The Debugger       Summer 1995


Table of Contents


  • Editor's Notes
  • From the Chair - Gary Buterbaugh
  • Carol's Corner - Carol Miller
  • Netiquette - Dan Becker
  • Experience Comes Through Opportunity - Colleen Brawdy
  • New to the Faculty - Ralph Grove
  • News from Tompkins' Lab - Nadine Tatarko
  • May Graduation, Plus - Jim Wolfe
  • Century Club
  • Computer Science Faculty


    • EDITOR'S NOTES

    The theme of this issue seems to be "Introductions." Gary and Carol both mention our new arrivals, Ralph Grove and Nadine Tatarko; and both Ralph and Nadine introduce themselves in their own articles. As always, things keep changing at IUP and you need to read the program to know who the players are. So, here is your chance to become acquainted with two new members of the IUP family.

    As usual, Carol has the low-down on nearly everyone who passes by, calls, or sends us mail. Mixed in with her report on the alumni are a few faculty digs - but nothing that we don't deserve.

    Included here is the first "letter-to-the-editor" that we have published. Dan Becker sent me a long e-mail response to my article last time about Electronic Junk Mail. I thought you might be interested in it; and Dan agreed to le me publish it. If others of you would like to respond to what you see in The Debugger, feel free to send your comments to me; I'm always on the look out for alumni contributions to these issues.

    There a few pictures in this issue; most were taken at the May graduation ceremony. Unfortunately, the photographer, yours truly, forgot one of the cardinal rules of photography - Don't take pictures with a dark background. Some of the people are a little hard to recognize. But I have included their names next to the pictures; so if nothing else, you can take my word for who is in each picture.

    Jim Wolfe, editor


    From the Chair
    Dr. Gary Buterbaugh

    "The only thing constant is change!" Boy that sure is true. I'd like to tell you about some of the changes taking place in the Computer Science Department.

    First of all, we will be welcoming two new people to our staff in the fall. The first is Dr. Ralph Grove who will be filling the faculty slot vacated by Mr. Maple when he retired a year and a half ago. Dr. Grove comes to us from the Louisville area having received his BS in Computer Science from Purdue and his MS in Engineering Math and Computer Science and his PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Louisville. Most recently he has been teaching at Indiana University Southeast. He has had some business experience at a financial institution. The second is our new Tompkins' Lab manager. Her name is Nadine Tatarko and she is from a small town between Ebensburg and Johnstown. She has a BS from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. She has been working as the manager at a Johnstown computer store, Pandya Computers. There is another change for Nadine. Although she is still our lab manager. She works for the Computer Center (ISCC) and also has responsibilities in the Math and Psychology Departments.

    Another change is that we have gotten a new copier. We used about $10,000 of our Foundation for IUP to which many of our alumni contribute to buy a new Minolta copier. It copies 45 copies per minute, sorts, staples, punches, is controlled by a touch screen, makes transparencies and should make life much simpler for us. We will miss our old copier repairman, but he promises to stop by and see us. Thanks to all of you who made this possible.

    We are also using some of our foundation money to buy out a quarter time release for two of our faculty, Dr Micco in the Fall and Dr. Cross in the Spring. We plan to fund one of these releases each academic year (we are doing two this year since we never got around to awarding one last year). This should allow faculty an opportunity to get a lot caught up in our so rapidly changing field.

    We are also making some changes to our curriculum. I'll write more about this in the next issue of The Debugger. But will tempt you by telling you that we will no longer be teaching FORTRAN in CO 110. Starting in the fall of 1996, we will be teaching C++.

    One thing that hopefully doesn't change is our departments strong commitment to our students and to our alumni. You have enriched the lives of the faculty and office staff and we are so happy to be apart of your educational experience.

    Until next time.


    Carol's Corner
    Carol Miller

    Happy Summer's Almost Over -

    Doesn't it make you sick? Summer is so short anymore. Does it have something to do with getting older? I don't think so.

    Everything in the Computer Science office is quiet for the first time all summer. I don't expect it to stay that way. It's the end of the second session and everyone will start getting geared up for Fall. You know what that means for little ole me. WORK!!!

    We will have a new faculty member this Fall. His name is Dr. Ralph F. Grove and he's from Louisville, Kentucky. He even came early to help us with our Honors Program for exceptional high school students. They were here the week of July 31, and we had a lot of fun with them.

