Highlights at IBM-IFPA

IBM saw the importance of telecommunications to its future, and realized that its highly specialized professional telecommunications staff needed to be cross-trained in the other areas of the field so as to promote the integration of its physical and logical networks. IBM foresaw the "digital revolution" that was about to emerge. It was decided to create a sequence of six generic graduate-level courses in telecommunications to broaden the ranks of its technical staff.

Eventually fourteen (14) classes having a total of 371 graduates would be offered over the years 1988 through 1992. Of this group, about half would complete the Master's Degree Program at Pace.

Listed below are selected highlights of my years with IBM-IFPA:

• Was instrumental in the development of a graduate level sequence of six courses (18 credits) in telecommunications, called the Graduate Telecommunications Program (GTP). GTP has proven to be a highly successful Pace/IBM joint program. Materials developed during this project have become the core of Pace's Master's of Science in Telecommunications program (36 credits) offered through the School of Computer Science and Information Systems.

• Served as program evaluator of the Graduate Telecommunications Program. This has involved the development of an evaluation plan as well as the conducting of a variety of evaluation studies leading to improvements in program quality.

• Co-developed and taught an intensive four day mathematics and electronics review which served as a preparatory course in the Graduate Telecommunications Program.