About Us
Ever since we began offering computing courses in 1968, we have offered an undergraduate computing program that is both academically excellent and distinctively Christian. We have worked hard to achieve both of these goals without compromise.
Our programs
Our pioneering computer science programs have been evolving at the pace of technology for more than 50 years, while remaining true to our core values.
Our BCS program is accredited by the CAC Accreditation Commission of ABET, a distinction we share with select programs around the country (e.g., MIT’s BS in CS and Engineering program and Michigan’s BSE program in Computer Science), and we’ve leveraged the BCS courses to allow students to pursue interests in other areas using our CS-Plus program.
In addition to taking courses, our students apply their skills in a number of venues, including paid internships, design projects and community outreach programs. In so doing, they learn how their education can become the basis of a life-long vocation of service (see our essays on Christian scholarship).
Our programs are regularly reviewed by our Strategic Partners Council, a group of individuals that represent the professional constituencies our department serves. These reviews, which are part of our rigorous assessment program, help to ensure that our programs remain solid and relevant.
Our students
The CS Department generally has around 200 majors across the four years and around 45 graduates per year, which is amongst the largest STEM majors at Calvin. Around half of the students are international students, which is higher than Calvin's campus-wide percentage of 14%, and probably attributable to strong world-wide interest in computing at a Christian university. Around a third of the students are women, which is higher than the national average of 21%, and probably attributable to strong international interest in Calvin CS, plus our strong support for women in computing.
Our graduates do well in both business and graduate school. They’re entering a strong job market, e.g., for our class of 2023, 97% of our graduates found jobs and 3% went on to graduate school within six months of graduation. They’ve gone on to a variety of places, including well-known international companies (e.g., Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon/AWS), strong Michigan companies (e.g., Corewell Health, Steelcase, Herman Miller, Meijer, GE Aviation, GFS, Amway, Atomic Object), and strong graduate programs (e.g., all of the top-five schools in CS: CMU, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, UIUC).