    I had a wonderful trip to Nassau this summer. I had a great time, got a great tan and can't wait to go back. In fact, next week wouldn't be too soon. One of the nice features was the lack of a rat race (except on the roads) Maybe, as the saying goes, the rats won.

    Gary Buterbaugh just left for California for two and a half weeks. He'll be visiting various friends who live out that way. Charley Shubra is at Hilton Head, and Jim Wolfe has been everywhere. The McKelvey's are going out west - I think Nebraska.. Mary Micco and her husband are in New York (Harlem and the Bronx, respectively) feeding the homeless. Tia Watts has made time to travel South while writing her PhD dissertation. I think that's everyone who has been away. Just want you to know they don't fifty-two weeks of the year on class preparation like they told you.

    Anyway, on to what you're waiting for - alumni news. Todd Livermore (12/94) is working right here in Indiana at Commonwealth Systems Corporation. He is setting up PC networks at the banks owned by First Commonwealth Financial - the parent company. Todd spent some time after graduation in Texas and Maryland visiting his sister and brother and has decided he likes Indiana best. Well, we're glad to have you here, Todd. Stop in and see us when you get a chance.

    Yee Hwee Phuan (12/84) is in Singapore working in the local IC design house in Science Park. This is an electronics firm and Yee Hwee is working as an engineer doing CAD development. Interesting to note, she says there is not good vendor support because most of companies are in the good old US of A. That should make us proud!

    Pat Becker (8/86) thinks his degree has expired because he
    isn't getting his Debuggers any more. Actually, I think his second reason is closer - he's been moving around so much no one knows where he is. Well, he's in Atlanta working on Internet security for SecureWare. Thanks for the update Pat - hopefully you'll get this issue.

    Wes Michael (5/88) sent e-mail to let me know what he was up to (finally - little dig there, Wes). Anyway, after graduation, Wes moved on to Penn State and got his Master's in Computer Science in 1990 (same time Jim Wolfe was there). He got married in June, 1989, to Gretchen Morris (also an IUPer) and on March 26, they had a little boy, Damian Alexander. After graduating from Penn State, Wes took a job with Bell Communications Research in Piscataway, NJ and has been there ever since. They bought a house in January. At Bell, Wes is doing hardware and system administration and does some X/Motif development for C++ Client/server applications running on Sun Solaris platforms and providing support for clients. The application is used by phone companies to administer their alternate billing service database. Hey Wes, thanks for the update. If you're ever in the area, stop in and see us!

    Jennifer (Baldwin) Taylor, 5/91 is dishing dirt - the real kind. I guess she got tired of canning all the tomato sauce last year, so this year she's planting roses - plus cantelopes and peas. Oh, and I think she's cleaning windows - I don't know why, I just found out this year that you're supposed to clean them, I might do it when I find out what you clean them with. Hey, Jen, can you help me out? But, I think Jen is enjoying being a homeowner. She still likes work, too.

    Bob Lackey (8/92) e-mailed me a position opening they have and let me know that he is still at User Technology Associates in DC and was recently promoted to Programmer/Analyst II. He's working for Research and Development as a Unix administrator and internet Guru. Thanks, Bob. It's always nice to hear from you.

    Now, let me get on my soap box again, and repeat that if anyone is looking for a job change please let me know. There are a couple headhunters in contact with me and I m always getting e-mail from you alumni letting me know of openings in your companies. The ones I mention in The Debugger aren't the only ones I get. So let me know. Yeah, Peggy, I know I didn't do much to help you, but what can I say?

    Bill Smith (12/93) loves his job as a consultant working at Westinghouse. He's working with PC s, Microsoft, Access, and LANS. He's also engaged to a lady named Ruth who teaches in the North Hills school district. The wedding is next June. Congratulations, Bill. I m glad life is treating you so well. Keep in touch.

    And, we heard from Bill Smith (5/85). Bill is working in DC with Acacia Mutual Life Insurance. He's been there since 1987. He started working in COBOL and three years ago, started developing PC
    software for DOS and now is developing GUI software for Windows. He will celebrate his second anniversary with wife Joyce in September - no children yet. Thanks for getting in touch, Bill.

    Scott Becker (5/90) is still with AMS in DC and he and Louise have two children - Rachel is 3 and Stephen is 7 1/2 months. Thanks for the update, Louise. Louise was also the person who initially told me Keith Vaughn had moved back.

