From: Phil deHaan (dehp@calvin.edu)
Date: Tue Sep 02 2003 - 13:59:12 EDT
September 2, 2003 == MEDIA ADVISORY
The Department of Computer Science at Calvin College got good news this week.
Its Bachelor of Computer Science degree has been accredited by the Computing
Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and
Technology.
This indicates that the BCS program at Calvin has met clearly defined minimum
standards, the same standards applied to all other accredited programs,
including those at such places as MIT and UC-Berkeley.
It's not something that comes easily. Calvin's research shows that only one
other computer science program in West Michigan has been accredited. The
school began offering its degree in 1998-99 and has had 26 students graduate
since then. Those students are working in a variety of fields - everything
from systems design to programming to mission work.
Says Calvin professor Keith Vander Linden: "Whatever they do, they tend to be
good. The results of the GRE computing test that we gave to our soon-to-be
graduates last spring were at the 96th percentile nationwide."
Vander Linden says a bachelor of computer science degree can be more
challenging than a bachelor of arts in computer science and also more complete
in terms of computing, mathematics and science. But, he adds, at Calvin good
students still go for the BA, usually when they have other interests - things
such as business, philosophy and art.
"One of the strengths of Calvin," he says, "is we can offer students both
options."
For more on the program see http://cs.calvin.edu/
For more on accreditation see http://www.abet.org/
-end-
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