Steve Baber, Ph.D. Prof, Compo Sc i. Timothy Baird, Ph.D. Prof, Compo Sc i., Dept. Chair Harmon Brown, Ph.D. Prof, Math Gene Dugger, M.S. Prof , Math Debbie Duke, Ed .D. Asso . Pro! , Math Frank McCown, B.S. Asso. Inst., CompoSci. Bill Oldham, Ed.D . Pro! , Math, Dir/ Math £duc. Scon Ragsdale, M.S.E. Ass't Pro! , Compo Sci. Steve Smith, Ph .D . Pro!, Math Travis Thompson, Ph.D. Pro! , Ma th, Ass '! to Dean/Col/ese ofArts & Sciences Cfrogramming team excels; 'Ihompsongains knowledgefor classroom Computer Science Harding has always had talented students who conque red the working world when they left, but none like the extraordinary computer programming team. They won first place in a five-state computer programming compet it io n s ponsored by the Associa tion for Computing and Machinery CACM) and IBM in the fa ll. The team, consisting of seniors Gabrie l Foust and Jonathan Ultis and junio r David Duke, beat 80 other undergraduate teams, including the universities of Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Il linois and Missouri. Harding's team also placed second in the overall standings, which included graduate school programs. The team pract iced in mock programming sessions using probl ems from pa st competitions. "Working on previous competi tions' problems was helpful , but the most he lpful part of our preparation was the last week when we focused on teamwork ," Foust said. "The team didn 't know the actual problems before ge tt ing to the competition. They were presented six problems in a sealed envelope and were required to complete as many of them as they could in the time pe riod ," Dr. Steve Babe r , professor of math and computer science at Harding and a member of the ACM steering committee, said . Harding's second ream, comprised of Neil Chil son, Karina Lungo and Kevin Pieckiel, finished impressively in the number five spot among unde rg radu ate teams and tenth overall. "I feel that Hardi ng's teams represented our school incredibly we ll ," Chilson sa id. "I'm glad I could participate in that success." Harding and the other winners of the programming competition went to Atlanta, Ga., in February to compete in the international match, and the Harding team finished tied for 26th overall and ninth amoung American universities. More than 1200 teams from five continents competed. - Jeff Krinks Math Tra v is Thomps o n a t te n d e d Hard ing in the late 60s and a lways dreamed of coming back to his alma mater someday. In 1985, Thompson reali zed that dream. He was hired as an associate professor and, in 1987, began to serve as assistant to the dean of artS and sciences, a role he still fulfill s today. In 1990, he was promoted to full professor, teachi ng a mix of both uppe r- and lower-level mathematics and computer science courses. Thompson has been affiliated with the American Mathematical Associa t io n of Two -Year Co ll eges CAMATYC) since 1977. He said the o rgani zat io n ha s abo ut 1,500 members across the nation. "It is not a research organization but one tha t focuses on the first two years o f coll ege mathematiCS," he said . "It's a good organi za tion to focus on the fundamentals. " In 20 years of involvement with AMATYC, Thompson has served as a voting delega te to the nat ional assembly fo r both Louisiana and Arkansas and on the edito rial board of the association's publica tion, the Senior computer science major Gabriel Foust helps f reshman Catherine Owen with thefttndamentals o/programming. Foust, a member 0/ the computer p rogramming team, taught help sessions throughout the week/o r/ellowstudents. Photo by Brian Hendricks. AMI! TYe Review. He also served as cha irp erso n fo r the nat i ona l convention in Little Rock in 1995. Thompson used his involvement in the AMATYC to broaden the base of knowledge he presented in the classroom. Thompson defined his outlook on education and li fe in simple terms he related to all professions:"You always learn by seeing how other people do th ings. The re are othe r ways o f doing things.You see that at theconventions and get your own ideas, and you come ba ck a nd adapt to th e environment. " Thompson's dedication to his pro fession made it clear that these were more than just words; they were the story of a man trul y focused on doing all he could for students. - Scott Loftis Academi cs 79 t1iil
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