    Ed Meinfelder (8/89) has a new job. He is in DC at the Naval Research Laboratory doing parallel programming and networking with ATM. Ed is no longer lost in the jungle of West Virginia. Ed and a friend also have a feature article in the August/September Game Developer and is writing a book in collaboration with some other friends. Boy, Ed, when do you get time to have some fun? Oh, Ed also rides his bicycle to work every day (16 miles). Really good to hear from you, Ed.

    And, Tony Steve (5/85) e-mailed me and brought up to snuff on his life. Tony said that he rarely reads anything about his classmates. SO, CLASSMATES OF TONY, LET ME HEAR FROM YOU!!! Tony is living in Delaware, Ohio and working at the Frank Gates Service Company in Dublin, Ohio. He is their System Administrator/Data Base Administrator. FGSC is a workers compensation third-party administrator. Thanks for the update, Tony (even if the only reason you wrote was get an address - you're forgiven).

    Chris Claire(12/94) really enjoys his job with Keane. Actually, I think he's just having a good time on weekends with Brent and Dewey going to Philly and New Jersey and Mike Krynicki's (5/95) wedding. How was the Van Halen Concert?

    And, speaking of Brent Cramer (5/95) - he has been busy in training at DuPont in Wilmington, but likes his job and the area real well. How's the new apartment, Brent? Let me know how all is going!!

    Dewey Miller (12/94) stays in touch. He recently got a big fat raise, so he's as happy as a pig in mud, right, Dewey. Hey Dewey, I almost had a kitten to give you. Keep in touch!

    Another muskateer called this afternoon, Bo Gohn (12/94) is still at Sheriden Press, but he got a big promotion. He's the system and network manager. Bo's still living in York. He got a cat named Rajah, and he's thinking about buying a house. Yeow!!

    Andy Weiss (5/93) just got back from Arkansas where he was installing some software. Andy just loved Arkansas and can't wait to move there (that's a joke - he was in a little town that didn't have a McDonalds if you can picture that - I thought every town had McDonalds). Anyway, Andy is still working on his Masters at Penn State. Andy was asking me for Julie Roxby's address (which I could give him) and Anthony Storti's (which I couldn't give him - hint,
    Stu). Please keep sending the e-mail, Andy!

    Mark Lacy (5/87) is still with Marriott in DC. His family is in Erie, so he comes through here fairly often. Some day, Mark, when there is a holiday at Marriott that we don't have, and you're going home, stop and see us. Mark likes our new highway. For those of you who haven't been through Indiana in the past month or so, Rt. 422 is now 4-lanearound Indiana.

    I heard from Sean Sell (5/94) who is working for NIST's Advanced Systems Division and Computing and Applied Mathematics Laboratory. They are undergoing a big reorganization and Sean is joining a new group called Network and Telecommunications Systems. So far he likes it and is setting up a network of SGI Indy's for NIST Administration. They can teleconference with each other and their faces pop up on Sean's screen. I don't know Sean, but sometimes I think it's better if you can't see the face, particularly in the government. I hope you're in your new office by now, Sean. Have fun and keep in touch!

    Anita (Costa) Louttit (5/88) e-mailed me with an update on her work situation. Anita is now working for a consulting firm in Pittsburgh called Paragon Solutions where she's doing Oracle consulting work (and, they are looking for some good people, if anyone is interested.). She now has more time to spend with Cameron (who is now 3, if you can believe it). Mike (5/86) got his MBA from Pitt in December, 1993 and is now working for Mellon Bank as a systems coordinator in the Wholesale Bank division. He's doing PowerBuild development and also using an Oracle database. Thanks, Anita. Always great hearing from you.

    And, because Anita sent her regards to Sam Puleio (5/87), I heard from Sam and would like to mention that Sam is still working in ISCC (better known as the Computer Center) here at IUP. Sam and the Louttits worked at Westinghouse together in the past.

    Drew Senko (5/89) has changed jobs. He is working for Advanced Network & Services which was bought by America Online and deals with networking technologies including Internet work. He really likes it. Thanks, Drew - I'll be looking forward to the full-blown message for The Debugger. (Oops, this is The Debugger, isn't it?)

    Janie Pike (5/92) has made it back from the Orient. She was on assignment for HRB Systems. Janie and Ron also just got a new car - a Chevy Lumina (I think) I'll see it soon.. I m going up to visit Janie the beginning of September and we're maybe going outlet shopping. I m looking forward to it. I haven't made it up to visit them since they moved to Tyrone.

