The Debugger           Summer 1999

Table of Contents

Editor's Notes
From The Chair - Gary Buterbaugh
Carol's Corner - Carol Miller
News From Tompkins Lab - Jim Wolfe
First Graduate - Gail (Evanina) Ireland
@pgh.cafe at IUP Mark Anthony
Curriculum Perspective - John Cross
May Graduates
Computer Science faculty

EDITOR'S NOTES

This issue barely mentions or describes only briefly several events that will soon have a large impact on Computer Science at IUP. One is the hiring of two new professors in the department. Andrew Yang and Sanwar Ali will be joining us in the fall. I hope to have each of them contribute an article to The Debugger over the next year so that you can learn about them. The second is the departure of Nadine Tatarko, our lab manager, shortly after Jim McGhee, the College hardware specialist, changed to another job in the University. This leaves most technical support in a state of limbo until replacements are hired. The third is the rearrangement of space in Stright Hall. The restructuring of the Tompkins lab, the establishment of two Math labs, and the creation of office space will all be good things to come out of the Stright change; but during the reconstruction there will be chaos. There should be a lot to report on during this next year.

There are two unique contributions to this issue. The very first graduate, Gail (Evanina) Ireland, with an IUP Computer Science degree (back in 1974) sent us an article and her graduation picture; both are included. 1974 was the first year Computer Science degrees were possible at IUP and was two years before any students went through a full four-year program in Computer Science here. The second unusual contribution comes from Mark Anthony in Career Services and advertises an unusual job fair that will be happening at IUP in September.

Naturally, there are contributions from some of the usual suspects. Carol updates everyone on the alumni happenings. Gary Buterbaugh, who was elected as chair, provides the chairman's perspective. John Cross provides his point of view on several curriculum issues. And there is a lame explanation about the photograph of the May graduates which you may have been expecting to see.


Jim Wolfe


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From The Chair
Gary Buterbaugh

This is my fourth time to become the chair of the Computer Science Department. Being Chair of an academic department in a university like IUP is not an easy task. You are confronted with many difficult problems and are given almost no authority nor resources to solve the problems. Nevertheless, it is a job, which needs to be done, and I enjoy the organizational and administrative aspects of the job. (By the way, the extra financial reward for being chair of a department the size of our is an additional $800 per year!)

Over the years, as I have talked with alumni, parents, recruiters, intern supervisors and company representatives, it is clear that the Computer Science Department at IUP is doing something right. As we have just celebrated our 25th anniversary, I want to reflect on those resources in the Computer Science Department that have made it the outstanding academic department it is.

The first asset is our Curriculum. When Dr. Howard Tompkins founded the department, he had great wisdom in developing a curriculum that gives students a broad, applications-oriented foundation on which to build. Most of our graduates are using little of what we taught them in the classroom within a few short years of their graduation. However, they are forced to use the greatest thing we have taught them, the ability to learn on your own once you understand the fundamentals of our disciple. Many people today learn a lot about computers and computing, but the computer professional must have a grasp on exactly what needs to be learned in a given situation and how to best learn it. Our curriculum does a great job in preparing computer professionals. Our basic applied curriculum, which has been in existence for well over twenty years, compares well to many recently developed Information Systems programs at other colleges and universities.

The second asset is our faculty. We have been fortunate to have, over the years, a group of faculty, who almost without exception, are deeply committed to teaching and diverse in their knowledge of computer science. Most of our faculty have had industrial or business experience and represent a wide range of subject interests within our discipline. As I talk with students in other departments I am amazed at the extent to which the Computer Science faculty advise students and take an interest in their futures and careers. Keeping up in our field for the normal profession is difficult and challenging, for a computer science faculty member it is almost impossible. Our faculty are consistently stretched to the limit, but manage to keep up. We all do tend to be a bit on the independent sid; but that is true of most faculty and, for the most part, we respect and get along with each other pretty well.

When talking about assets to our department, how could you not talk about our secretary, Carol Miller! She has been our secretary for seventeen years and in many ways is the glue that holds the department together. Her friendly, always-in-a-good-mood attitude makes students feel welcomed and helps us maintain excellent contact with our alumni. Her contact with families, other university offices, and employers and recruiters has helped give us the good reputation we have. Her's is not an easy job. She is the secretary for a chair and ten full time faculty plus several part time faculty and in her secretarial role really serves as an administrative executive unfortunately her pay doesn't reflect that.

Another real asset for the Computer Science is the university we are a part of. IUP is an outstanding undergraduate university. Our students are privileged, for the most part, to have professors (not graduate students) in their non-major courses who are concerned for the academic success of students and do an excellent job in providing the non-Computer Science component of their education. IUP enjoys an excellent reputation not only in western Pennsylvania, but also throughout the Northeast and across the county, indeed, in some instances around the world. Our location in the small town of Indiana, big enough to have some shopping, close to Pittsburgh but sort of out in the boonies, and because of IUP has a lot happening, makes it a great place to provide a quality educational experience.

You will notice that I have left a few things off, because they are not assets. Our equipment, both hardware and software, is, at best, adequate. At the university level both hardware and software are much better than what we are given at the department level. This points out another area that prevents us from being all that we could be a real lack of administrative support and even basic understanding. I see these as challenges to be worked on and not defeats which we must put up with.

