those of you who would like to write and let me include your story.

Bob pointed out something that he may not necessarily have wanted me to print but I think it's an interesting observation and one I hadn't really thought about. But, Bob said as he's been reading The Debugger he's noticed the different phases of life the alumni are in - the new grads focusing on the "firsts" in their lives (first home, first motorcycle, first child, etc.) and those more senior alumni giving more of an overview since as they have too many years to itemize all their goals and accomplishments. It was really great hearing from you Bob, and I'm really sorry I wasn't here when you stopped. Keep in touch!

Congratulations to Jarrod Lash (8/02) on his marriage to Lisa Kaniecki in Pittsburgh in July. This is from IUP Magazine, so we could use some details, Jarrod.

I also had really cute school pictures of three of Cathy (Ferguson) Johnson's (5/88) four kids - Michele's pre-kindergarten; Amanda's kindergarten, and Samantha's first grade. Michael isn't in school yet, so maybe next year I'll get one for him. Cathy had her family here in PA for Thanksgiving. She's originally from the Blairsville area; and she and her mother take turns with cooking so next year the meal will be at Cathy's house in Mechanicsville, MD. Cathy is doing software testing for Savantage Solutions. The company is located in Rockville, MD and Cathy has a four hour round trip commute, but she says she really likes software testing and quality assurance so she'll deal with the commute. Cathy, it's always great to hear from you.

Barry Day (5/77) and his wife are planning on retiring at the end of the year and they have a big trip to Egypt planned and I know he'll send pictures so we can live vicariously through his trip. Barry also will be making a trip to Indiana to visit with us (maybe has already been here by the time you receive this.) Always good to see you Barry.

Jim Wolfe had a nice e-mail update from Dave Hadley (8/02). Dave is living in Pittsburgh and is a Data Conversions Specialist for Four Rivers Software (http://www.frsoft.com) where he is converting databases from Excel sheets to full Oracle backups and converting their tables to fit their TMS system using SQL scripts, procedures, and functions. The TMS product is their product and is a computer based hospital equipment manager in which the users can control asset management and work order management. Dave works mainly with hospital engineers, both biomedical and facilities. He also works on creating Conversion Tools using VB.NET, creating Database constraints and consistency checks, and creating database fixes. Dave also requests anyone with some SQL experience who is looking for a job please send him your resume at dhadley@frsoft.com. Great to hear from you, Dave, keep in touch!

Got a great e-mail from Lynda (Schmidt) Corlett (5/87). Lynda worked for me here in the office when she was a student; and I hadn't heard from her since she graduated and always wondered why. Well, it turned out she just got her first copy of The Debugger. Not sure why that is, but I sure was happy to hear from Lynda. When she left IUP, she went to work at Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York as a Programmer/Analyst. She worked on a large mainframe development team and was quickly promoted to a lead analyst position. Their system tracked customer requests for service, dispatched engineers, managed e-mails to the field and tracked part usage and repair feedback. It also performed billing functions and many other aspects of the Equipment Service Business. In 1990, she met her husband, Bob, in graduate school at Rochester Institute of Technology. They were married in 1991 and had their first child (Rachel) in 1993. At Eastman Kodak, Lynda had held many positions and was being groomed for field management. She was a customer service supervisor in their end-user group where, at the time, she managed two employee teams. But, she made the decision to do one thing and do it really well, so she quit her job to be a mother. And, she moved around the country with her husband who is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for a beverage company. They make mostly food service juices (orange, lemonade, lime and lemon juices for use in culinary applications). As his career progressed they moved from Rochester, NY to Memphis, TN, to Columbia, MD and finally to Longwood, FL in 2000.