    But, while Janie was out gallivanting, I did make it up to State College to visit Lisa Dillon (12/93). Lisa is living in a little A-frame dollhouse in Port Matilda. It is really cute, but
    she's moving on September 1 to a log house not far from where she is now. I saw the house when I was up there and I really liked it. Lisa still loves her job at HRB.

    Brian Lawton (5/93) just changed jobs. He's working RDA out of Baltimore with Client/Server kinds of things with databases. It's the same work he was doing with Systems Automation, but now Brian has the best of all worlds - shorter hours, he's working out of his home, and he got a higher salary. Congratulations, Brian!!! Last Thursday, Brian's wife, Mindi, Briana (remember her - she's four now!) and Kevin who will turn one on the 17th came up and we had lunch. Mindi was visiting her parents in Johnstown and baking cakes for a birthday party at Brian's Parents for Briana, Kevin, Brian's dad and his grandmother. I was invited and had a great time. I couldn't believe the presents those two kids got!!

    Mark Carrier (12/94) is no longer doing consulting with FMC . He's now with Tartan Labs. in Pittsburgh and living in a townhouse in the North Hills (by the way, he's working with Mike Bigrigg (5/91). Mark has also taken up flying and got his pilot's license. Congratulations, Mark. Stop in and see us. I know you're from the area.

    Keith Vaughn (5/90) and his wife just moved back to Blairsville from DC (I mentioned earlier that Louise Becker had told me this). Keith is still working for AMS, but they knew he wanted to move back to the area, so they made him an offer he couldn't refuse. They asked him to continue working for them, but they would allow him to work from home. Can't beat that!! I m hoping Keith stops in one of these days to pick up his alumni account.

    I have a message for Dan Becker (8/85) - continue to be an optimist, even though we give you no reason to be.

    Dominick Glavach (12/93) was in touch. It's nice to know how many of you contacted me about seeing us on WWW. I didn't realize how widely read the WWW is. Dominick is in Johnstown with Concurrent Technologies Corporation working as a Unix/Oracle System Administrator. This is his second year. His first year he spent as an Assistant Novell Network Administrator and really enjoyed that, then he did some work with Oracle DBA functions and then moved into the Unix System Administration. Thanks for the update Keep in touch!!

    Ronda Lucas (8/95) was in a bad accident right before she graduated. She was working for the Co-op at the sailing base at Yellow Creek and was on her way home driving a co-op van with three other students. It was raining and a car coming in the opposite direction hydroplaned and crossed the line and hit them. Well, the first report I got said Ronda had been killed. It turned out it was the lady in the other car who was killed. Ronda had the emergency brake pedal embedded in her leg and they cut the brake
    pedal off and took her to the hospital with it in her leg. I expected poor Ronda to be in the hospital for months and need physical therapy, the whole nine yards. She was in the hospital 24 hrs, missed one day of classes and graduated when she should have. She had some sutures and bumps and bruises, but that was all. What a relief!! She had a job waiting for her in Lexington, Kentucky at IBM. All was well that ended well.

    Jeff Michna (12/93)     keeps in touch regularly. Jeff is still with AMS and is still in Mississippi. He is, however, raking in those frequent flyer miles coming home on the weekends, so I expect to soon be getting postcards from Jeff from all over the world. Right, Jeff?

    Jim Barrett (5/80)     just bought a new house in Houston, Texas. Jim just got some information on Greg Hunt (5/82). Greg is working on databases for Data General in the Carolinas. Hope to have more information on Greg for the next issue.

    Alan Dailey (5/89) sent me a teaser on e-mail. I haven't heard any more from him. Hey Alan, are you surprised I remembered you?

    Joe Colello (12/91) has spent the last two years as a Systems Analyst doing Oracle for the good old state of PA. That means our state government should run much more smoothly in the future, right Joe?

    Don Wishard (5/95) was on his way to Florida to start a job after graduation. He stopped off in Atlanta on the way and was grabbed by Sprint. They made him an offer he couldn't refuse and there he stayed. He's doing Visual Basic work for them and loves it. Thanks for calling, Don.

    Eric Hoover (5/95) is writing Cobol programs for Noust Foods in Peach Glen, PA which is between Carlisle and Gettysburg. I heard through the grapevine that Eric will be at Mike Krynicki s (5/95) wedding (or maybe by now, it's was). Mike is with Westinghouse Energy where he did his internship.