We are hoping that many of our alumni will join us for our special Homecoming breakfast on Saturday, October 9. All alumni will be getting a special mailing on this and new ways to give to the Computer Science Department.



Back to the Contents
Carol's Corner
Carol Miller

Hi Everyone -

I hope you're having a great summer. You'll have to write and tell me what you did on your summer vacation and, I can tell the world! The weather here in Indiana has been hot and dry, not to mention that the air conditioning is off in Stright (not a surprise). "They" are now telling us it will be back on by the middle of August; but I won't hold my breath. First, it was the beginning of July, then the middle of July, then the end of July At least it's a great excuse for wearing shorts to work! I just feel sorry for those poor souls taking classes in the middle of Stright Hall.

The CompSci Department is making strides. We just hired two new faculty members, Sanwar Ali and Andrew Yang. They will be arriving on campus for the start of Fall semester. Plus, both Mary Micco and Ralph Grove are back. Of course, they missed us terribly - just like you do after you graduate and leave us!

But, here's what you're more interested in - the news from you. Thanks to all of you who wrote, called, or stopped in!

Mike Elder (5/94) changed jobs. He's now working for a company called EFG Technologies. They do Student Loan Servicing. Mike's creating a web application to do the Entrance/Exit Exam. They're located in Winston-Salem close to where he was before. He enjoys the work and it came with a nice healthy increase. On the personal side, Monica and Alexis have been enjoying playing on their new swing set. Lori is still working at Integon and doing well. Mike's also in the process of updating his web site to include new pictures of the girls and says he will let me know when it's out there. Mike probably doesn't know this, but I got e-mail from Alexis. She gave me the website where I could look at her portraits from JCPenney. They're really cute, and I'd give you the address but they were only going to be there for a short period of time; so, instead, I'll let you know when Mike updates his web site cause I'm sure you'll want to check it out. Thanks for the info, Mike. I'll be watching for your e-mail.

Justin Streiner (5/97) has been very good to keep in touch. He's dropped in a couple times (including graduation) since the last edition and sends e-mail on a regular basis. And, I understand that he's been in Indiana several other times, but always at times when he had to rush back to Pittsburgh or he was up over the weekend socializing with the locals. He's been *very* busy at work because Stargate has been expanding rapidly. When Justin started (May, 1997), he was one of about 20 people, now they're close to 100 and still expanding. Originally he started as a systems administrator, building and running various versions of SPARC and UltraSPARC workstations and servers. Now, he's moved mostly into network engineering where he's largely responsible for designing, building and managing a network of about 100 customer and internal routers, switches and other network devices. Plus, he spends lots of time on the road installing or upgrading dedicated circuits at customer sites and various points of presence (POPs) across western Pennsylvania and the northern panhandle of West Virginia. He's also heavily involved in systems and network security matters, as well as in implementing a new network management system. Plus their service offerings are expanding quickly as well. They recently started offering high-speed ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) service to residential customers in certain areas, which can allow for much higher speed Internet access than is possible with analog modems or ISDN service. As the local phone companies roll out ADSL service to more and more locations, they will automatically cover them. For a more in-depth explanation of what ADSL and SDSL services offer, and how they work, check out www.stargate.net/services/adsl/. Stargate is going to be expanding even more, so if anyone is interested, or looking to move into those fields, drop Justin a line or send in a resume to Stargate Industries, LLC Suite 300, The Crane Building, 24th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 or email: streiner@stargate.net. Justin says they can always use more good operations people. Unfortunately, Justin's work schedule is such that he probably won't be able to vacation in Europe this summer like he wanted to, but he hopes to go to Puerto Vallerta instead. And, worst of all, he has to work New Year's Eve - sounds like he may be troubleshooting. Thanks for the info, Justin, always nice to hear from you.

Tony Steve (5/85) sent me e-mail. He's been back in PA for two years now, and planned to make a trip up to see us, but because he hasn't made it yet, he said it was about time he wrote. And, of course, I agree. Tony is now working for Mylan Pharmaceuticals in Morgantown, WV. He likes his job but says it isn't exactly what he would like to be doing for the rest of his life. The good thing about it is he was able to move back to the area (about 2 miles from his parents) which he really wanted to do so he can stop in at his parents when they need a hand. The system they are using at Mylan is DEC VAX / Alpha Open VMS, Windows NT, Novell, Oracle 7.3.4, Promix/Gembase (development environment that sits on top of Oracle), CorVision (COBOL-like semi-4GL that runs on VMS, using standard RMS indexed files), Seagate Info (aka Crystal Reports), Renaissance/CS from Ross Systems. Thanks for the info, Tony, please stop up and see us if you get a chance.

Zack Howe (12/96) was also up for graduation and it's always nice to see you, Zack. He also got a new toy and gave me the web site to take a look at it. And, of course, I'm including it here so everyone can take a look at it! http://members.tripod.com/zhowe/Ninja/index.htm. Great seeing you Zack! I thought you'd make it up for my birthday again this year (I was 39 - again)?