Along the way, they had two more children, sons - Ryan and Jacob. Rachel is a freshman, in the gifted program of one of the top hundred high schools in the country. She is taking an AP Biology course and another dual enrolled college course. She's also a Girl Scout and is currently working toward her Gold Award. She was the only female in the state chosen for an All American Scholar Award and is presenting an overview of the most recent discoveries in Stem Cell Research at the University of Florida. Ryan is in sixth grade. He is also in the gifted program. He plays the Alto Saxophone and is in band with seventh and eight graders. He also plays flag football where he has recently started playing quarterback. His team won the Division this last season and came in second in the Region. Lynda said he is a very intense child, always into "doing the right thing." He is also very caring and he would give his last dime away to help others. Jacob is in second grade. He's been given the gift of joy. He wakes up with a smile and falls asleep with a smile. He has plenty of hugs to go around during the day. He also is gifted. But Lynda said compared to the other two, Jacob is easy going which balances the intensity of all the others.

Over the past four years, Lynda has been substitute teaching from K-12 in all academic areas and has decided to take the K-12 Computer Science General Knowledge exam this spring, with the ultimate goal of teaching 6, 7 or 8th grade math or science full time within two years. Right now, Lynda teaches around three days a week at the middle school her son attends; and she also works from time to time at the elementary school her other son attends. We wish you luck on this new journey, Lynda, and I know you'll make a difference. They are also very avid pet lovers. Right now they have a five year old dog named Snickers who is half Jack Russell and half Shi Tzu. They're on their fourth hamster, this one is named Petunia. The have two hermit crabs and in the past have had turtles, a chicken that Ryan hatched in kindergarten and which they released on a free range farm, and tadpoles, and frogs. Lynda, it was SO great to hear from you and don't be a stranger.

Jim Wolfe had a nice e-mail from Terry Gillis (5/79). Terry is the Global Program Director for Alcoa Rolled Products which is a business unit within Alcoa, Inc.; he reports to the Rolled Products CIO. Terry, his wife and their five children live in Pittsburgh, but Terry spends 75% of his time in other countries deploying Oracle Applications 11.5.10 and associated business processes across twenty plants. It's called the Order to Cash (OTC) business processes and spans over five years. OTC includes everything from customer, sales order entry, supply chain planning, manufacturing, shop floor data collection, product costing, shipping, and invoicing. He has been leveraging project management methodology and solutions with the deployment teams in Brazil, Russia, China, Spain, UK and other European locations. While Terry was at IUP, he worked in the Computer Center (as it was at that time) for Morris Fox. Terry, it was really great to hear from you; and, there is a possibility (maybe a slim possibility) that I could see you at one of the orienteering meets.

Congratulations to Ryan Bassaro (12/04) on becoming a homeowner and an MBA recipient. Ryan bought a house in Mt. Lebanon last fall and completed his MBA from IUP in Monroeville. In April, he started as a Lead on converting in Oracle Financial systems from Westco's old legacy system; and he also had the Lasik procedure which he recommends to anyone thinking of having it done. He was back to visit IUP and was sad to see all the changes with the student body and campus. His feeling is the same as many of us - IUP was once a special diamond in the rough, but now is turning into another corporate campus. Amen to that, but I guess they call it progress. Ryan made another comment that many of us agree with - No restaurant in Pittsburgh can take the place of the Pizza ouse. Ryan, thanks always for keeping us up to date!!!

Everett Burhans (5/02) checked in to let us know what's new in his life. He and his wife had a baby boy, Tyler, on April 26, 2005. He weighed 6 lbs., 4 oz at birth and has kept them very busy ever since. Everett's wife has been able to be a stay-at-home mom; but she runs a Dog Bakery (barkbarkbakery.com) out of their home where she bakes and sells gourmet dog treats and Everett said the leftovers go to their five dogs. In his spare time, Everett has a hammer in his hand doing construction work - anything from framing to electric work and plumbing. In other words, he's a real handyman. Tyler is a big helper, too. At least I think that's what Everett was trying to say when he mentioned that Tyler grabs his tools and plays keep away. Everett is loving the life. Great to hear from you. Keep in touch.

Congratulations to Justin Elkin (5/03) and his wife, Kristin, on the birth of Kieler Joye on December 26 and what a cutie she is!!! This is their third daughter. She is joining Kenedee Jo who is 3 and Kaelee Jae who is 2. Justin sent a picture of the 3 girls and they are so cute. They have dark curly hair and are just beautiful little girls. They look so much alike, but yet different in their own little ways. Justin is outnumbered in the female department, but he said he has two male dogs for added testosterone. The girls already have Justin wrapped around their little fingers. Justin is still working for Rosebud Mining in Kittaning. As I told Justin in e-mail, he and Kristin need to bring the girls for the alumni breakfast.