    I still haven't gotten any baby pictures from Mike Elder (5/94), but I did get an announcement of Mike's promotion at Prudential. He is now an Assistant Programming Analyst. They said a lot of nice things about Mike, but since I haven't gotten any baby pictures, I don't feel obligated to repeat them. Remind you of something, Mike?

    Harlan Shober (12/93) is now working in the MIS Department of Gooding and Shields Rubber Co. Harlan called with the good news a couple months ago. Congratulations, Harlan, and keep in touch.

    Larry Moon (5/92) has changed jobs. He's still with Corning Glass, but he's working with fiberoptics on a VAX database and he s
    in the factory instead of the corporate offices. Larry said it's a big change, but he thinks he's going to like it.

    Eric Goss (12/93) wrote me about his new job. He's a computer programmer at Crawford Fitting Company in Solon, OH which specializes in fluid control systems. These are tube fittings that can withstand high pressures and are used in space travel, deep sea exploration and nuclear plants. Eric is working in the payroll department and uses a DEC VAX cluster and a payroll system called CYBORG. Thanks for the update, Eric.

    This morning (have you already guessed it takes me about a week to write one of these articles?) I had two e-mail surprises: One from Peggy Mogush (5/87). In the last issue I told you Peggy quit her job at Taylor University and was coming back to PA. Well, Peggy is still alive, but she didn't tell me where she is working. I know she's in Delaware with Mike Gutzat (5/87) and Mary.

    The other person was Sharlene (Clegg) Wattles (5/90) and WOW has she been up to interesting stuff. After graduating, Sharlene went to New Jersey and worked for Bell Communications Research in development on UNIX platforms. She took a year's leave of absence and got her Masters in Computer Science at USC in the summer of 92 and was offered a position at WordPerfect Corp in Orem. Utah, and she went to breath some of that clean mountain air and get into outdoor activities. She started in the VMS Development group working on a future release of WordPerfect, then moved to WordPerfect for Windows development group and worked on the 6.0 release, then moved to Presentations development group and is there now. She's working on a release that is to come out the end of the year designed as a 32-bit application to run on Windows 95 and Windows NT. She loves it! But, meanwhile love intervened and Sharlene married Randy Wattles in December 94 and they are expecting their first baby in November. Randy has been working in Portland Oregon since May and Sharlene is moving there in September. She is going to try something new for a change - being a mother. She is going to take some time off to spend with the baby and maybe later go into consulting or something She might play the stock market, though. I told Sharlene to send me a birth announcement, so I'll let everyone know when the baby comes. Thanks so much Sharlene. It wore me out just reading about your life.

    You noticed, I m sure, that I didn't ask anyone in particular to get in touch since I didn't have a lot of luck with that. I may try it again in the future, so don't relax.

    This week I m on my way to South Carolina. I'll wave to Chris Munson on my way through Charlotte. I m taking my mother to see her latest great grandchild - my nephew and his wife had a baby boy called LJ (for Little John - he's the third John in the family so they're running out of nicknames). Of course, he is related to me, so I m sure he's a gorgeous baby and it will be fun to see him.
    Until next time, keep those cards and letters rolling.


    Netiquette
    Dan Becker (8/85)

    [Editor's Note: In the Spring issue, I wrote an article complaining about IUP students using Electronic Junk Mail and describing my experiences in trying to get some students to remove me from their mailing lists. Dan Becker responded by writing the following "letter to the editor" in which he describes his experiences and views.]

    Philosophically speaking, the anarchical nature of the INTERNET is good. Everyone gets a chance to speak his or her mind with minimal filtering by intermediate parties. However, access should also be considered a privilege, not a right! With the use of that privilege goes responsibility. Access providers, private, public, or commercial, should retain the right to deny access to individuals or organizations which do not conform to the commonly accepted standards of netiquette. In instances where users can be shown to have behaved in an irresponsible manner, access providers should be able to cancel the users privileges.

    This same idea of privilege and responsibility should be applied to IUP users (students, faculty, & administrators). A policy which establishes behavioral norms and access limitation, restriction, or revocation as the outcome of irresponsible use should be established if it hasn't already. Users who feel they have a right to use the computer facilities as an electronic megaphone to leverage their thoughts onto others need to be corrected. As I recall, this was not unheard of in the early 80's.

