Overview

• For the 2009-2010 academic year, 1,806 master's level students and 1,306 undergraduate students were enrolled at the College of Computing and Digital Media .

• DePaul expanded its computer science department into a technology school in 1995, and was one of the first universities in the country to merge the teaching of computer science and telecommunications when it launched the School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information Systems (CTI). The school expanded again and changed its name in 2008 to the College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM). The college now has two schools: the School of Computing and the School of Cinema and Interactive Media.

• DePaul’s CDM produces more than 35 percent of Illinois' post-baccalaureate information technology work force.

• The college has approximately 80 full-time faculty and numerous adjunct lecturers who come from distinguished research, academic and industry backgrounds, and who teach more than 200 courses.

• DePaul’s CDM has research laboratories for artificial intelligence, computer vision and graphics, digital media, distributed computing, electronic commerce, high performance computing, human-computer interaction, Java, local area networks, multimedia, software engineering, telecommunications and computer telephony.

• Innovative research at the college has included the development of a computer program that translates spoken English into computer animated American Sign Language (ASL). College of Computing and Digital Media's ASL Project was named as one of the nation's "Most Innovative Solutions" by Speech Technology Magazine in 2003.

Programs

• Undergraduate degrees are offered in computer games development, computer graphics, animation, digital cinema, e-commerce, network technologies, information technology, information assurance and security, interactive media, computer science and information systems. The college also offers a doctoral degree in computer science. In addition,

• Graduate degrees are offered in computer science, computer graphics, animation, digital cinema, distributed systems, human-computer interaction, information systems, instructional technology systems, information technology project management, management information systems, network security, software engineering and telecommunications.

• CDM also offers a doctoral degree in computer science. In addition, it offers seven joint degree programs in conjunction with other colleges at the university, including computational finance, business information technology, computing, math/computer science, applied technology and law/computer science.

• The college's Institute for Professional Development (IPD) offers 10- to 12-week certificate programs that train students in areas of information technology. IPD offers certificate programs in Java, local area networks, telecommunications, Visual C++, Web commerce, Web designer, Web developer and Windows software development. More than 6,500 professionals have completed IPD programs.

•  About 22 percent of DePaul’s College of Computing and Digital Media’s total credit hours are generated by students who choose online, distance learning option.

Distinctions

• DePaul’s CDM is a recognized national leader in computer network security and information assurance education, according to the National Security Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. DePaul was named as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance by the two agencies in early 2005, a designation that was renewed in 2008. 

• The college was one of only six schools nationwide (and the only one in the Midwest) selected by Sony Pictures Imageworks to take part in the inaugural Imageworks Professional Academic Excellence (IPAX) program. The program is a collaboration to educate faculty and structure curricula in an effort to develop future artists, designers, animators and engineers who will help the visual effects industry to grow.

• DePaul’s groundbreaking digital cinema program, one of the first of its kind in the nation, combines the artistic principles of film school programs with the technology expertise of digital graphics, visual effects and digital storytelling. The program’s first independent film, “William’s Left Ear,” premiered in June 2006 at the program’s outdoor film festival in Lincoln Park.

•  DePaul was one of the first universities in the nation to offer a master's degree in e-commerce technology, which was launched in1999.

• The college was one of the first schools in the country to offer the Computer Career Program, a 30-week accelerated certificate program that re-trains people with non-technology bachelor's degrees to enter the computer field. More than 5,500 people have graduated from this IPD certificate program, which teaches structured programming techniques, online transaction processing, relational database technology, and systems analysis and design.

• DePaul is a registered non-governmental organization (NGO) at the United Nations, and as part of the relationship, the university has placed graduate students into technology internships at the United Nations. A group of 40 CDM students, faculty and staff  began developing, deploying and managing the Web sites of more than 40 developing countries with Permanent Missions to the United Nations as part of the U.N.’s Assistance for Permanent Missions Web sites project.

About the Dean

• David Miller, a veteran computer science educator and administrator at DePaul, was named dean of CDM in 2007. Miller joined DePaul as an assistant professor in 1981 and became interim dean in 2005. His areas of expertise include artificial intelligence and computation theory. An Ohio native, Miller holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Ohio Wesleyan University and master’s and doctoral degrees in mathematics from the University of Chicago.

DePaul’s College of Computing and Digital Media's Web site is: www.cdm.depaul.edu