Thank you, Michael Rudge (5/83) for the nice note about Homecoming. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Hope to see you there again this year.

Had a nice update from Adam Altemus (5/07). Adam had done an internship at MobilVox and he stayed on with them after graduation and is now a Senior Software Engineer. His duties are multi-media programming, web application programming, and is one of the leads on the company's Open Source Software Initiative where they are developing open source software for the benefit of the community. His first project was a Maven plugin for manipulating JavaScript and has been well received. He and his family are still living in Armagh and they bought their first house there in May. Great to hear from you Adam and, since you live so close, we expect to see you from time to time.

Congratulations to Brian (5/02) and Tanja (Soltis) (12/01) Petersen on the birth of their daughter, Bridgette Helen. Bridgette weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. And was 18 3/4 inches long. Now you might think that since Brian is working here - just three floors away - he would have been the one to announce this, but in actuality, I saw it in the paper. In fact, there was a picture of the three of them in the Indiana Gazette because Bridgette was a leap year baby, born on February 29 at 2:20 a.m. Since then, Tanja did send me a nice e-mail with an update so all is forgiven. Bridgette was due on March 11, but she decided to arrive a bit early. Tanja said she really wanted a March baby and, I guess in a way she got one, since Bridgette will only celebrate her real birthday every 4 years. Tanja gave up her job at Diamond Drug Stores and is now a stay-at-home mom. She said Noah (big brother) was getting sick a lot; and she'd have to leave work and get him from daycare and try to arrange other sitters; so she decided she would just stay home. But, she's not complaining. She's loving being able to stay home with the Noah and Bridgette. She said it has been a big adjustment going from one to two, but they're all getting used to it, although Noah is a wee bit jealous of the time being spent on Bridgette. Brian, meanwhile, is still working here at IUP but is now in IT Services where he's been for a year now and he really likes working there. And, of course, everyone knows I'm going to give you the web site for checking out the pictures of Noah and Bridgette. She is just a beautiful baby and Noah looks like his dad! http://thepetersenpages.com/Gallery/ main.php?g2_itemId=207& g2_navId=x83ed68d4 Thanks SO much Tanja for the update and the pictures!!

Our condolences to the family of Gerald DuBois (5/94) who passed away on February 28. We always enjoyed having Jerry around and he will be sadly missed. I'm sorry but I have no details on his passing.

And, as I promised, more on the Harnagy family. You may not remember or may not know that Jane and Bob live in Ocean Shores, WA; and they were hit with really bad storms back in November/December. They were without power for 6 days, but the temperature was in the 50's so it wasn't that cold. One fireplace and the cook top that are gas took the chill off the living spaces. By the 3rd day, the roads were cleared of fallen trees (tons of them); and they made the trip to Olympia (90 miles away) for gas. Once they had gas they could run their generator which is wired into the house and which they highly recommend. It ran everything they needed including a 52 inch screen TV and DVDs; Jane vacuumed and Bob's mother ran an electric radiator in her bedroom so she was a toasty 85. The others were very comfortable with the rest of the house in the high 60's. The power was out in their whole county, as well as the county to the south all from downed lines including a major high tower that buckled. But the counties to the east (inland) had it worse! They were without power longer and the rain lasted longer and they are the ones who had all the devastating flooding you saw on the news. Thank goodness it's all over now and everything is back to normal for you guys. Thanks for the update.

