Goshen College adds computer science major

In response to demand from current and prospective students, Goshen will be adding a computer science major starting in the fall of 2014.  While Goshen College’s informatics program allowed students to develop computer skills related to applications in five cognate areas, some students desired a more theoretical degree focused on computer programming. To meet the needs of these students, Goshen College will offer a computer science major.

Goshen’s new computing program is based on the recently released CS 2013 Curricula Guidelines and the LACS 2007 Model Curriculum. So students will benefit from having an up to date curriculum based on guidance from the standards bodies for this rapidly changing field. The CS 2013 guidelines is from the Joint Computing Curricula Task Force of the IEEE Computer Society and the Association for Computing Machinery issues new curricula every few years. The most recent guidelines were issued on December 20, 2013. The Liberal Arts Computer Science Consortium (LACS) is an organization of computer scientists from quality liberal arts schools.  Their 2007 document provides guidance to how liberal arts colleges, like Goshen, could implement computer programs based on the Computing Curricula 2001 (CC2001) of the Joint Computing Curricula Task Force of the IEEE Computer Society and the Association for Computing Machinery.

A large number of Goshen students continue their education at the graduate level. The computer science major is excellent preparation for either master’s or Ph.D. level work. Students continuing in a computer related field will likely qualify for teaching or research assistantships.

The new major requires 53 credits.

Computer Science Courses (39 credits)

  • Info 200, Problem Solving with Computers ……………………………….. 3
  • Info 230, Programming I…………………………………………………… 4
  • Info 330, Programming II…………………………………………………… 4
  • Info 340, Database Design………………………………………………….. 3
  • Info 346, Human Computer Interaction …………………………………….. 3
  • Info 350, Computer Networking & Security ………………………………… 3
  • Info 355, Systems Analysis ………………………………………………… 3
  • Info 405, Project Management ……………………………………………… 3
  • CoSc 360, Operating Systems …………………………………………….. 3
  • CoSc 365, Analysis of Algorithms ……………………………………….. 3
  • CoSc 375, Topics in Computer Science………………………………….. 3
  • CoSc 409, Internship………………………………………………………. 3
  • CoSc 410, Senior Seminar………………………………………………… 1

Related Courses (14 credits)

  • Math 205, Discrete Mathematics………………………………………… 3
  • Math 211, Calculus I………………………………………………………. 4
  • Math 301, Linear Algebra ………………………………………………… 3
  • Phys 304, Electronics……………………………………………………… 4

Computer Science Minor

Goshen College is also adding a new Computer Science minor. The computer science major can be combined with any major and requires 20 credits.

  1. Core Courses (11 credits)
    •    Info 200, Solving Problems with Computers 3 (Renamed course)
    •    Info 230, Programming I 4
    •    Info 330, Programming II 4
  2. Electives (9 credits)
    •    Any Computer Science, Information Technology, or Informatics courses at the 300-400 level