Indiana University

Skip to:

  1. Search
  2. Breadcrumb Navigation
  3. Content
  4. Browse by Topic
  5. Services & Resources
  6. Additional Resources
  7. Multimedia News

Media Contacts

Wendy Elliot
IU School of Informatics
welliot@indiana.edu
812-856-1079

David Bricker
IU Media Relations
brickerd@indiana.edu
812-856-9035

Last modified: Friday, March 25, 2005

Computer Science and Informatics agree to merge

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Administrators, faculty and staff in Indiana University Bloomington's College of Arts and Sciences, the IUB Department of Computer Science and the IU School of Informatics have agreed to move computer science from the College to the School of Informatics.

In order to proceed, the merger must receive the approval of IU Bloomington Chancellor Kenneth R.R. Gros Louis, which could happen early next week. If the chancellor gives the plan his assent, the merger should be complete before fall semester 2005.

The move will not affect faculty and staff salaries or student degree programs. Course offerings in informatics and computer science will remain unaltered. The computer science bachelor of arts degree, a liberal arts degree, will continue to be awarded by the College of Arts and Sciences. Other computer science degrees will be awarded by the School of Informatics.

Administrative offices for the newly expanded informatics school will continue to be located in the Informatics Building at 901 E. 10th St. on the Bloomington campus. Computer science faculty and staff will remain in Lindley Hall while informatics faculty will remain in the Informatics Building and Eigenmann Hall.

More than a dozen faculty already have joint appointments in computer science and informatics or are full-time faculty in one unit with formal affiliations in the other. For more information about how the merger will impact faculty, staff and students, please see https://www.informatics.indiana.edu/news/csfaq.asp.

Since the IUB Department of Computer Science was founded in 1969 (as part of the College of Arts and Sciences), it has grown to employ 31 faculty. The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest of IU's schools, with over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in 176 degree programs. The IU School of Informatics, the nation's first such school, offers courses in Bloomington, Indianapolis and South Bend to more than 1,400 undergraduate and graduate students. In Bloomington, IU Informatics has 40 faculty, 77 graduate students and 465 undergraduate students.

The IU School of Informatics has developed three areas of focus since its founding in 1999. Human-centered informatics examines how people interact with personal computers, Web sites, and handheld digital devices. Domain-centered informatics aids disciplines such as medicine, security, chemistry and even music that can benefit from information technology. Informatics' third area of focus is oriented toward software and hardware -- it is the area expected to be most strengthened by the addition of computer science. The Indiana Committee for Higher Education recently approved IU's request to begin administering an informatics Ph.D. degree program on the university's Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses.

To speak with Indiana University School of Informatics Dean J. Michael Dunn, please contact Wendy Elliot, IU School of Informatics, at 812-856-1079 or welliot@indiana.edu. To speak with IU Department of Computer Science Chair Andrew Hanson, please contact David Bricker, IU Media Relations, at 812-856-9035 or brickerd@indiana.edu.