I had a baby update from Tony Popp (12/98). Antoinette Caroline Popp, a.k.a "Teeny Tiny Toni" was born on Friday, October 26, 2007 at 9:54 pm and, as Tony put it, her technical specs are: weight -7.2 lbs; length - 18 inches. Teeny Tiny Toni joins Victoria and Vivian in the Popp household, and she's just adorable. If you'd like to take a look at the Popp kids, go to www.thepopps.net. Tony is still working at ESRI in Johnstown and was letting me know there were going to be openings there and I did get the info out to the kids who are graduating, Tony. I hope you got some nibbles. For anyone else who might be interested, you can contact Tony directly at apopp@esri.com. Thanks for the info on Antoinette, Tony, and for keeping us in mind when there are job openings. We'll see you in October for breakfast!!

And, I heard from Matt Handwork (12/00), even if I did have to track him down for someone else. Matt is halfway through his Masters of Science with Capella University. He's doing an online degree in System Design with a specialization in Programming. You go Matt!! Matt's bigger news though, is that he and Lacy (Stewart - an MIS graduate who used to work in the basement of Stright) got married in September 2006; and they are pregnant and due on August 1. They're waiting until the birth to find out if they're having a son or a daughter. Matt's son, Gage is now seven and was coming to spend Easter and his Spring Break with them. Matt is still working at Concurrent Technologies as a Senior Software Engineer in Johnstown. Thanks for the update Matt

Ron Edwards (8/89) contacted me from LinkedIn; and I'll give you a bit of a run down on what Ron has been doing and if you'd like to see more, please go to https://www.linkedin.com/e/isd/ 225485154/xtioNaFI/. As Ron said, LinkedIn is a path for all CompSci alumni to potentially reconnect. Since 1999, Ron has been involved with start-up and small businesses in all facets of their growth. He has been a partner in IronBridge Partners, a venture capital group and with USWeb/CKS/MarchFIRST, a web consulting firm. He has worked as an assistant for K&L Gates from 1989-1990; as Project Manager, Team Leader and Business Systems Analyst for Allegheny Energy from 1990 - 1999; as an Associate Partner in USWeb-CKS-marchFIRST from July 1999 - April 2000; as Founder and Partner in IronBridge Partners from April 2000 - March 2001; as Second Assistant Director and Production Assistant for Winter Morning Pictures ; as Founder and Partner in Mad Evolution from 2000 - the present; and COO and Corporate Secretary for Three Dimension Systems, Inc. from April 2001 - the present.

In his personal life, Ron's still single and looks after one cat and three nephews. In addition to his workload, he has many interests and projects, from making movies (an unreleased short film and full-length feature releasing this spring) to serving as Director, committee member, and instructor for mountaineering and rock climbing schools. In 2007, he was able to reach the summit of nine peaks in the Canadian Rockies and Peru. He's also recently attended a couple IUP Alumni of Pittsburgh events in downtown Pittsburgh. He's lived in Pittsburgh (O'Hara Township) since 2000, and works in Cranberry which is a very long commute. Needless to say, he's hoping the next company he works for will be closer to home. Ron hopes to visit IUP sometime in April; and we hope you stop in the office, Ron. Great to hear from you and hope to see you soon.

Tim Graham (5/93) gave me a call one day. Tim is now working for ComputerAid, Inc. in Allentown. Tim has been married now for six and half years. His wife is teaching in Gettysburg. They are living in Dillsburg and, right now, they are the parents of two kitties; but they're getting involved in a foster-to-adopt program and may be bringing a couple children into the household soon. Tim's company is also interested in hiring interns that they can train and offer them long term positions in their Harrisburg office. That sounds great!!! Hey Tim, it was really great to hear from you. You need to get in the car and drive up this way.

Zachary Palmer (5/04) has been accepted into the Ph.D. program at Johns Hopkins University with a graduate assistantship. He'll be starting in the Fall; and we wish you all the luck in the world, Zach. Please keep us updated on how it's going and when you finish.

Now, here's the big question of the day. Who came to my office toward the end of March after I had already left for the day; and she told someone she would send me an e-mail? She also said she hadn't been here for twenty years. Whoever you are, I'm really sorry I wasn't here. Please let me know who it was.

That seems to be all the news I have for this time, but keep those cards and letters coming.
 

