Program Background

CSU, Chico
Continuing Education—Extending the Reach of the University
The Electronic Delivery System
The Master Of Science Degree In Computer Science
Bachelor Of Science Degree In Computer Science

CSU, Chico

California State University, Chico, located in Northern California, 99 miles north of the state capital of Sacramento, was established in 1887 as California's second State Normal School. CSU, Chico is the second oldest institution in the 23-campus California State University system.

The University is a comprehensive institution, with a budget of approximately $100 million a year, offering bachelor's and master's degrees in a variety of subjects. There are approximately 16,000 students at the University with 1,800 faculty and staff, and the greater community of Chico has about 65,000 residents.

CSU, Chico has the largest service area of the various campuses: 33,000 square miles of northern California, or approximately 21% of the land mass of California. There is a resident population in this region of 700,000 individuals, or 2.4% of the state's population. CSU, Chico is committed to finding innovative ways to provide quality education to individuals who live away from campus.

Continuing Education—Extending the Reach of the University

In 1969 CSU, Chico began offering External Degree programs at community college locations in Northern California. Cycles of courses were offered by faculty who drove to these locations to teach; hundreds of degrees were awarded in this manner. This method of sending faculty to various remote locations has now been replaced by the electronic delivery system.

The Center for Regional and Continuing Education is the major outreach organization of the university and works with institutions and individuals throughout the university's service area. This office coordinates all Summer Session, Extension, non-credit programs, and professional development workshops for the university. The Center also coordinates Chico Distance & Online Education and works with the on-campus department offices to create the cycle of existing courses delivered throughout California.

Finally, the coordination of the teleconferencing facilities (including the origination classrooms, the broadcast studios, and both the C- and Ku-band transmit earth stations) is also handled by the Center for Regional and Continuing Education. Given the variety of courses and teleconferences being delivered electronically from this campus, it is imperative that these facilities be carefully coordinated. The Center works with many entities on campus to keep the teleconferencing facilities running smoothly.

The Electronic Delivery System

In the late 1960s and into 1970, a study of the needs of higher education in rural Northern California was conducted by the California Coordinating Council of Higher Education. A direct result of this report was the creation of the extensive Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) system throughout Northern California.

In 1975, through a variety of funding sources, including system-wide funds and federal dollars from the United States Department of Commerce (NTIA), an ITFS/Microwave link was established between California State University, Chico and the University of California at Davis, 92 miles south of Chico. The link was created to allow the Department of Computer Science at UC, Davis to use CSU, Chico Computer Science courses for their developing Ph.D. program in Computer Science.

The initial ITFS/Microwave system expanded to 16 sites throughout Northern California. At CSU, Chico ITFS stands for Instructional Television For Students. Single courses and entire degree programs were delivered electronically throughout Northern California. Throughout the life of this delivery method, thousands of students were admitted, enrolled, and earned degrees while continuing to live in their home communities.

When the use of the ITFS system was discontinued in 1995, the most distant ITFS receive site was located in a high school in Yreka, 173 miles north of the Chico State campus. The eastern leg of the system went 140 miles over the Sierra Nevada Mountains into the United States Sierra Army Depot. The eastern link provided courses to residents in Grass Valley, 90 miles from campus, and the southwest leg extended 49 miles into a county schools office in Colusa.

The Master Of Science Degree In Computer Science

After the ITFS system was in place, the university began to look to satellite-delivery of degree programs. In 1984 the university installed a 10 meter C-band Scientific Atlanta transmit earth station on campus. At the same time, the Hewlett-Packard Company was installing a Ku-band satellite network, with their satellite uplink located at the HP facilities in Roseville, California. In fall 1984, CSU, Chico began offering courses leading to the master's degree in Computer Science, live via satellite, to Hewlett-Packard employees at their locations in five western states. Initially the courses were delivered via ITFS/Microwave to the HP site in Roseville and then were uplinked over the HP Ku-band earth station. In 1986 Hewlett-Packard donated their Roseville uplink to CSU, Chico, and until 2000 when satellite delivery was transitioned to live Internet delivery, the Computer Science courses were broadcast directly from the campus. Thus, CSU, Chico became one of the few institutions in the United States to own and control both C- and Ku-band uplink facilities. Since 1984 CSU, Chico's Computer Science Program has grown to include 17 companies (Alcoa, AT&T, Bently Nevada, China Lake Naval Weapons Center, General Electric, General Dynamics, Grass Valley Group, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, MCI, Pacific Bell, Rockwell International, Siemens, Tandem Computers, Triad Systems, Texas Instruments) with sites throughout the United States.

Each semester, a number of Computer Science courses are offered live. A two-year cycle of courses is established to allow students to make long-range plans to earn a degree in Computer Science from CSU, Chico. The Continuing Education Manager for Corporate Engineering at HP has pointed out that technology has allowed them to overcome isolation, "Technology can help compensate for the shortage of engineering and math faculty and can make education accessible to isolated areas. To maximize these opportunities, careful planning and resource sharing are absolutely necessary.

Bachelor Of Science Degree In Computer Science

After requests from several companies, CSU, Chico now also offers the bachelor's degree in Computer Science. This program combines courses taken at other academic institutions, with 17 courses (51 units) offered from CSU, Chico, to allow participating company employees to complete a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from California State University, Chico. It seems very fitting, given its long history in distance education and the use of electronic delivery, that CSU, Chico was among the first institutions to offer a distance-delivered bachelor's degree.