This past year’s search did not yield a new computer science (CS) professor, but professors say that the process continues in an effort to accommodate the increasing number of students in the department.

The computing career job market has grown significantly within the past few years, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the market is projected to continue in an upward direction. The organization predicts that there will be an average of 29,820 jobs added to the market each year until 2026.

An article on the CS department website titled “The Market For Computing Careers” stated that, in the near future, three of five jobs in fields such as science or engineering will be for computing.

“The job market for computer scientists is very hot and the number of majors joining at schools is at an all time high,” said CS professor Victor Norman. “Having computer programming experience in many different fields, especially the sciences, will set you apart, which is a reason why so many students take the courses.”

Since student demand for CS courses is high, there has been a greater need for another professor in the department. The current student to faculty ratio for those classes is 20 to 1, which is quite a bit higher than the average of about 15 to 1 in courses outside the CS department.

“Since there are so many openings at different colleges and universities around the country, it makes it really hard to hire since the candidates have so many options to choose from,” Norman said.

At the conclusion of the 2015-2016 school year, professor Serita Nelesen left Calvin. This led to a new position becoming available and the need for a professor in the department. Because of the timing of Nelesen’s, the department didn’t have time to interview to fill her position for the coming academic year.

During the 2016-2017 year, Derek Shuurman joined the faculty. For the 2017-2018 year, there was another position opened to applicants, but the department was unable to fill it.

The CS department has emphasized the needs for more faculty. While each advising session usually should last about 30 minutes, some are now being cut in half because there are so many students assigned one professor.

According to professor Joel Adams, most faculty members are currently advising about 40 students.

“We could give our advisees more time if we had more faculty,” Adams said.

If a new professor were hired, professors who are now working at or above the maximum of credit hours they can teach would be able to lower that amount. The department would also be able to increase the number of sections for courses they offer already.

Norman hopes that the department will soon find a candidate who will bring both excellent teaching and a new perspective to the department.

“We would love to hire a minority or female professor. As of right now we are all white males, which is okay, but some diversity would be very welcomed here,” said Norman. “There are definitely many good potential people out there and the job market is very open right now so we will have to wait and see what happens in the future.”