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The end of the semester is finally approaching at long last. This summer is promising to be a very busy one, with lots of things for the tech staff to do. One of our projects is upgrading the current Office 2003 suite to Office 2007. With well over 600 machines this will guarantee that we will be all very busy. In addition to this, we also hope to replace the machines in Tompkins lab.

As you may be aware the university is now a Lenovo campus, due to Pennsylvania's exclusive contract to buy Lenovo machines. There is also discussion about upgrading to Visual Studio 2008, but that is still being debated; so time will tell.  The department is also getting an upgrade of the multimedia equipment in Stright 331 and 333 to the university model. This will include a DVD player, VCR, Document Camera and of course a new projector. It will be very exciting to see the old equipment go! The old equipment still works but it is well past its expected lifetime.

That about wraps it up, have a nice Spring and Summer!
 
 

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[Ed. Note: Anyone who was an IUP Computer Science major before 1994 is likely to remember Jim Maple, probably as the instructor of the assembly language course. With Jim's passing, those of us who worked with Jim (and are still in the department) have put together a collection of our remembrances. You probably have some of your own.]

Charley Shubra's Memories

This past January, Jim Maple, one of the founders of the Computer Science department at IUP, passed away. I have had the privilege of knowing Jim, Nancy and their family for over forty years. I grew to feel like a member of the Maple family because of the love and hospitality shown to me and my family by Jim and his family. What follows are a few of the fond memories I have accumulated over the years.

As a junior applied math major (the computer science department did not yet exist) at the newly formed Indiana University of Pennsylvania, I had my first encounter with professor Maple. Jim was teaching an assembly course that I was taking for the second time. No, Dr. Shubra had not failed the assembly course the first time, but the technology was changing so rapidly that we were permitted to take the same numbered course twice since the content of the course had changed. I was impressed with Jim's relaxed manner as far as this highly technical course was concerned. In fact, one day he came to class with no notes and as he walked in he asked "Where did we end up the last class?" (I said to myself "lookout he is not prepared".) We students responded with "you had begun discussing channel command programs". A channel command program is analogous to the modern device drivers which we all recognize as very involved low level and technical. Without notes, Jim proceeded to deliver a detailed hour long lecture on the design and syntax of channel commands. Jim knew his stuff as far as this newly emerging field of computer science was concerned.

The next thing I knew, Jim and I are enrolled at Penn State in the computer science masters program. I was still calling him "Mr. Maple" as I had at IUP. Numerous times Jim implored me to call him "Jim". It was hard for me to change, but after several happy hours spent at the PHYRST in State College singing along with a Dixie land band, I was finally able to call Jim "Jim" and a life long friendship grew. Anyone who knew Jim knows that he enjoyed life. Jim worked very hard, as the field of computer science demands, but Jim enjoyed life. During the two summers that Jim and I spent as graduate students at PSU, we enjoyed life, but worked very hard. Our motto was "Work Hard, Play Hard" and we did. At times while at PSU, I would baby sit Kathy and Jimmy for the Maples. During that time, I was introduced to "Meg" the Maple's small black dog. Meg was the first dog that I had ever seen who could drink beer from a bottle. Meg enjoyed life too. Jim and I both earned our masters degrees and after a stint in the Army I took a job with Corning Glass Works in Raleigh, N.C. I stayed in touch with Jim and I was interested in teaching. One July day, Jim called and said there was an open position at IUP and asked if I was interested. Howard Tompkins and Jim had formed the computer science department and the faculty was growing. I was working 60 hour weeks in Raleigh with one week of vacation and based on Jim's description of the teaching schedule, he promised 12 weeks of vacation and 12 contact hours per week. I applied and got the job only to find out that Howard and Jim had to manipulate the initial numbers to make me the top candidate. I ended up working 80 hours per week and the 12 weeks were unpaid vacation. I have really, really enjoyed teaching. Thanks to Jim and Howard for the opportunity.

