Retiring Computer Science Professor David Riley saw many changes over 39 years
Dave Riley began teaching at UWL in fall 1978. He came to campus after earning a bachelor’s degree from Wartburg College in 1973, and a master’s and doctorate in computer science from the University of Iowa in 1977 and 1978, respectively. He retired at the end of the spring semester. Before he cleaned out his Wing Technology Center office, we asked him a few questions.
- What brought you to UW-La Crosse in 1978?
I came to UWL because it had, and still has, the strongest instructional computer science department in the upper Midwest. There are other excellent research-focused CS programs, but such departments must often sacrifice undergraduate and master’s-level instruction. UWL has always valued scholarly activity, and in computer science we must do research to remain current, but our faculty maintain the perspective that students come first.
- What department were you hired into?
I began my UWL days as an assistant professor in Computer Science. Except for two brief stints as interim directors in Academic Computing and Information Services, I remained in the CS Department. I also chaired the CS Department during most of my time here.
- The Computer Science Department is probably the one department that has rapidly evolved during your time here. What have been some of the most noteworthy changes you’ve seen?
According to Moore’s Law, computers today should be roughly 8,000 times smaller and faster than 39 years ago. That is reasonably accurate from a purely hardware point of view. In terms of programming languages, I can count at least 25 that I’ve worked with, and our department has transitioned through at least five core languages during this time.
Perhaps the more important changes in computers have been in the way they relate to and impact society. In the late 1970s, computers were expensive, owned only by large firms and universities. Most of the applications were scientific, financial or database related. In those days, UWL, like most campuses, operated a single instructional computer and students had to type their programs on punched cards, or later on computer terminals.
In 1980 the IBM PC ushered in a new world of personal computers.
Desktop computers were a bit pricey for students so universities provided laboratories and computer-based classrooms. The most widely used applications on the desktop were probably word processing and spreadsheets. Our CS Department was fortunate to have devoted labs where students could write their programs on desktop computers more powerful than most personal computers of the day.
About a decade after the introduction of the PC, Tim Berners-Lee invented the concept we know today as the World Wide Web. Web-surfing joined email as leading software applications. The underlying technology that made all this possible was networking. The Internet really grew out of older networks that those of us in Computer Science had already been using for some time, but suddenly the Internet and its resources serve to connect our world electronically.
The next societal change is a shift to smaller and more mobile computers. This transition is difficult to pinpoint in time. Certainly, the Osborne 1 had proven that luggable computer could be manufactured in the early 1980s. However, laptop, then pad-style, cell phones and eventually computer watches didn’t really become popular until much later.
Today most university computer labs have become obsolete because students prefer their own laptops, or smaller computers. This change has been accompanied by the ability to use shared storage in the cloud and streaming video. We’re also beginning to see a resurgence of artificial intelligence, often in the form of machine learning through software like IBM’s Watson.
While personal computers have flourished by communicating directly with us humans, computing devices have also become ubiquitously embedded. TVs abandon old analog technology, using internal computers to handle the computer-generated digital signals. Film photography is replaced by digital cameras. Automobiles rely first on software to provide anti-lock brakes and traction control, then later collision avoidance, adaptive speed control, and (albeit experimental just yet) autonomous vehicles.
Today, the first thing that happens when a car is serviced is that it is connected to a service computer that “talks” to the several computers embedded within the vehicle. The current work in the Internet of Things only serves to increase the number of ways that computers impact our lives in conjunction with the Internet.
- Over the past four decades, how have students changed?
Our CS Department has always been blessed with talented students. I can’t say that current CS majors are any more or less intelligent than when I began. I do, however, think that the average UWL student — someone who might attend one of our classes for non-majors — is academically stronger today.
From the perspective of computing devices, today’s students have always lived in a world with computers and the Internet, so they are not afraid of these technologies and they have some skills in their use.
To some extent this experience is good, but there is a dark side, as well. Cell phones have led to an exponential growth in texting. Unlike years past, students waiting in a hallway rarely speak to each other because they are too busy texting. I worry about how this might impact their verbal and socialization skills, not to mention their circle of friends.
I also have concerns about how hyperlinks in webpages have led to a kind of sound-bite generation. Students are quite accustomed to jumping from link to link and grabbing small pieces of information, but they tend to struggle more with linear information. I’ve noticed that today’s student is far less comfortable reading books than those in the past. Textbooks are no longer viewed as essential sources of reliable teaching material.
- What advice would you give to the person replacing you and others starting on campus in fall?
The truth is that our department has been fortunate to hire some gifted junior faculty. These young people have raised the quality of UWL’s computer science programs in almost every way. I hear similar statements from other UWL departments. So I’m not sure anything I could say about teaching or research would be of much value.
The one place where junior faculty might use a bit of help is in the area of shared governance. Through the years I have come to realize that faculty governance is not just a right, but a responsibility. The best decisions are made with broad input and thoughtful consideration. A university doesn’t operate well under a military-like chain of command from the governor to Board of Regents to chancellors to provosts to deans.
These political and administrative folk are important contributors to decisions, but they make better decisions when faculty take their job seriously and contribute. There were many times throughout my time at UWL when the Faculty Senate strongly disagreed with administrative individuals on major issues and made their opinions well known.
Sadly, such events haven’t really occurred in recent years. I’m not advocating for divisiveness, but collegial and professional disagreements more often than not lead to more discussion and often better decisions.
- What are your immediate plans for retirement?
Grandkids (ages 2.5, 2, and 0.8), photography, travel, fishing, kayaking and woodworking.