    The electronic community operates very similar to real geographic ones. Acceptable responsible behavior must be defined and enforced or all behavior must be accepted. I don't relish the thought of an impersonal organization such as the government establishing rules and regulations about what can or can't be done. But on the other hand, computer access and facility providers should be able to layout the bounds of how their resources can be used.

    As to the two incidents mentioned in the Electronic Junk Mail article in the Spring issue of The Debugger. The antagonistic person should probably have his E-Mail access limited to readonly for a duration of time. The person who offered to remove you from the mailing list, if he knew how, needs to be provided that education in order to comply with responsible use of mailing lists.

    Recently I received two pieces of electronic junk mail at my AOL address. I sent responses to the originators and the TOSMail (Terms of Service Mail) administrator. One individual refused to desist and his AOL account was revoked. The other apologized and
    removed me from his mailing list.

    Everyone must remember that information is a commodity. And economies will form around commodities. Just as your US Postal address and phone number are used to present you with unsolicited distractions, so your e-mail address will be sold, traded, and published. The best we can do is try to find ways to filter the irrelevant from the important. If a person really wants to prove his social short comings, there's nothing you or I can do to change him.


    Experience Comes Through Opportunity
    Colleen Brawdy

    Practically every college student is familiar with pulling all nighters; Although, most only do so right before a test. I, on the other hand, did so on a daily basis throughout my college career. I am a non-traditional student who typically worked from three or four in the afternoon until five in the morning as a pizza shop manager. That is, until my internship when I had a chance to work normal daylight hours.

    I was asked quite often why I needed to be there so late when the shop closed at 2:00 am. The answer was simple, but frustrating. After the shop was closed it was time to do paperwork, and the franchise I was working for did all of their paperwork at the store level by hand. While this created a tremendous challenge to make it through each week while attending classes during the day, it was a source of inspiration. I used the managerial and accounting experience I was gaining at work, as well as the programming skills I was learning in school to put together a system proposal and present it to the national franchise. I designed a database using ACCESS 2.0 and a front end with VISUAL BASIC which I then submitted through the owner of my shop. This opportunity did not pan out but I learned a lot. I especially learned that I wanted to see how system analysis and proposals are written in the real world. I figured the best way to gain this experience was by doing an internship. Besides that, after the hours I had been working, how could I turn down a chance to work from 8 - 4:30 Monday through Friday.

    While interning at Allegheny Power Service Corporation I was given the opportunity to not only read other system proposals, but I had a chance to rewrite one of the Plant Accounting systems on my own. This included researching and writing a system analysis, talking with the users, and then implementing that particular system. Throughout this process I learned that communication, both written and verbal, can make or break a system analyst. I feel this was the area in which I was lacking in my pizza shop proposal. During my internship I strengthened my skills in this area a great deal and feel confident that my next opportunity will have better results.

    Each of these opportunities have given me extremely valuable experience which I hope to utilize in the near future. Graduation is right around the corner and that means I will be in the thick of the job hunt. It is my hope that the experience I have gained over the last few years will help in starting a career as a computer professional instead of returning to those long hours in the pizza shop.


    New to the Faculty
    Ralph Grove


    Greetings alumni and students! My name is Ralph Grove and I am the newest faculty member in the IUP Computer Science Department. By way of introduction, I would like to tell you a bit about myself and how I came to be part of the IUP faculty.

    First, the important stuff, all of the personal details you might want to know and more! I am 43 yrs old, 6 ft tall, a Scorpio, single/divorced, with no children and 1 pet, a mid-sized pooch named Andy of uncertain heritage (Andy, not me). My hometown is Jeffersonville, Indiana, which is a suburb of Louisville, Kentucky, the famous home of the Kentucky Derby and the Louisville Slugger. (Interesting side note: Louisville Slugger bats are actually produced in Jeffersonville, Indiana, though the factory is moving back to Louisville soon!) I have a father and two sisters currently living around Louisville, and one sister in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My familial roots go back to Pennsylvania, however, my mother having been born and raised in Windber, PA, which is near Johnstown. I also have roots in California (the state, not the city) which is my father's home. Outside of teaching and study, my passions include hiking and camping, folk music, classical music and opera, and reading. During the school year, you will find me out on the trail at least one weekend out of each month, and I m looking forward to exploring the beautiful landscapes I have seen in the area.