Todd Collins (5/98) was at graduation, too. He was there with Michelle Perry who is graduating in August. I wanted to talk with him a little more and see how everything is going, but I didn't get the opportunity - it was just a little too busy. Todd, you'll have to send me e-mail.

We've also added another of our own to IUP. Mary Singer (5/99) is now working for the Technical Service Center (formerly the Computer Center) downstairs. She is also awaiting the arrival of a wee person come September. They know it's a boy, and I think Mary told me they're naming him Daniel. I'll let you know in the next edition - by then I can tell you more about him.

And, guess what Pamm Gindlesperger (12/94) is doing???? She's making baby afghans!! Relax, they're not for her. Her friend Dawn is having twins, and she's making one for friends of her's and Andy's who are expecting. Then she plans on making one for Vickie Pearce (12/94). But, relax again, it's a REGULAR afghan for her birthday...(NO BABIES FOR HER YET!!!) Hope I didn't spoil the surprise. Pamm has also heard from Eric Hohman (12/93) who was in Pittsburgh. I haven't heard from Eric, but Pamm says he's looking like the same old Eric. She also got an e-mail from Ken Lowe (12/94) on March 19th and he seems to be doing quite well. He is in Lancaster where he's working for R. R. Donnelley (where he is able to use both his computer and his German skills) and has just bought a condo. Pamm was also asking if I had heard from Dewey, Mikey, or Bo. Well, Mike is the only one I've heard from.

Bonnie (Krensavage) Smith (5/88) and her husband, Steve, have moved to Stamford Connecticut. Bonnie has accepted a new job as a consultant with McKinsey in Stamford. Steve is telecommuting with his current firm, VAI Automation. They moved from the Midwest and hope eventually to head south to the Carolina's. Let us know how things go for you, Bonnie!

Dave Hritz (12/98) sent me mail from Guantanemo Bay one day. It was during the time they were considering sending the refugees from Kosovo. I think they changed their minds when they found out Dave was there. (Just kidding, Dave.) But, what a surprise! He was down there on assignment with Raytheon. I also heard from him by phone one day. He's planning on starting graduate school at Penn State. Stay in touch, Dave!

Also had e-mail from Becky Salter (12/94). There is nothing new in her life - this is almost a direct quote. She's working in the same place but is still looking for something more to her liking.

Amy (Slowik) Grossman (5/99) let me know she's getting settled in at IBM and, so far, really likes it. Sometimes she works near Mike Everett (12/97) who has been great at helping her learn about the company. She's officially working in Java Performance Testing for the S/390. Amy said IBM has been really patient and supportive towards the new hires. Her husband, Jonathon, has also found a job as an MRI Technologist at St. Francis Medical Center in Poughkeepsie. She said there are a bunch of new positions in the New York area posted on IBM's main page at www.ibm.com if anyone is interested. Amy also is open to questions from anyone who may be interested (agross@us.ibm.com). Amy also got a new car, a Honda Civic SI!! Have fun with it, Amy!

And, from Jane (Cunningham) Harnagy (5/87) - first, job information to share with anyone interested - Raytheon's Job Listing Web Site is www.rayjobs.com. So, take a look!. She says Raytheon is doing some pretty cool technical stuff and if you're interested, you can send resumes to her at Jane C. Harnagy, jcharnagy@hti.com or Raytheon, Suite 200, 1650 Research Drive, Troy, Michigan 48083 or Fx: 248-619-8414. (Or you can send them to me or Jane's dad here at IUP, and we'll forward them.)

Secondly, I think Jane has figured out who the little bird is who told me about the baby. I don't know how. Her due date is rapidly approaching. Jane said they are going to be gender surprised, so "it" has had a variety of names. I won't name them here, but let me just say, I hope none of them stick; and, needless to say, we will be looking forward to hearing what the real name is. I didn't get to see the "first pictures", but I understand they were available. Meanwhile, Jane says work is work. She's still doing training type stuff, and still sticking close to 'technology' as the topic. She's not doing as much PC training anymore and the last two endeavors have been with GM, one on a training plan for a plant in Flint, MI getting all new tools (which meant a training plan for about 3000 people from assembly line & skilled trades through salary personnel). Raytheon recently got a contract with GM to manage all their dealer repair technician training and Jane thinks she'll be working on that. She's hoping it will get more into training using the Web and IDL (Interactive Distance Learning) platforms. And, they had just gotten back from a GREAT Florida vacation, so were all rested and refreshed and getting in parent mode with the beginning of prenatal classes. So, it won't be long now and I'm sure I'll hear immediately after delivery and I'll certainly let you know!

John Satterfield (5/99) is at Ft. Benning GA for about a year for training. He will be in the infantry for two years and then will be going to the signal corp (his first choice). Since he knew he was going on active duty and will have three years with the army, he didn't do job hunting in the computer field, but will decide afterward if he wants to job hunt or get back into the National Guard.

