A University department comprising electrical and computer engineering and computer science will be created within the next two months, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Jack Hamilton said Thursday.
The new department was recommended by the University’s budget committee, on which Hamilton sits, and was approved by Chancellor Michael Martin. A “faculty transition committee” comprised of the deans and department chairs will now devise the nuances of the merger and choose a name for the combined department, which will fall under the College of Engineering.
Hamilton said this will strengthen the two programs because they have both lost faculty. Despite the programs being merged, neither of the programs’ curricula will change, said Richard Koubek, dean of the College of Engineering.
Koubek and Kevin Carman, dean of the College of Science, both said they hope the merger will enhance the already strong computer science and electrical and computer engineering programs.
“While I don’t necessarily believe that this merger is a good idea, I do believe that it is going to happen,” Carman said.
Carman also said he will invest his full efforts to ensure the fused programs yield “high potential” and looks forward to working with Koubek.
Koubek said the merger’s purpose is to take the two programs, which already overlapped, and unify them to create a strong “critical mass.” He pointed to the quality of the faculty from both departments and said the union could be a “premiere program.”
Koubek stressed that students “won’t see a significant change,” aside from computer science professors moving to Patrick F. Taylor Hall.
Hamilton said since both programs have been affected by budget cuts, the University cannot make good investments in the programs as of now. Consolidating them, Hamilton said, will put the University in position to make investments later.
Electrical and computer engineering and computer science are both accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Koubek said.
The University’s computer science program ranked among the top 30 programs in the country last fall by The National Research Council.
The faculty transition committee must present its plans to Hamilton by Nov. 1, and the proposal will then be sent to the LSU System Board of Supervisors.
 
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Contact Andrea Gallo at [email protected]