    My academic background includes undergraduate study in Computer Science at Purdue University and graduate degrees from the University of Louisville. Between Purdue and U of L, I spent 15 years working in information systems, which I will come back to. I received my B.S. from Purdue in 1974, which was a wonderful time to be in Computer Science in that it was possible at that time to know practically everything (not that I did!) about the field since it was still so young. Since then computing has grown an incredible amount and now we are all specialists of one sort or another. My masters and doctoral degrees both came from U of L, in 1991 and 1994, respectively. My research interests at U of L included software engineering, parallel and distributed processing, and artificial intelligence. The subject of my doctoral dissertation was distributed diagnostic reasoning, and I won't say any more about that subject other than I will be glad to lend you a copy of my dissertation if you're at all curious.
    In the years which I was not in school, I worked in information systems development for two of Louisville's largest insurance companies, later for U of L as well, and for the local public school district in Clark County, Indiana. At different times I was involved in software development, data communications management, data center management, and programmer training. During most of my career I also taught programming courses part-time at local universities. For the past two years I have been teaching full-time at the U of L College of Business and at Indiana University Southeast (this may be confusing - it's the other Indiana University, not related to IUP!) in Computer Science. It seems ironic that I should go from one Indiana University to another, though the folks at the payroll office tell me that this is not an unusual occurrence.

    I ended up at IUP for several reasons - because I was looking for a permanent position teaching Computer Science, which was not available in Louisville, because IUP has all (except one) of the qualities I was seeking in prospective new schools (the one it doesn't have is proximity to a beach!), and last but not least because I was offered a position here! There are many things about IUP that I found attractive, such as its location, which is in a small community but not far from the amenities of a large city, the fact that the CS program is undergraduate and applications-oriented, which means that I will focus much of my efforts on teaching, and the fact that I do have a family nearby. In addition, when I came to IUP last spring to interview for this position, I felt a lot of good vibes about the campus, about the town, and especially about the good people of IUP and of Indiana in general whom I met here.

    Since coming to Indiana, I've been busy getting settled in my new apartment, finding shops and stores for the necessities of life, exploring parks and trails in the area, getting to know my neighbors, and getting ready for the start of the fall semester. It's beginning to feel like home and, though I miss my friends and family in Louisville, I find myself making new friends every day who are helping to make the transition easier for me.

    I m looking forward to meeting the students in a few weeks, and to meeting the alumni who may come back to visit from time to time. To that end, let me extend an open invitation to you to visit. My office is 332 Stright; my phone number is 357-6102; and my E-mail address is rfgrove@grove.iup.edu . I hope to have a web page available soon as well. Please stop if you're in the area or call if you'd like to meet me or would like to go hiking sometime!


    News From Tompkins' Lab
    Nadine Tatarko

    Hello everyone! My name is Nadine Tatarko. I have replaced Don Rosenberger as the Tompkins Lab Manager. My 'official' title is Technology Systems Manager for the College of Natural Sciences.
    This includes three departments within the College: Computer Science, Mathematics, and Psychology. I will be a shared resource between these groups.

    Since I am new to IUP, I really don't have anything to report about Tompkins' Lab. However, I will use this article as a chance to introduce myself to all of The Debugger readers.

    I am a 1988 Graduate from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. I have a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. After college, I secured a job at a local Computer Company in Ebensburg, PA -- Pandya Computers, Inc. For the past six years I gained much experience at Pandya. I wore many hats there. I performed a variety of tasks: managing the store; selling computer systems; consulting; repair; assembly; Novell Networking; and more. Because I was in a service oriented position, I feel that my people skills will most benefit me in my new role here at IUP.

    I am originally from the Ebensburg, PA area. I grew up on a farm. I am 28 years old; I'll be 29 this November 8th (in case anyone wants to send me a birthday present -- just kidding, ha, ha!) I got married a little over four years ago; June 1, 1991. My husband's name is Tim; he's 30. We do not have any children. We are currently in the process of building a new home in Twin Rocks, PA. Twin Rocks is a small village located approximately 22 miles east of Indiana on U.S. Route 422. It is between the towns of Belsano and Nanty-Glo. From the other direction, it's about 9 miles west of Ebensburg.

    Outside of work I enjoy a variety of activities. Some of these include: walking, swimming, bowling, and most sports. My husband likes to hunt, fish, and watch dirt-track auto racing.