I heard from Kris Seigworth (12/97) who is still with IBM in Poughkeepsie . She has seen Ross Cooper (12/98) who is working in IBM Poughkeepsie for RACF Development. On the work side, everything is going well. She's working for RSM Development. RSM is the Real Storage Manager for OS/390. IBM's architecture is going from 32-bits to 64 bits for real storage and modifying RSM to handle 64 bit addresses. They've finished the first two stages and the new hires are doing most of the development for stage 3 and Kris is the "oldest" new hire! On the down side for Kris, she was in an accident in the Spring and did about $1000 worth of damage to her car. But, on the personal side, everything is going well. Kris got a cat and her name is Jim (she said "Don't ask") She's black and a bit cross-eyed. (This makes her sound not too attractive, but Kris sent me her picture and she's a very beautiful cat.) She's a second-hand cat from someone who couldn't keep her anymore. Kris is also moving in October. She and a girlfriend, who also has a cat, are going to share an apartment. Kris said her friend's cat is a used cat too, so this could get ugly. You'll have to let me know how it goes, Kris!

Tom Shaeffer (12/90) has a new baby boy. His name is Ryan and he was born on April 29, 1999. He weighed 8 lbs. and 1 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. His picture is at www/1ha.org/ 1gh_baby/042999_ryan.htm for anyone who would like to see his newborn picture. Hopefully Tom will send us some more as time goes by (hint, hint).

Donna (Reed) Rosenberger (12/81) brought Danielle in to visit one day in the spring. Danielle was a year old in December and she is just adorable. Donna has been teaching at Duquesne for the past year or so and is getting a bit tired of the commute. She's considering moving closer to the Pittsburgh area. Let me know how things go, Donna.

Kim Crispin (5/83) stopped in one day. I recognized her face, but I couldn't put a name to her. She was on her way through Indiana with her parents to go camping in the northern part of Pennsylvania (no place could be nicer for camping). She has been a busy lady since she graduated. Let me tell you about it: After graduation she worked for the Census Bureau for two years, then worked for Mead Data Central (Lexus-Nexus now) for four years where she built an international database; then went to Boeing for 8 years where she wrote support systems for space stations, all in DC. While in DC, she got her masters in Computer Science at Johns Hopkins in 1989. Then she went to Mellon in Pittsburgh for a year working on the ATM system; then back to Boeing in DC for a year; then back to Pittsburgh for Lender Service (doing titles, appraisals and closings) for 2 years; then to Computer People (now Rapidigm). With Computer People, she was a consultant at Alcoa for 2 1/2 years; then traveled for 1 1/2 years (Massachusetts for 9 months and Detroit for the beginning of 1999). She has been working with OPAL (mainly with the computer associated products). While she was in Mass, she visited quite often with the Tompkins and spent Dr. T's birthday with him this year. It was really nice to see you Kim. Please stop again (but don't wait 15 years).

If you remember, in the last issue I made reference to Willie Lewis' (5/84) mail coming back and wondered if he was on the lam. Well, Willie sent me e-mail, and he is alive and well and living openly in Bellvue, Washington and has no idea why my mail was returned He said the sheriff isn't after him; so, the cyber-postman, apparently, is out to get him But, I did get an update: Willie's working for Compaq in Seattle, but is very close to Microsoft (Willie's words were "disturbingly close". He went there to work for DEC, and DEC was bought by Compaq. He's been out there about two years. Weatherwise, they get their fair share of rain in the winter; but the summers are almost perfect. There are lakes and mountains everywhere you look and it doesn't get too hot, there are no mosquitos, and the air looks so clean. Other than the rain, it sounds ideal, Willie. And, do keep me updated every now and then!

Willie also brought me up to date on Dave Wagner (12/84). Dave and his family are out there, too -- no big surprise there to those of us who know Dave and Willie. They're all doing well. Victoria (8) and Thomas (5) are both in school now.

I don't know how many of you remember Mark Lasich who was the Tompkins Lab manager many years ago and who is now working at Alcoa in Pittsburgh, but I had e-mail from him one day to tell me what a small world it is. He said he knows a former student of the Computer Science Department, Wendy Godin. He has known her for a while but didn't know the connection until she saw his name in The Debugger and they talked a bit about IUP. Mark wrote to tell me that old students don't fade away - they just start taking TaeKwonDo in Murrysville!

Baby news for Mike Gutzat (5/87). Last time I told you the baby was due in the summer which I thought it was, but Zachary arrived at 7:50pm on May 17th. He weighed in at 8 lbs 15 oz and was 21.5 inches long. Both he and mom (and dad) are doing great. Ryan and Rachel are extremely excited about having a baby brother. Mike sent me a picture of Zachary right after he was born. He is really cute!!

