In response to the search committee's request for information, I am enclosing a
copy of my CV which describes my past activities and accomplishments.  In
regards to my qualifications, my past leadership and administrative positions
include being the Directory of the Laboratory for Advanced Networking, PI on
large research projects, and a school board chairman.

It has been exciting to be part of a department that has grown in size and
international prominence since I came here.  When thinking about the state of
the department, I believe that we have made tremendous strides and are on
right track for the future.  In that sense, I feel the department needs to
continue on the trajectory already in place.  I can't say I have a platform or
personal agenda/plan (as requested by your email), but I can -- like all of
us -- identify areas where further improvement is possible.  Having said that,
the areas I list are ones that come immediately to mind.  Certainly others
will have other areas/ideas -- ideas better than my own.  Clearly, any ideas
for improvement that we (as a department) decide to adopt should have broad
support, not just my input.

Some areas of improvement are clear to everyone, such as building a new
facility to house the entire department/laboratories and bring everyone back
together again.  Other areas of potential improvement may be less obvious. Such
areas would need to be prioritized by the department and then addressed with
concrete plans.

One important area I think we can improve on is student recruitment, both at
the graduate and undergraduate level.  Clearly undergraduate enrollment and
retention is dropping and has been acknowledged as an area that we need to work
on. However, one can argue that attracting the top graduate students is also
extremely important as it directly affects the quality of our graduate
program, our research projects, papers published, and number of Ph.Ds
graduated.  In the past we have not actively recruited the best graduate
students.  Moreover it is getting harder to attract the best graduate students
given the number of options for them, and so this is an area that we must be
intentional about if we are to improve our program.

Another area that requires periodic reevaluation -- and will require evaluation
again in the not-to-distant future -- is the curriculum.  Computer science has
becoming a broad discipline, extending outside of what has historically been
considered the core CS areas.  Cross-disciplinary use of computer technology is
not only finding its way into research projects, but also into the curriculum
offered by some CS departments.  Unlike our previous curriculum revisions that
were mostly tweaks of the curriculum, I think we will need to give serious
thought to what it is we want students to learn in this changing landscape;
in fact, the issue is further complicated by the direction we see high school
computer science curriculum moving.

There are other areas where improvements could be made as well including
revising, streamlining, and automating certain processes and procedures in the
department, improving our visible image (brochures, web pages, etc),
reexamining our advising processes, expanding and strengthening coop programs,
improving our support infrastructure, expanding our staff, reevaluate our
educational labs and funding sources for them, identify new faculty growth
areas, and growing the faculty in these areas.  The department has been
extremely successful under Mirek's guidance, and he has positioned the
department to continue to excel in the future.  As UK moves toward its goal of
top twenty and begins to distribute resources to make that happen, it is
critical that CS continue to position itself as a top program in the
college/university, arguing for the resources we need to become a top-twenty
department. 

Jim