    Well, that's all about me. Now that I think of it, I do have some news to tell you about the Tompkins' Lab. The hardware 'swapping' that Don Rosenberger talked about in his last Debugger article has taken place. Tompkins now has a total of:

    4 Swan 386 Systems
    21 Zenith 386 Systems
    3 Dell 486 Systems

    This makes for a total of 28 work stations for student use! We also have inherited some old faculty 486 units; as they have been upgraded to Pentium systems. Some of these will be incorporated into the Lab, and some will be used to upgrade the Classroom Cart Systems.

    There is also another change that will be coming to Tompkins. We are getting the latest and greatest version of Novell NetWare 4.1. We will be upgrading the current file server with more memory and a bigger hard disk to accommodate the new Network Operating System. This version of NetWare has many, many features which will make Tompkins the only lab of its kind at IUP.
    In closing, I want to say that I am excited about my new position at IUP. I look forward to all the new challenges that I know this assignment will bring!

    [Editor's note: I asked Nadine for a photograph to include her picture in this issue. She didn't have one but gave me a picture of her     new house instead.]


    May Graduation, Plus

    I thought you might like to see a few of the people who were graduating this year in Computer Science, so I took my camera to graduation. This year's graduating class is the smallest we have had in many, many years. As you can see, only eight made it to the departmental ceremony. They are (left row) Brent Cramer, Michael Krynicki, Carl Hostrander, Ronda Lucas, and (right row) Warren Hilton, Ed Moore, Aston Au Yeung, and Eric Hoover.
    Graduates
    The speaker at this year's ceremony was Harold Price, an alumnus from 1978. He gave an amusing and enlightening speech about what real life is like for someone who works in computer science in industry. For those of you who were wondering what Harold looked these days, you can check out his picture.
    Harold

    After the ceremony was over, another alumnus dropped by, Murat Ozturan (12/89). Murat, who says he didn't even attend his own graduation ceremony, was in town for his brother's graduation. He filled us in on his recent activities. He works for Microsoft out of the office in Johannesburg, South Africa. He travels all over Africa training Microsoft customers on various software use. As for what Murat looks like now, see the picture.
    Murat

    Finally, I have included a picture of the Jan-July '95 interns. The picture is from this summer's internship presentations. Shown are (left to right) Matt Yonkoske, Colleen Brawdy, Jason Livingston, Lynn Styers, Derek Ochs, and Lance Tost.
    Interns
    Oh yeah, here is a picture of one of our regular contributors as well.
    Carol
    CENTURY CLUB

    You can become a member of the IUP Computer Science Department's Century Club. Membership in the Century Club is obtained by pledging at least $100 through the Foundation for IUP for the Computer Science Department. Century Club members will receive a gift (tee shirt, mug, glass, etc.) for their membership each year.

    If the department could get just 100 of our over 1200 graduates to participate in this way, we would receive at least $10,000 each year (probably substantially more since most companies give matching gifts and some match 2, 3, or 4 to 1). A pledge of $100 is less than $10 per mon th.

    Please consider this opportunity. To join cut off the form in the column at the left, complete it, and commit yourself to giving $100 for 1995 (or 1996).


    Computer Science Department Faculty
    319 Stright Hall

    Dr. Gary Buterbaugh, chair    Stright 321    357-2524  GLBUTER
    
Dr. John Cross                Stright 338    357-4478  JACROSS
    
Mr. Thomas Cunningham         Stright 335    357-2463  TPC   
    
Dr. Ralph Grove               Stright 332    357-6102  RFGROVE
    
Dr. Mary Micco                Stright 332    357-2637  MICCO
    
Dr. Katherine McKelvey        Stright 305    357-7994  MCKELVEY
    
Dr. William Oblitey           Stright 339    357-4491  OBLITEY
    
Ms. Therese O'Neil            Stright 332    357-2524  TONEIL
    
Dr. Charles Shubra            Stright 334    357-7917  CJSHUBRA
    
Dr. John Sweeney              Stright 306    357-7995   JJS   
    
Ms. Tia Watts                 Stright 305    357-4492  TIAWATTS
    
Mr. James Wolfe               Stright 318    357-6104  JLWOLFE
    
Ms. Carol Miller              Stright 319    357-2524  CAMILLER
    

    
FAX                                (412) 357-2724
    

    
Tompkins' Computer Lab        Stright 107    357-6105
    
Nadine Tatarko, Manager       Stright 107    357-6100
    

    
E-mail usernames above are  @grove.iup.edu