A new name to better reflect new growth and new direction

“The new name actually better reflects what the school is and its future direction as well,” said Provost Debra Liebowitz. 

Lynn Byers, interim dean of the School of Computing and Engineering and professor of mechanical engineering, explained the thought process behind the renaming process. “We had to figure out what name would best highlight all the programs within the school.” Ultimately, they decided an inclusive name would be best.

“We wanted to make it broader to fit what we have now under an umbrella and also allow for growth,” Byers said. 

Computing has applications across Quinnipiac, so Liebowitz said it was important to have conversations with the deans of other schools that have computing programs. 

The School of Business, for example, offers computing-related majors in business analytics, computer information systems, and computer information systems and accounting. Likewise, the College of Arts and Sciences offers programs in game design and development, and data science.

“Computing increasingly is shaping everything we’re doing and so we’re sort of growing in interdisciplinary computing,” Liebowitz said. “We went through those conversations, considered different names, and this was the name that there was actually consensus about. I think it’s exciting because it speaks to the future direction, speaks to the strength and speaks to the possibilities in the area.” 

Corey Kiassat, associate dean and associate professor of industrial engineering, said about 40% of the students in the School of Computing and Engineering are studying programs related to computing. 

“Even though the name was School of Engineering, the term computing is not new to us,” Kiassat said. “We’d always thought of ourselves as having an engineering side and a computing side, the computing side consisting of our two programs in computer science, a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science, as well as a software engineering program and our graduate program in cybersecurity.” 

He added that the new name makes the computer science and cybersecurity students feel more included. It also better reflects the student body. 

Along with the renaming, Liebowitz announced in an email to the university community that a second computing collaborative classroom will be created so more students can work together on projects. 

Jonathan Blake, professor of computer science and software engineering, said, “This is an offshoot of the fact that we’ve had a lot of growth in the last couple of years in the computing program.” 

Kiassat said the School of Computing and Engineering offers both an accelerated dual-degree (3+1) program and a dual-degree (4+1) program in cybersecurity.

With the 3+1 program, students earn a bachelor's degree in computer science or software engineering before pursing a master's degree in their fourth year. With the 4+1 program, students from any undergraduate major at Quinnipiac can apply to complete a master's in cybersecurity in their fifth year.

The school is exploring other accelerated dual-degree programs to help students enter the workforce faster, Liebowitz said. 

“This is our second year doing [the 4+1] and the 3+1 is new as of this year,” Kiassat said. “It’s going to help us bring in a higher caliber of student.” 

Caprice Williams, a junior computer science major, applauded the school’s new name. “I feel like that puts a lot more emphasis on the fact that we are an engineering discipline.”