The UNC Greensboro men’s basketball team just qualified for the NCAA tournament and our team couldn’t be more excited. Our team of 12 is packed to the brim with UNCG grads and affiliates: 7 alumni, 2 university-affiliated spouses, and 2 instructors in the Department of Computer Science.
The Department of Computer Science was created in 2006 when the Department of Mathematical Sciences was split into two units: the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the Department of Computer Science. While the department is relatively new as an administrative unit, the courses and degree programs are high quality and mature, with a B.S. program offered since 1991 and an M.S. degree program offered since 1998. Computer science courses existed for over a decade prior to that as part of a computer science concentration within the mathematics B.S. degree. Department faculty have been with UNCG for as many as 20 years, giving continuity to instructional and research activities. The department has over 500 students pursuing either a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science or a minor in the discipline.
Xtern founder Keir Davis began teaching in the department in 2020 and teaches Programming Languages. He also is a part of the department’s Industry Advisory Board. Our Senior Web Developer, Ike Quigley, has been teaching in the department since 2016 and currently teaches Software Engineering.
For both, teaching has been the perfect complement to their day-to-day work. Says Keir, “I love getting back to basics and reconnecting with why I love software development.”
Ike added, "I like to give young software engineering students students a real world perspective and knowledge base that will help them in their careers. My class connects a lot of dots for students who haven't figured out how the theory of computer science gets applied to the real world. It's fun seeing them create working applications with the things they've learned in their other classes. And I give them insight on what it's like day-to-day working as a software developer, something they are all very curious about."
Our team is so proud of our UNCG ties and we are looking forward to cheering the basketball team on to victory!