I recently read that Lehigh has had some issues keeping its CS Professors in the past year. One was fired and 3 (or 4) took other jobs. This concerns me as my S determines whether to accept his spot in the CSB program at Lehigh. Do any current students/ parents have information about the status of the Computer Science program?
Hi,
I’m a CSB student at Lehigh, so feel free to ask any questions (someone from CSB should be emailing your son soon to ask him personally if he has any questions).
What you said is true. One was fired (Jason Loew – very difficult teacher) and a couple of others transferred schools (one to penn state, one to upenn, and I’m not sure the other). This semester, the CS curriculum was relatively limited and there weren’t many electives available to CS students and the ones that were offered were eaten up quickly by the upper classmen (register first). The university hired one professor this semester (Montella), and supposedly has 3 acceptances for next semester. One is tenure track, one is a professor of practice, and I’m not sure about the other. All of the most important classes and required classes are still being taught every semester (some every other semester), the issue is just with class size and lack of space in electives.
I can’t speak for other schools, but Lehigh’s CS classes are HUGE, and this is exacerbated for CSB students as they generally only have room for the required CS classes and not a ton of electives. The average required CS course has between 50-80 students. The smallest class I’ve seen is 40. Having 75 students in your upper-level classes makes it difficult to ask questions.
We do still have some top notch professors in the CS dept here. Prof. Korth is internationally renowned for his database research/knowledge and we have many professors who have industry experience.
Thank you @LehighCSB for your honest reply. This aligns with other info we have been reading. My son just received an email last night from Prof Korth and will be asking some questions. It sounds like Lehigh has some amazing professors. CSB and all that it offered is what drew my son to Lehigh (plus all the amazing people.)
Do you have any opinions as to why so many CS staff has left in such a short period of time? It concerns me that the pattern will continue and classes will only become larger (if I correctly understand Lehigh’s policy about non-tenured staff teaching less classes.)
In addition, if you are comfortable answering this- if you were a High School senior and making this choice all over again with the knowledge you now have, would you choose the Lehigh CSB program?
@LehighCSB Does Lehigh still offer “recitals” (regular recaps with a T.A.) to make the big classes feel smaller?
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@GFORCE2818 I would love to hear about your visit when you return. S19 visited over the summer and we can’t get back there this month.
He emailed with the dept head a few months ago. He was told that there is just a lot of job movement due to the popularity of the major and opportunities. I recently read that Case Western hired 3 profs too.
@drewsmom17 My S was essentially told the same thing today by a CS Prof. He also stated that CS is becoming so popular and Lehigh does not close it off, unlike some universities (students can transfer in and Lehigh offers several CS majors and minors.) This leads to larger classes. He did state that Lehigh is working to reduce CS class sizes.
I’ll give you a report (from my view and his) upon our return. Good luck with your S19 decision.
S did an overnight with a friend who attends Lehigh in the IDEAS program. He met several other engineering students and one other student currently in CSB who is planning to transfer to CS (doesn’t like Business.) These are all LUSSI students (which my son would probably apply to be, as well.) S didn’t realize how large the campus was at first visit, with CS classes being at Mountaintop and having to take a bus. The next day, we both attended the Lehigh Life day and spent some time speaking with Prof Korth (?) about CSB. He is such a pleasant person- extremely knowledgeable and super friendly. The CSB student my S met said that the CSB group is very close. He also said that while the intro CS classes are large (50-75,) the CSB and CS classes are small (20.)
Since we had completed an admitted student weekend right before Lehigh (at Gettysburg College,) it was noticeable that the students were a little different. The Lehigh campus wasn’t quite as warm and friendly and the students seemed a little more “conceded.” S said they were all nice and friendly, but at Gettysburg, everyone told him to “take time and pick the school that is right for him,” where at Lehigh he was told several times to, “pick Lehigh because we are better.” S said that while he loves the school, he has to decide if he wants to turn into someone who thinks like that. I am hoping to read a few other reviews to see if anyone else had similar or different experiences.