Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Aug. 20, 2001, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
2 Wednesday, August 22, 2001 Department Adds New Computer Science Degree The computer science department chairman says he hopes the new major will attract more students. By Emily Drum Staff Writer Computer science students have a new degree option starting this fall, and department faculty say they are excited about the alternative. The Department of Computer Science is offering a bachelor of science degree in computer science beginning this academic year, the first undergrad uate degree awarded by the department. Previously, students interested in computer science followed the comput er science track in the Department of Mathematics. The computer science department offered only graduate and Ph.D. programs. “There’s a theory that you can’t be a great university without a computer sci ence program in the 21st century,” said Kevin Jeffay, undergraduate studies Sniffing out the best buy in textbooHs can be complicated! ; t 3, ;/*£ mIH r * ’ sj§|p^\ *. MSA Ram Book & Supply is the best store for your bottom line! Low prices. Used textbooks our specialty. Shorter lines. Ram I . Harder to find ... I Book & Supply ..... *j utworth it! Gumby's Wicked & UNC's Off-campus I Pizza I Burritos I -f I Used Text Book Headquarters 2. E - Franklin St Behind Wicked Burrtto I 1 UNC 306 W. Franklin Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516 Granvllle Towen Campus Phone (919) 969-8398 Fax (919) 969-8996 - Special Pre-Lease Offer - ZJk TO) TO) TTT' $550 Per Month Beginning August Ist A )\ j J l ) | { J| W 1 month's rent FREE with 1 Year Lease Large 3 Bedroom 2 Bath Condo Condominiums W/D Connections in 3 Bedroom Wall to Wall Carpet Range, Refrigerator, Dishwasher & Garbage Disposal The Tarheel Companies of NC, Inc. www.tarheelcos.com - (919) 929-2220 director for the computer science department. Jeffay said the new major will be ben eficial to graduating students because of increasing demand in the work force for workers with computer science degrees. And students are eager to take advan tage of the opportunity, he said. “The students have been clamoring for a com puter science major for years.” Only four mandatory classes distin guish the new major from the current offering in the math department, and students will be required to take one more class than previously required. But Jeffay said that while the classes are not that different, the physical changes the department is seeing - including updated courses, new labs, and additional faculty - are significant. “It is more of an environmental change,” he said. Jeffay said the department has been working on creating the major since a professor proposed the idea in 1987. “I think everybody has been sur prised at how long it’s taken,” he said. Stephen Weiss, chairman of the com puter science department, worked with. the University to create the program. He said the department finally submitted the proposal in July 2000, and UNC officials approved it last spring. The department had to wait until per sonnel slots were approved by the University before the program could be established. “We’ve been trying to do this for a long time, but we knew it would take additional resources,” Weiss said. He said that students who are following the computer science program in the math department will finish the curriculum but eventually that option will disappear. Students who enroll in the new major will go to the computer science depart ment for advising. Jeffay said he hopes the new option will attract more students. “We are gear ing up a rather large publicity machine,” he said. He said this includes getting the word out to high schools so students will know the computer science major is available at UNC. “This is sort of a brave new world for us,” Jeffay said. “It’s pretty exciting.” The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu. News Freshmen at Risk for Disease By Michael Davis Staff Writer Health officials are urging freshman living in residence halls to receive the bacterial meningitis vaccine after a study found they are at a high risk of con tracting the disease. The study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, concluded that college freshmen living in residence halls have a higher risk of contracting bacterial meningitis than freshman who five elsewhere, said Dr. Michael Bruce, lead author of the report. Viral meningitis is a relatively com mon but rarely serious infection of the fluid in the spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds the brain, according to the CDC Web page. Bacterial meningitis causes symptoms such as fever, headache and stiff neck and can become fatal within 24 hours. Bruce said the disease has a 10 to 15 per cent fatality rate. “(Students) should know that this is out there,” Bruce said. But he added that the main risk factor found by the study is living in a resi dence hall. “Overall, college students