Oct. 28 1987 Effort Leads to Successful Picnic By Kathleen Riley-King "Either we were lucky, or God was cooperating with us. It was the best day for a picnic!" said Dr. Mehdi Khos rowpour, chairman of the information systems program. He was speaking of the picnic held on Oct. 6 in the Sculpture Garden for computer science and information systems majors. The picnic was sponsored by the information systems program, the Data Processing Management Associa tion (DPMA), and the Association for Systems Management (ASM). The original purpose of the picnic, said Khosrowpour, was to be an open forum. Khosrowpour said that he wanted to have a meeting that was less formal than last year's Business Ad ministration forums. "My particular objective was to bridge . . . or eliminate that student/faculty wall," he said. "We are here to help them [the students] to learn or to reach their goals, and they are here to achieve their goals, so we are all here for one reason." According to Dr. Melvin Blum berg, head of the Business Adminis tration Division, "We thought this would be a nice way to follow up on last year's [open forums]. . . . It's a good way to get some interaction." The picnic also became a means for the DPMA and ASM clubs to recruit new members and for students to say what courses they thought the program should have. Another purpose of the picnic, said Khosrowpour, was to communicate to students some changes in the pro gram. According to Khosrowpour, program changes included a title change-- from "computer applications" to "infor mation systems." Info Systems Student Receives Scholarship By Kathleen Riley-King Information systems major Ron Jesiolowski won a $963 scholarship last spring from the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the Data Processing Manage ment Association (DPMA). Although other DPMA schol arships have been awarded to Capital College students in the past, Jesio lowski's was the largest award. It was the first time that a student from the information systems program received a major scholarship award, said Dr. Mehdi Khosrowpour, chairman of the information systems program. Jesiolowski knew that he had been nominated for the award:but did not find out that he had won until June "I was surprised at the amount," he said. He was nominated for the award by Professor Charles Fisher, who left Capital College at the end of last spring, and by Khosrowpour. According to Jesiolowski, Fisher was also surprised at the amount The degree has been changed also. As of Fall 1988, all Business Administration majors will receive bachelor of science degrees instead of bachelor of business administration degrees. "A B.S. is viewed as more professional," said Khostowpour. "It has more credibility." Another change in the infor mation systems program this fall no longer requires students to take the Pascal course. Instead, new students are required to take Microcomputers in Business, a course that Khosrowpour says is more practicaLthan Pascal. Was the picnic successful? Khosrowpour thinks so. "I think it was a very successful event. Students benefited from it. It was in a very informal environment," said Khosrowpour. "I was very pleased with the turnout, with the enthusiasm that they [the students] showed." The picnic prompted ASM to start an electronic newsletter to reach Jesiolowski is currently doing a six-month internship with Penn Dot in the Fiscal and Systems Management Division of the Bureau of Management Information Systems. "The work there is interesting, more interesting I would think [than] in any type of internship job," he said. Some of his duties include working with two data bases and writing programs. "I'm writing on-line programs, involved on-line programs, and I told them when I went in there, you know, I'm doing this for credits, and I have to do something worthwhile," he said. "And I never expected to be doing something this worthwhile. So, I was glad about that." Jesiolowski said he may go back to Penn Dot after graduation, "unless, I would say, a very good deal would come along." His long-range goal is to become a lead systems analyst, after he has acquired five years of experience and has picked up some more management courses, he said. ital Times students, said Khosrowpour, and one student suggested adding a course called Seminar in Informations Systems, which would cover current and future trends in the market. At the picnic, said Blumberg, students demonstrated that they cared about their program. "There was a lot of enthusi asm," he said. "It was fun. We enjoyed He laughed. "They sold me a shirt for $10!" he said, referring to shirts the ASM club is selling. Blumberg was so pleased with the picnic that he decided the division would foot the bill for the picnic, instead of the clubs. Students also thought the picnic was successful. "I thought it was worthwhile," said Larry Maso, a student who attended the picnic. Debra Cline, one of the stu dents who helped organize the picnic, said, "A lot of people came up to us afterwards and said it was nice." Other students involved in organizing the picnic were Sandy Caufman, Mike Maitland, Bob Farber, and Bill Harchak. "A lot of people took brochures and everything for either ASM or DPMA, so I would say that's a sign that people are interested," said Caufman. "I thought we had a good turnout with the professors, too. All of them came, and it was very informal . . . which I thought was good." Cline agreed. "I'd had [Profes sor] Raggad for a class but never got to know him at all," she said. But at the picnic, "I found out he thinks in Berber!" she said, laughing. Caufman said, "They [the pro fessors] did make themselves available if you had anything to say . . . "It was kind of nice to be able to ask things . . . that you probably wouldn't have had a chance to otherwise or wouldn't have made an effort to go ask." As a result of their involvement in the picnic, Caufman and Cline, both members of DPMA, decided to join ASM also. They said they learned they could belong to both clubs, and, said Caufman, "not have to give an exorbitant amount of time." Will there be another picnic? "I think we would do it again . . . there's no doubt about that!" said Khosrowpour. "I'm hoping . . . that it will be sort of considered as a good example for other programs--particularly in this division." About 30 students and faculty members attended the picnic, as well as Dr. Ruth Leventhal, provost; Dr. James South, associate provost for adminis trative operations; and Scott Huebner, manager of the Computer Center. Food was supplied by Food Services, and chairs were supplied by Maintenance. PaEt 3
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