Computer Science 45th Anniversary Plenary Talk and Panel Discussion

Plenary: How efforts to recruit more female students improve CS education for everyone
Panel Discussion: Learning in a world of unlimited data and ubiquitous social networking: Is this the end of the University?

Plenary: How efforts to recruit more female students improve CS education for everyone

Speaker: Maria Klawe, President, Harvey Mudd College

Time: 12:30 - 1:20pm

Location:Rm 110, Hugh Dempster Pavillion


Bio: Dr. Maria M. Klawe is a renowned computer science leader, researcher and educator who has served in many capacities at UBC including as Head of Computer Science (1988-1995). Currently the President at Harvey Mudd College since 2006, Maria has also served as Dean of Engineering at Princeton University (2003 to 2006).

Maria has made significant research contributions in several areas of mathematics and computer science including theoretical computer science, and interactive multimedia for mathematics education. She is a past president of the Association of Computing Machinery in New York, past chair of the board of trustees of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology in Palo Alto, and a past trustee of the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics in Los Angeles. Klawe has held leadership positions with the American Mathematical Society, the Computing Research Association, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and the Canadian Mathematical Society.

Maria currently serves as one of the ten members of the board of Microsoft Corporation, a board member of Broadcom Corporation and the nonprofit Math for America, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a trustee for the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley and a member of both the Stanford Engineering Advisory Council and the Advisory Council for the Computer Science Teachers Association. She was elected as a fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery in 1996 and as a founding fellow of the Canadian Information Processing Society in 2006. Awards include Vancouver YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Science and Technology (1997); Wired Woman Pioneer (2001); Canadian New Media Educator of the Year (2001); BC Science Council Champion of the Year (2001); University of Alberta Distinguished Alumna; Nico Habermann Award; and honorary doctorates from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Acadia University; the University of British Columbia; Dalhousie University; Queen’s University; the University of Waterloo; and Ryerson University.

Discussion: Learning in a world of unlimited data and ubiquitous social networking: Is this the end of the University?

Time: 1:30 - 2:45pm
Location:Rm 110, Hugh Dempster Pavillion


Abstract: The European tradition of universities was birthed almost a millenium ago, when they served as secular centers for the replication of information: the professor read and the students copied.  The need for manual transcription ended with the birth of the printing press, yet universities flourished as the home of great libraries, the experts who could locate information amongst the growing glut, and the students who wished to interact with those experts in a rich manner not possible through the static printed page.

Do Wikipedia, Google, Facebook and Twitter change all that? This panel will illuminate the technological upheaval facing higher education and how the Department of Computer Science is adapting and exploring its possibilities. After brief presentations, the session will transform into a fishbowl conversation: members of the audience are invited to replace members of the panel in order to share their thoughts on how the department, university, industry and society can best take advantage of new technological capabilities.

Panelists:

Michael Castor, University Recruiter, Facebook: Michael has extensive experience in recruiting technical talent for a variety of high tech companies, and in building strong university-industry relations including successful internship programs.

Gregor Kiczales, Professor, UBC CS: A pioneer in the development of aspect-oriented programming at Xerox PARC, Gregor has recently led a major effort to create an introductory programming course at UBC that emphasizes program design. He will teach a Coursera MOOC, "Introduction to Systematic Program Design" this summer.

Maria Klawe, President, Harvey Mudd College: Maria's distinguished record as an educational leader and as a senior advisor on the boards of numerous industrial and scholarly societies has given her both deep and broad perspective on mathematics and computer science education. She has done extensive research on the design of interactive educational technologies with a focus on games that are engaging to girls.

Mary Lynn Young, Associate Professor, UBC Graduate School of Journalism: Mary Lynn is an authority on gender and the media, newsroom sociology, media credibility and representations of crime. She has worked as an editor, national business columnist and senior crime reporter at major daily newspapers in Canada and the United States.  Mary Lynn is currently Associate Dean (Communications and Strategy) in the Faculty of Arts.