Tennessee Tech University Department of Computer Science Blog

As we embark on the start of a new academic year the tradition of the freshman convocation provides an opportunity to welcome new students to the Tennessee Tech University family. For me, there is something special about this particular convocation (aside from the fact that I too am new to TTU). This is the “Class of 2020” – the class that all of the strategic plans and focus on the future have been directed towards for the past twenty years.

Students taking the Academic Oath during the Class of 2020 Convocation

With that, we have placed this class in a special position and so we, as a department, as teachers and educators, and as full members of the Golden Eagle community, have a responsibility to welcome this class with open arms and to usher them towards fulfillment of the burden that they face in becoming the embodiment of the computer scientists and engineers of 2020. As I take my part in doing this, I am coming to learn about how special a place TTU is.

I have now been part of four universities as an adult. I matriculated and graduated with all of my degrees (BS, MS, PhD) at Michigan State University. I began my career at Arizona State University where in many ways I was no more than an infant and adolescent professor. I grew into an understanding of the privilege of being a part of the professorate at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio over a period of 10 years and now come to Tennessee Tech University with the same hope, expectations, and questions that in many ways mirror those of the Class of 2020. Will I fit in? Will I succeed? Will I be able to build a network of colleagues and friends that can help me understand what makes Tech a special place?

During my first week of employment at Tennessee Tech I met a young woman that shared how much “Tech” is integrated into the fabric of her family. She is a currently a student at Tech. Her parents were a Tech Twosome (a phrase I’ve just invented right now to describe couples that meet at Tech and get married). She has grandparents that were Tech Twosomes. Her uncle is a professor at Tech. Clearly, purple and gold runs through their blood. Her story is not unique. I’ve come across administrators, faculty, and staff that have built lengthy careers here – for instance, I’ve come across faculty that have been at Tech for 45 and 50 years.

So, as I reflect on my past two months of membership in the Tech family (yep, I’m only 49 years, 10 mos behind some of my esteemed colleagues), I hope to earn the responsibility that has been placed upon me by those that have come before. This isn’t just a place where we come to learn and teach but rather a place where we come to engage with a community that is warm and welcoming to all that pass through the halls of the brick and mortar. I am buoyed by the confidence instilled in me by the Dean and faculty that have asked me to take the reigns of the department, and by the energy, excitement, and trust of the students as they look to me to create the kind of environment that allows everyone to become the young women and men that they hope to become – what we hope they become; the Class of 2020.

As I close, then, I leave you with the quote from Isaiah 40 that President Oldham recited at the Convocation with the hope that the Class of 2020 will be inspired as they work to overcome the challenges and hardships of the next 4 years of their lives:

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31 ESV)