I also heard from the Lawtons. They are doing very well! Brian (5/93) is working for RDA Consultants Limited, which is based in Timonium, Maryland, but they have offices in Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas. RDA consults to many of the area's top businesses including HelixHealth, SallieMae (the student loan people), and NASDAQ. He really loves his work. He also does speaking engagements at various Microsoft events on the topic of SQL Server 7.0. He and the owner/president of RDA also write a column in the nationally distributed SQL Server Magazine. (from the makers of Windows NT magazine.) Whoa, Brian, you are VERY busy. Briana is finishing the second grade at Woodmont Academy, a private, Roman Catholic school located about 5 minutes from home. She loves school and just doing great. She participates in lacrosse, soccer and gymnastics. She belongs to Columbia Gymnastics and will be in the intermediate level in the fall. Kevin will turn 5 in August and will be starting Kindergarten. He's a real sports fanatic. Mindi says he can literally watch a sport, and then play it. His favorite is basketball. Mindi has been quite busy also. She was teaching at Jazzercise for a while, but she eventually had to quit when they had her teaching up to 15 classes a week. It was too difficult with a family to try and keep up the pace. Mindi also does a good bit of volunteer work for Briana's school including working of the Spring Gala, which is a dinner/dance/auction for the school. And, she directed their first Spring Musical composed of a group of 3rd-8th graders. The Lawton's also bought their first house this year. In fact they closed on December 30th and spent New Year's Day moving. It's a brand new four bedroom, three and a half bath end unit brownstone which they love and so do the kids. The fourth bedroom is Brian's office; and (hard to believe!) he has his multiple computers there. Their house is on a golf course, so there is a lot of open space. Plus, the development is in the process of building a clubhouse/swimming pool/tennis court area. WOW, there have been a kajillion changes in your life since I last talked to you! Now, I know why I haven't heard from you for so long.

Kwee-Cheng Lim (5/84) sent e-mail from Singapore. He has been working for one of the largest IT company in Singapore, Singapore Computer Systems (www.scs.com.sg) for the last 13 years. He is currently heading a Group of Systems Engineers for RDBMS, Host-terminal, Client-Server and Web Application Development Tools like PowerHouse from Cognos, PowerBuilder from Sybase, SilverStream and Database/Application monitoring and testing tools. He is married with one son, age 7, and one daughter, age 5. Thanks Kwee-Cheng! Please keep in touch.

Melanie Stewart (5/96) and Frank Ackerson were married on June 26. I was invited to the wedding, but I was on vacation that week and wasn't able to make it. I'm sure it was a beautiful wedding, and, if I'm not mistaken, it was a Gone With the Wind theme. I'll have to see pictures, Melanie! I was able to make it to Melanie's bridal shower. She got a ton of beautiful gifts. They will be living near Marion Center in a house on the farm Frank's parents own (I think I got that right, didn't I, Melanie?) Melanie is working for Gorell here in Indiana.

Janie (Pike) Kustaborder (5/92) and Ron have moved into their new house in Port Matilda. They really like it but have a lot of work to do and have been busy. They turned the basement into a game room (literally), with hopscotch, shuffleboard, tic tac toe and basketball boards painted on the floor and numbers and shapes on the walls. Amber likes her house and loves being outside. The best part for Janie is it wears her out so she is very willing to go to bed at night. The bad news about the move is that Doofus (the rabbit) didn't take the move very well. He had a stroke and died and Amber was missing him desperately for a bit. I think she'll be happy when the baby gets here, but, unfortunately, she thinks it's going to be a truck. Janie has been traveling for Raytheon quite a bit - once a week to DC recently. They're working on setting her up to do teleconferencing from home while she's on maternity leave since there are some projects that she needs to stay on top of. And, she didn't get her thesis finished in time for the April deadline for May graduation (wonder why!) So, now, she's shooting for completion by July with graduation in August, but her advisor has been out of town. But, there has been other very good news on Janie's education; she has had two papers accepted at conferences, one of them being in Portugal, but it's around her delivery date and she can't go. Her advisor is going to go and present it for her. Janie also invited me to a candle party, but it was on a week night, and the trip is just a little too long when I have to be at work the next day.

Lisa Dillon (12/93) booked a party from Janie; and I thought I might get invited to it but I wasn't. I wanted to order some candles, too. Are you feeling guilty yet, Lisa? I hope to hear from you soon! Lisa is busy getting ready for her wedding in December.

If I didn't make Lisa feel guilty, I at least succeeded in making Scott McClements (8/98) feel guilty. He read what I said about him in the last issue and did precisely what he should have - sent me e-mail. Scott started at IBM on March 29. Mike Everett called him and asked for his resume and that was pretty much how he got hired. Scott's had been in classes and hadn't really started working yet at the time I heard from him, but he'll be working on Component Broker development. He hadn't seen Mike yet but ran into Kris Seigworth and Ross Cooper and hangs out with Chad Gatesman (5/98) on a regular basis. But, I don't feel so bad about not hearing from Scott after I found out what he did to his girlfriend (or should I say "former" girlfriend), but I won't go into that. All I'll say, Scott, is that she should have been helping.

Heard from Mark Kramer, aka "Rocky"(5/88), another of those who waited awhile to get in touch. A lot has happened to Mark since graduation. First of all, he's now an insurance customer service representative in an Erie insurance agency, Bay Area Insurance Services, Inc. The agency has been around for 50 years, and used to be called Shreve Rinehart. Mark started in the insurance business working at a different agency doing all the work on their computers. Then he got his insurance license, and is now a Certified Insurance Service Representative. He got married in June, 1992 to Kristin Cobucci, an EUP graduate in Secondary Ed-Biology. When she couldn't find a job in teaching, she went back to school and is now a Medical Technologist at St. Vincent's Health Center in Erie. They bought a house in Mark's home town of Girard, PA in 1997, and just had their first child, a daughter, Kathryn (Katie) on September 11, 1998. (You'll have to drive down one day and introduce us!) Mark said she is growing like a weed. He attached a picture of Katie, too, and she is a gorgeous little girl! Thanks for getting in touch, Mark!

