Career Watch: CS at Nuemont and title inflation

Computerworld - Q&A: Graham Doxey The president of Neumont University in South Jordan, Utah, talks about the schools project-based curriculum for computer science.

How does Neumonts approach differ from traditional CS programs? We view the employer who will hire our graduates as our customer. Our campus and curriculum are designed to mirror the environment our students will experience in the workplace. The program is accelerated. Students are in the classroom from 8:00 to 4:00, Monday through Friday, and graduate in 24 months. It is also 70% project-based. That means students develop core competencies in computer science, along with vital team-leadership and collaboration skills, by building enterprise applications in small teams. We have re-engineered the traditional computer science curriculum, and our project-based program is mapped to 400 core competencies in computer science.

How do you measure the success of Neumonts approach? By our placement rates and the average starting salaries of our graduates, which are over $60,000 per year, 19% over the national average for new graduates in computer science.

Is Neumont changing the face of CS education at other schools? An academician once said, Its easier to change the course of history than to change a course in history. Much is written about the shortage of high-end software development talent in the U.S. Universities are getting the message, but it will take years to change the core curriculum at most postsecondary institutions.

What are Neumonts plans for expansion? How many graduates do you expect to have in the workforce by 2010? Neumont was built to scale up. We expect to [have had] 2,000 graduates by 2010, making Neumont one of the largest graduates of students in computer science in the world. In fact, we just announced the launch of our new campus in Dulles, Va., which will be opening this summer.  Jamie Eckle

Editors note: Computerworlds Career Watch page will be looking at developments in computer science programs at several universities. Next up: the University of Michigans School of Information.

World Class The 10 best schools for executive education, as ranked by the Financial Times this spring:

1) Harvard Business School, U.S.

2) Stanford University Graduate School of Business, U.S.

3) University of Virginia, Darden, U.S.

4) University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, U.S.

5) IMD, Switzerland

6) Center for Creative Leadership, U.S.

7) Instituto de Empresa, Spain

8) Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management, U.S.

9) IESE Business School, Spain

10) Babson Executive Education, U.S.

Note: The annual ranking is based on surveys of organizations and people worldwide, who rate the leading schools for quality and impact.

Too Many Chiefs
If youve been working for one company for a while and your title hasnt changed to chief architect, say, or you arent yet chief security officer, chief technology officer, or chief cook and bottle washer, you may be behind the curve -- the curve of title inflation, that is. Wharton Business Schools "Knowledge@Wharto'' online publication asked various faculty members in May to comment on a trend in flattened organizations to give some employees a boost by handing out titles like chief privacy officer, chief cultural officer, chief geek, chief apology officer and chief receptionist.