In teaching with Jim, you had to be impressed with his caring and concern of the students. On more than one occasion, Jim would stand up for a student to assure that a decision was made in the student's best interest. Jimmy (Jim and Nancy's son) enrolled at IUP and after a few years became a computer science major. I was Jimmy's faculty advisor. Now, Jimmy was on the extended undergraduate plan (Jimmy enjoyed life). In his sixth or seventh year, Jimmy came in for his advising session. Afterwards, Jim asked me how it had gone; I replied that my advice to Jimmy was to get on with it and graduate. Like a chip off of the old block, it turns out Jimmy was very good with computers. Jimmy ended up with his own successful company and was way ahead of the Information Assurance movement. I know that Jim was very proud of how his children turned out.

Because of Jim's weight and aversion to exercise, I was concerned that he might not enjoy a long retirement. Jim tried to lessen my fears when he told me he had joined Athletes Anonymous. I thought that sounded promising until he told me that should a member of Athletes Anomalous ever have the inclination to exercise they would call a fellow member who would immediately bring a six pack over and the two would have a few until the inclination to exercise passed.

Jim and Nancy did retire and enjoyed time together in Florida and New York. I know that heaven is a happier place since Jim is there and I look forward to having another happy hour with him.

Well done Jim! You had a major impact on hundreds of students and one young faculty member.
 

Bill Oblitey's Memories

Other than the parties at his home that I cherished, I have two fond memories of Jim Maple that I can never wipe from my mind. The first is one that haunts me every weekday morning when I arrive on campus and start climbing the stairs to get to my office. You see, I have now taken to avoiding the use of the elevator to get up to my office, except when I am with company and everyone is using the elevator. Apparently, Jim Maple also was at that stage and he would use the stairs to get to his office. Well, one morning, I decided to use the stairs and, as I was quite young then, I negotiated the stairs two steps at a time at quite a speed and ran past Jim, who was actually taking his time to get up to the third floor. As I passed him, he shouted "show off, wait till you get to my age!" So now, every time I get to the third floor and start panting due to negotiating the stairs, I recall Jim's comments about me getting to this age.

The second incident happened in Boston, MA when we went to a SIGCSE conference. He and I attended a series of presentations; and we later decided to walk to our hotel. On the way, we saw an African American lady walking in the opposite direction and holding the hand of a little boy who looked like he was about six years old. The lady must have thought she knew me or Jim but she waved in our direction and to be polite, I waved back. When we got close to her, she apologized and commented that I resembled someone she knew. I said not to worry and we continued on our way. She also went on her way. Jim and I never changed our train of conversation in spite of the interruption. On Monday morning when I went to the main office, Carol wanted to know the name of my son in Boston. I was lost as to what she was referring to and Jim was sitting in the couch looking quite serious and pretending he was not listening to the on-going conversation. After I had left the main office and gotten to my office, it dawned on me that Jim Maple had come to tell Carol the story of the lady with the boy and me 'pretending' that I did not know her. What really got me was Jim's seriousness - like he had not said anything to anybody.
 

Carol Miller's Memories

Jim was one of the commanding forces when I started working in the Computer Science Office. He was one of those people who automatically make you feel welcome and one of the group. And, that's exactly what he did with me. He almost, literally, made me a part of his family. One of the many great things about Jim was that he (and Nancy) lived one block from Stright Hall, in fact we could see their backyard from my office window, and they liked to entertain. Many a Friday evening we went through the "backyard" and hit the Maple's back deck where we congregated and traded stories while we hoisted a few (very few of course). This became a bit of a tradition, we seemed to navigate in that direction for most of the events we were celebrating and that continued even after Jim retired and also after he and Nancy moved to Bemus Point, NY. Or course, then the drive was a bit longer.

But, let me go back just a bit to before Jim retired. He'd been at IUP quite a few years and had accumulated quite a bit of sick leave; so he decided that before he retired he was going to use up some of that sick leave since he could only take so much with him. Therefore, it wasn't surprising to get a phone call in the morning from Jim saying he wasn't coming out to play today. Then, one evening I got a phone call at home with a story about being Jim in the hospital because he cut off his fingers. And, I said "Yeah right. I'll cancel your classes in the morning - you don't have to make up a story like that." Well, it turned out it wasn't a story, he actually had cut off his fingers. He was doing woodworking in his basement and the wood he was working on slipped and pulled his fingers into the saw blade. But, of course, he knew when he called me that I wasn't going to believe his story. And, of course, he always came back from faculty conferences with lurid stories about other faculty - none of them true, of course, but they were good stories. He's also responsible for that little statue in my office that reads "Homework Makes You Stupid" which I'm sure many of you have seen. Regardless of what Jim was involved with, it had to have some fun mixed in. Those were great times and Jim will be missed.
 