Peggy Mogush (5/87) sent me information about jobs down her way. She said she would give me the lowdown on the rest of her life later, so we will look forward to that. But here goes the job information (and I think I'll just quote her): " .. the consulting firm I'm working for has LOTS of opportunities. We just had our semi-annual company meeting last week and there is a lot of stuff going on. The thing that kind of got my attention is we have been trying to get into project work, and we're finally making it happen. We've got a project going with SMS for development of healthcare management software. So, we are looking for people with SMS experience without actually WORKING for SMS. We are looking for folks with some experience, not current or upcoming grads...but, since I know you are the Center of The IUP Comp Sci Universe Past and Present :-), if you know anyone, here is the info! (I know, it wasn't really necessary to leave that sentence in, but I couldn't help myself.) The opportunities are all out this way, in the Philly or Wilmington DE areas. Our web page is at PSCI.COM. The jobs we currently have available are at psci.com/careers/car_set.htm. There are a lot of other current opportunities besides the healthcare systems projects." So, there you have it guys. If you are interested and want to send in a resume, mention Peggy's name. That's P-E-G-G-Y M-O-G-U-S-H. Peggy is VERY happy there. She says she can honestly say, it is one contracting firm that is not a body shop and they're really growing. Peggy was employee #26 three years ago and now they have 120 and made the INC 500 list of fastest growing privately held companies this year. Peggy says she was afraid that the growth might change them, but it hasn't and she attributes that to their president. Hey Peggy, I was going to put everything in there cause I figured if you showed it to the President, you'd probably not only get a raise plus a promotion; but, in the interest of space, I amended it. Please be sure to send me an update on the rest of your life when you get a chance!

Julie (Paserba) (12/87) and Roy (8/88) Lampe dropped by one day on their way back from visiting their family. They had the girls, Kayla and Jill, with them. Those girls are so darned cute I think we could have just kept them if their parents hadn't protested so much. All is well with them, and Julie and Roy are looking good - you'd never believe they are an old married couple with kids!! I hope you stop again when you're in the neighborhood!!! It's always nice to see you.

Gail (Evanina) Ireland (5/74) was here visiting one day and stopped to see us all. Gail was the first graduate of the IUP computer science Department. (No, she's not THAT old.) She graduated with Randy Hauptman and Rick Werron. She is living Fort Lauderdale. She and husband are consultants working with NT doing Point of Base with stores. They also sell antiques on EBAY.Com.
[Ed. Note: See Gail's article in this issue.]

Dennis Depp (5/85) called one day. It was so nice to hear from him. Dennis was a double major in math and computer science and got his master's in math shortly after graduation. He's down in Oakridge TN (my note where I wrote all this down also got a lot of other things written on it, so Dennis if I screw this up, let me know) working for Lockheed TAIC on Microsoft exchange servers. Three to four years prior to that he worked in the lab and weapons plant where he met his wife who is now a librarian in the National Lab. They've been married nine years and have a son, Garrett, age 5, and Denny has 2 stepchildren, ages 17 and 13. Again, Denny, if I got that wrong, please let me know. And, please drop us a line or call once in a while.

Just before The Debugger deadline, Jennifer (Toward) Livingston sent e-mail telling us that she and Jason (12/95) were about to become parents. Jen says the baby is due on August 15 but expects it to be a little later. She says Jason is preparing a Web page for the baby pictures.

And, so, once again, all good things must come to an end. Please keep your calls, e-mail and visits coming! See you next time.


                   We Want To See You!
(and give you the opportunity to see us and your fellow alumni)

                      Join Us For
                                
                      A Homecoming 
                    Alumni Breakfast

                Saturday, October 9, 1999
                Third Floor Stright Hall
                 8:30 am until 11:00 am
                     It's free !!!
  
               You must make a reservation 
                 by Wednesday, October 6
  
             Call Carol at 724 357-2524   Or

           E-mail her at camiller@grove.iup.edu



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News From Tompkins Lab
Jim Wolfe

You might have noticed that Nadine Tatarko is not writing this update. She has decided to move on to a higher-paying (and probably less-stressful) job in Johnstown. Nadine will be missed; she performed a lot of tasks very well, not only for the department but for the entire college. She was also willing to write these updates on the activity in Tompkins Lab three times a year - I hope to get her replacement to continue that.

At the moment, Tompkins Lab is on the verge of complete disruption. As part of a reorganization of space within Stright, the Tompkins Lab will be moved to another area on the first floor and completely rearranged. Nadine described some of the expected changes in the Spring issue.

We had expected that the Lab would be disrupted during the Summer sessions; however, a delay in the bidding process has pushed the entire schedule back. Current talk is that the renovations will take place during the Fall semester. If that happens, Tompkins Lab will not function at all during the Fall and will become operational again for the Spring 2000 semester.

