2009 Performance Accountability Report Vol. 2 - Maryland Higher ...

UMES remains committed to strengthening its computer science programs and increasing the
number of graduates from these programs. In FY 2009 the program graduated 14 students with a
bachelor’s degree, far short of its target of 27. There has been a decline in program matriculants
over the past several years nationally. However, there are signs nationally that strong demand for
computer science is coming back as confirmed by a significant increase in undergraduate
Bachelor’s degree enrollment of 6.2%, reported in the New York Times (Markoff, J. March 17,
2009) in 2008 over the previous year’s enrollment. This phenomenon has not yet trickled down
to the UMES campus. Undergraduate enrollment in the computer science program at UMES for
FY 2009 was 128, which shows a steady decline from 172 in FY 2000 when the dot.com bubble
burst occurred. Steps have been taken to not only increase the overall enrollment in the
computer science program, but also to increase the value of its degrees. The steps that have been
taken are as follows:
1. Hired two tenure track faculty members with terminal degrees in Computer Science.
2. Created and approved a new undergraduate degree curriculum that has been supported by
IBM in Information System (IS) with the expectation of final approval by MHEC by the
end of 2009.
3. Under the partnership with IBM, the Mathematics and Computer Science Department
offered two IBM infused courses in spring 2009 and will be offering 11 IBM infused
courses during the academic year 2009-2010. This also includes three newly created
courses: CSDP 288 (An introduction to Enterprise Computing), CSDP 398 (Java), and
CSDP 498 (Perl).
Cost Containment
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore continues its efforts to maximize the effectiveness
and efficiency in the use of all resources. The University has responded to its fiscal constraints
by adopting several efficiency and effectiveness strategies including redefinition of work,
partnership with external entities, business process reengineering, and competitive contracting.
By using these practices, the University has saved over $2.8 million (Objective 5.3). These
efforts include the continuing partnership with Salisbury University to provide transportation for
students between the two Universities, maintaining a computer recycling effort in addition to the
enhancement of campus waste recycling, and in collaboration with the University System of
Maryland’s efficiency efforts, UMES has utilized demand-side energy conservation, upgraded
electrical transformers and underground utilities.
Through the use of facilities renewal funds and new construction/renovation of various facilities,
UMES has completed the full integration of its energy systems for the campus. With the use of a
fiber optic backbone, most facilities are networked to a centralized energy management office.
Energy functions for most of the campus are controlled from this central point. In addition to
human resource savings, this effort has resulted in significant savings in the use of fuel and
utilities.
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