did not have a higher risk of meningococcal dis ease compared to other people of the Bush Defends Tax, Medicare Policies The Associated Press INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - President Bush said Tuesday he will give his fam ily’s S6OO tax rebate to charity as he fiercely defended his tax cut against Democratic charges that it has already imperiled both Medicare and Social Security. In Harry Truman’s hometown, at a Sing with the World-Renowned, 150-Voice, l&gMg ~ BhH Call 684-3898 to schedule an audition age.” Dr. Kelly McKee, head of General Communicable Disease Control in the N.C. Division of Public Health, said the close living conditions of residence halls naturally promote diseases such as meningitis. “Freshmen who live in dormitories are at a slighdy increased risk over other college students,” McKee said. “The chances for a person-to-person spread just rises.” In 1999, 49 cases of meningitis were reported in North Carolina, and 39 fol lowed in 2000. McKee said the decline between years was not a trend and that sta tistics change from year to year, with no real pattern for support. Menomune, a commercially avail able vaccine, can guard against the “Freshmen who live in dormitories are at a slightly increased risk over other college students. ” Dr. Kelly McKee General Communicable Disease Control four most common strains of meningitis, McKee said. But he added that the vaccine does not totally protect people from the dis ease. “Even if you are vaccinated, you are not 100 percent covered on all strains, high school named for the president who first championed federal health benefits for the elderly, Bush swore that under his administration “every dime that comes into Medicare will be spent on Medicare.” He also sought to assure Americans that “we’ve got enough money” to pay for his tax cuts, pay down more than SIOO million in public debt and boost spending on defense and education - all without Saily sar Uppl but most of them,” McKee said. While cases appear fairly constant throughout the year, he said numbers usually increase during the winter months, when more people remain indoors and are more susceptible to the disease. But Bruce said conjugate vaccines, which have a longer immunological memory than current drugs, will be available within two to three years. And he added that immunizations are easily accessible for students at col leges and universities. Carol Kozel, UNC Student Health Service nursing director, said no cases of meningitis were reported on campus during the last five years. Kozel said SHS will sponsor a campuswide vacci nation drive from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Oct. 10 in the Great Hall. She said the event exists to “provide better protection for our students regarding meningitis." The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu. dipping into Social Security reserves. “I know this: We’re not going to raise the taxes on the people. I know this: that we’re going to make sure addition al spending doesn’t cut into essential programs like Social Security and Medicare,” the president said. He expressed confidence there would be no government shutdown over a spending stalemate with Congress, but he did suggest he would veto any bill that spent more than what Congress agreed to in a budget resolu tion earlier this year. Bush spoke on the eve of a scheduled announcement by the Office of Management and Budget updating pro jections of the federal surplus. The new estimates are expected to show that the Medicare surplus -as with all but about $1 billion of the rest of the general-revenue surplus - is gone. Democrats blamed the Bush tax cut “I see no more irresponsible act than that of the Bush administration’s tax cut,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said in an interview. “It was the tax cut that was based on faulty projections.” Campus Calendar Today Noon - The Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Center will hold a Study Abroad information session. For the Record In the Aug. 21 issue of The Daily Tar Heel, the photo caption accompanying the article “ALE Sees Drop in Citations During Sting" incorrectly stated that Gregory Wilson was cited for underage possession of alcohol. Wilson was cited for obtaining alcohol with a fictitious ID and aiding and abetting another minor. In the same issue, the graphic accom panying the article "Freshman Class Largest in University History” incor rectly stated that Native Americans make up 6.5 percent of the freshman class. The graphic should have stated that Native Americans make up I- per cent of the freshman class. The DTH regrets the errors. She Baily (Ear Heri P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 Katie Hunter, Editor, 962*4086 Advertising & Business, 962-1163 News, Features, Sports, 962-0745 © 2001 DTH Publishing Corp. All rights reserved
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 20, 2001, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75