This is all part of a larger restructuring in Stright in which the auditorium will be made into two labs for the Mathematics department (and their classroom lab in room 320 will be given to Computer Science as a classroom); the Graduate School will be expanded to take over much of the current space Tompkins occupies; and a few faculty offices for Computer Science will be carved out of the faculty lounge space on the third floor. Everyone is concerned about the timing of these changes, especially in light of the repeated delays in fixing the air conditioning - something that should have been a simpler task (see Carol's Corner).

The College is about to begin searching for a replacement for Nadine - someone to take over management of Tompkins Lab and the other labs in Stright and to handle NT network management and other PC-related software tasks. The College is also searching for another technical person who can handle some hardware repair and some software installation and configuration tasks. If you are interested, contact the Dean's office or Carol (she will find out exactly who the appropriate person is).


                   We Want To See You!
(and give you the opportunity to see us and your fellow alumni)

                      Join Us For
                                
                      A Homecoming 
                    Alumni Breakfast

                Saturday, October 9, 1999
                Third Floor Stright Hall
                 8:30 am until 11:00 am
                     It's free !!!
  
               You must make a reservation 
                 by Wednesday, October 6
  
             Call Carol at 724 357-2524   Or

           E-mail her at camiller@grove.iup.edu



Back to the Contents
First Graduate
Gail (Evanina) Ireland

Let me quickly introduce myself. Twenty-five years ago, I was the first person to graduate from IUP with a Computer Science degree. Getting that degree was quite an experience. As you may or may not know Computer Science was not offered as a major until the spring of 1974.

My first position after graduation was with Xerox in Chicago. In case you re wondering why I went to work for a copier company - at that time Xerox sold computers used in real-time environments. The job was field software support for the Chicago area. Here I was 21 years old going to tell people what their problems were! But it was quite an experience. My education really made a difference in being able to do it. I flew on my first plane when I went to Los Angeles for training. My job included installing the operating systems and Xerox applications and helping diagnose operating system and Xerox application problems. Back in those days, installing an OS was a long drawn out process. There was no plug and play! You had to define your hardware and configuration and go through a process called a SYSGEN. If you got one thing wrong, you had to start all over. My customers included businesses such as FermiLab, which used the computers to control a cyclotron, and Bucyrus Erie, which makes heavy construction equipment. After a while unfortunately, Xerox decided they were a copier company after all and put the computer business up for sale.

I found another position doing field support for a company called ModComp. This time my territory was the entire Midwest. I got to go places like Detroit, Minneapolis, and Clay Center, Nebraska. But the nice part was that their home office was in Ft. Lauderdale. The systems were used in steel mills, tank factories, and train hump yards (that s where cars get decoupled automatically) just to name a few. It was interesting to be able to visit these various operations. By this time, I was traveling quite a bit and seeing a lot of the Midwest.

After a couple of years I left ModComp to work for Honeywell. My territory started as the Midwest but soon I was traveling throughout the entire country trouble shooting software problems. I got to see places like Nashville where I stayed at Opryland, New Orleans, Phoenix, and Tampa Bay in the winter. There were also some not so nice places thrown in. The home office was in Boston so I got to see quite a bit of New England. I stayed with Honeywell for 4 years, and then it was time for a change.

I got married and we decided that Chicago was way to cold. The last winter we were there, there were snow banks 11 feet high! Enough was enough, so we moved to Ft. Lauderdale. I got a job doing maintenance programming for Racal-Milgo. The products I worked on were terminal emulators. There was an EPROM that contained the emulation program. The code was 8085 assembler. We had 64K of program space! It was a constant battle to make sure you didn t overflow the memory. I got to do programming at the chip level; and also this involved a lot of communications programming such as IBM Bisync. I worked with these products for about 4 years.

After that, I decided to become an independent contractor which is what I m currently doing. When I started I was working with DOS. Through the years I ve progressed to UNIX and Windows. I m now programming in Visual C++. The latest thing I ve done has been to design and develop a Sales Audit package under Windows NT. This involved gathering data from Point of Sale devices (cash registers), parsing the data for out of bounds errors, storing it into a relational database, and accessing and displaying the stored data to a user.

It s been a fun 25 years. I know it wouldn t have been nearly as good without my degree. I ve worked at interesting jobs and seen a large portion of the country I d never have seen otherwise. So thanks Dr. Buterbaugh and the other professors who gave me the chance to get the jobs I did.

[Ed Note: See Gail's graduation picture on the next page. Many of you should recognize the presenter of the diploma, even though the quality of the image is poor - all they had were daguerreotypes back in '74. Actually, we tried to improve the picture but without success. At least the picture on the Web page is in color and a little better to view.]

Gail (Evanina) Ireland

                   We Want To See You!
(and give you the opportunity to see us and your fellow alumni)

                      Join Us For
                                
                      A Homecoming 
                    Alumni Breakfast

                Saturday, October 9, 1999
                Third Floor Stright Hall
                 8:30 am until 11:00 am
                     It's free !!!
  