Jim Wolfe's Memories

Several things come to mind when I think back to when Jim Maple was here in the department. I remember working with him team-teaching COSC 110 (CO 110 then). That was back when we had large lecture sections and recitations. I had taught the course with several faculty a couple of times; but one semester Jim and I got to do CO 110 with just the two of us. What I remember about that was how smoothly it went, compared to when there were three or four of us working together. Jim and I used a very similar approach to teaching programming; it made the trade-offs in lecturing easy and it made the recitations work well. There had been other times (with other faculty) when I had to re-teach material in recitation or fill in gaps or just teach what should have been covered.

I also remember sitting in on his CO 300 (Assembly Language) class. It was my practice back then to observe someone else teach a whole course before I taught it. (I think some of our current faculty would benefit by doing this.) I picked up a few tips from Jim on covering things I might not have considered. He generously gave me various materials (handouts and demonstration props) he had used for assembly language. He also gave me a boot tape from the Microdata machine used in the early days of the department. You can see this paper tape on the cover of the issue.

But, probably the thing I remember most about Jim was the competition that existed between and him and me for "Worst Dressed Member of the Department." The rest of the faculty used to poke fun at us for "setting the lower bound for the department dress code." I don't think either of us minded the poking; neither of us had any aspirations to be fashion models. When Jim retired and I took over the undisputed titled, it was indeed a proud moment. And now that I am about to retire, I am pleased to say that there is once again one member of the department who can carry on with this prestigious title. And, once again, there will be no dispute regarding his qualifications. A tradition continues.
 
 

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There is little to write about this time. No one responded to my question asking, "Is the quality of new-hires in the IT areas going up or down?" I'm guessing that no one felt comfortable addressing the issue..

I suppose it was sort of selfish of me to ask the question; but it is a reflection of a concern that I have had for some time. My impression is that, in general, student capability/aptitude has been gradually going downhill. To be sure, I can site many exceptions to this idea; but it has seemed to me that I have had to make my assignments easier and easier to allow students to complete them and it is harder to get students to thoroughly learn the material.

I could be totally wrong about this. For example, it may be that I have long since used up my project ideas that take a reasonable amount of effort and I am left with only projects that typical students cannot possibly do.

I could be wrong because what I am labeling "reduced aptitude" is really a manifestation of the different learning styles students have been subject to.

I could also be wrong because the gap between my frame of reference and expectations as to what it takes to learn and those of current students has grown so large that I just don't understand them well enough to get through.
 
 

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So, why am I retiring? I don't think there is a simple answer to the question. Frankly, I don't really think the question is phrased properly. I look at myself as moving on to another stage of life, stopping some of what I have been doing a lot for 27 years and concentrating on some other things that I have been doing only now and then. The change is one of emphasis. Doing my job has come to totally dominate my waking hours, especially over the last 10 years. I believe the best kind of job to have is one that you would be willing to do for the price of room and board alone. That use to be my attitude about my job here. The more a job seems like work, the less I like to do it. And in recent years, my job has become work. There are a number of reasons; but I won't bore you with them. Also, I don't think it is possible to state the reasons without insulting a variety of people.

Actually, I will mention one thing that has made my job work - the drive to IUP. I feel that in retiring, I will be leaving two jobs not one. The second one is the almost two hours a day that I spend just conveying myself from home to work and back. Between the two jobs, retirement should allow me to gain a large span of time each week during which I can do some of the things I have wanted to do but that had to be put off for lack of time.

There is a large backlog of home projects to do; I will be able to spend much more time making maps and orienteering; and when I am not doing things that I have lined up for myself, my wife will be training me to be a house husband.
 

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