               You must make a reservation 
                 by Wednesday, October 6
  
             Call Carol at 724 357-2524   Or

           E-mail her at camiller@grove.iup.edu



Back to the Contents
@pgh.cafe at IUP
Mark Anthony

@pgh.cafe is coming to IUP, and you are invited to be there for this event. But you ve never heard of it, and you can t even pronounce it! Let me tell you more.

@pgh.cafe (pronounced at Pittsburgh Cafe) is a highly interactive, relaxed social recruiting event presented each fall by the Pittsburgh Technology Council, an industry association with more than 1600 southwestern Pennsylvania member companies. It debuted in 1996 at Carnegie Mellon University, with the University of Pittsburgh joining as a host site in 1998. Now they ve finally recognized IUP as a great source of qualified, well-prepared technology graduates!!!

This is not your typical job fair! There are no trade show display booths or skirted tables, and very few suits. In fact, casual dress is preferred. There is plenty of food and drink, as well as information that you can take home. The atmosphere is light so that project engineers and human resource representatives from local high-tech companies can talk to students and alumni about technology development and products, internships and employment opportunities. Many of these organizations are small start-ups with great potential, and they make up the new economy of the Pittsburgh region.

Software, hardware, engineering, biotech, multimedia, IT consulting, robotics and automation Southwestern Pennsylvania has more than 450 companies directly engaged in software development and marketing, and hundreds of other high-tech firms employ more than 100,000 people. @pgh.cafe will help you learn more about these opportunities from companies that are currently hiring. For more information about the Council, its members, its Career Center, and @pgh.cafe check out the PTC's home page (URL deleted).

We are excited to be hosting this event at IUP for the first time. Mark your calendar for Tuesday, September 28, 1999 from 3:00 7:00 p.m. in Folger Hall. No pre-registration is required; sign in when you arrive. Bring resumes if you are interested in looking for new job opportunities! A strong showing by IUP students and alumni will help these high-tech employers in Southwestern PA recognize the quality of our programs, our students and our alumni.



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Curriculum Perspective
John Cross

As you can well imagine, there are many forces that make us rethink our curriculum. In May, Dr. Oblitey organized an off-site curriculum meeting on our core curriculum. We agreed that CO441, Database belongs in our core. It will evolve into a replacement for the large files part of CO315. I proposed that we make CO220 an elective for the Languages and Systems track. The faculty decided to leave CO220 in the core. CO220 will be changed to a 4-credit course to incorporate the use of random access files in COBOL. I also proposed that we make CO300, Assembly Language programming, optional for the Applied Computer Systems track. The faculty decided to keep it in the core, partly out of concern for what CO300 teaches about computer architecture.

The most difficult outcome of this meeting for me is that I was assigned the task of putting together a proposal for a capstone course for the CO310 | CO441 | visual programming part of our curriculum. The point of this course will be to master concepts of data services in the context of the Internet, intranets, LAN's, and security concerns. Note that "visual programming" refers to either a revised form of our Visual Basic course or our new Java programming class. Note also that we discussed the impact of the Internet on our curriculum at the meeting. Dr. Micco's Java class has now been approved by the college; and Dr. Grove is teaching a special topics in "Web Based Information Systems" this fall. We plan to focus our CO201 course, Multimedia and the Internet, on the needs of non-CS majors.

Our Unix class is now officially known as "Unix Systems". Last spring my class was concerned with the use and administration of Unix systems, especially Linux. Our departmental Unix systems are thrilling to be part of. We went through four student administrators last year and we were hacked into at one point. The good news is that the College of Natural Science and Mathematics now has a dedicated Unix systems support person, Tom Kirkpatrick. The bad news is that our other support positions are unfilled; but time may correct that. (Time may also correct the Web presence for our Unix systems; but you should be able to check us out at www.co.iup.edu.)

Computer graphics continues to evolve so much that it is a new preparation every time I teach it. I wrote a book for non-CS majors on 3D Modeling using VRML. This book has been used in a special topics that I taught, in multiple sections of a synthesis course that Dr. Donley and Dr. Alarcon teach in the Mathematics Department, and for part of the CO 355 course. The CO 355 course appears to be headed in the direction of more OpenGL programming using C++; but I am not scheduled to teach it again until fall 2000. The good news is that I strengthened my contacts in the ACM SIGGRAPH thanks to an Educator's Grant to attend their annual meeting.

CO 480 is a course I always enjoy. Students share their graduation excitement and anxiety while they share details on technical interests that move too quickly or are to specialized for our curriculum to respond to. We even have time for a little feedback on their experience in our program. I hope that you are doing what I encourage my CO480 students to do - continue learning and keep in touch. As always, please share your successes and concerns as alumni with us. You are often a unique perk of my activity as a professor.



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May Graduates

The pictures I have of the May graduates are terrible; and I was the photographer, so, I'm not insulting anyone important. They can be viewed reasonably only on the Web; so, if you want to see them, you will have to look at the online Debugger. The picture shows (from left to right): Jason Waag, Josh Beers, Eric Smith, Dan Danka, Jason McDowell, Brian Young (from the nose up), Susanne Brumbaugh, Ken York, Kai Pong Lau, Amy Slowik, Ziad Afana, Michelle Perry, Katrina Pagonis, and Mary Singer.

May grads