Julius NadasChairperson, Dept. of Computer Information Systems, Wright North

Julius Nadas, Chairperson of the  Department of Computer Information Systems (CIS) at Wright North, has a knack for analogies.  For example: the one drawn between the computer science field and grizzly bears.

There are two guys sitting around a campfire, see.  A bear comes along and chases them up a hill.  While running, one shouts "That's a grizzly."  "Yeah," shouts the other."   "They're carnivores."  "Yeah."  "They can run fast uphill and climb trees."  "Yeah"  "We don't stand a chance." "I'm not outrunning the grizzly.  I'm outrunning you!"

There is something "bear-like" about Nadas; he's a big guy with a beard and big hands and he has a sign above his office that reads, "Area Closed -- Bear Danger."  He's more like a gentle, brown, berry-eating bear than a meat-eating grizzly, but if necessary, Nadas plays a comparable role to the grizzly when it comes to motivating his students.

He tells his students to approach their education from the consumer's perspective; know their teacher and expect the best, but be prepared to give their best, too.  Because once they graduate, they face tough competition in the field of computer science.

"Last semester  one of our students, who graduated with an Associates Degree in Computer Information Systems, got a $35,000 a year job," said Nadas, "She's in her early twenties . . . Some people hope to win the lottery.   Others hope to be rewarded by working hard."

Nadas has been working with Wright College students since 1976, when he came on as full-time faculty.  He's served as Chair of CIS for five years now, and also serves as the Grievance Chair, Wright Chapter, Cook County College Teachers' Union.  He came from Sperry Univac, a company that made the first commercial computer back in 1954.  Since then, he said, he's just been watching computer prices go down, and students' interest go up.

"The students we work with are fantastic," said Nadas, "They range from precocious kids still at the high school level (15-16 years old, working on early college credit) all the way to a student in her late eighties."

 

Annette Alibhai, CIS Dept. Secretary, didn't know computers before she came to Wright North. Now she regularly logs on to Rocketmail for e-mail and other Internet access.

Naturally, with such a range, students come to college with varying skill levels and different areas of interest; hence, they require different methods of teaching.  Perhaps Nadas' experience with four kids of his own that span the spectrum of the academic process –  grade school, high school, college and graduate school – helps him easily adapt to his college students' differing needs.

"The places where we have difficulty are with students who are under a lot of pressure," said Nadas, "Say someone lost a job because it's been computerized.  In most cases, there's no industry training for computer skills.  So for these students, their stress level complicates the learning process; they're more concerned about their performance than about learning what they're doing."

Introduction to Microcomputers is the CIS department's most popular course and one of Nadas' favorites.  In this course, students range from folks who never turned on a computer before to people who've been working with computers for several years, but their contact may be narrow in scope; they may know word processing and spreadsheet software and that's it.

This semester, he's also teaching System Analysis, Advanced COBOL, Visual Basic and "C" (another programming language).  Nadas is looking forward to college-wide teacher and student access to interactive web page instruction, multimedia equipment and more.

"Jane Wagner (English 102 Coordinator) and Maryls Styne (English Department Chairperson) are using their own web pages for their students," said Nadas, "Wagner investigates sites on the web and assigns students to do their own investigations."

Open Lab TAs at Wright North, Paul Frentz and Faisal Sheikh , help users with Windows 3.1, Windows ‘95, Turbo Pasal, Q-Basic, COBOL, Access, and all aspects of the Microsoft Office package.

Wright North provides Internet access on computers in the Internet lab, the English 102 lab and on several PCs in the library.  Students have free access to e-mail from RocketMail and HotMail accounts.

"Every department in this school is involved with computers in some way," said Nadas, "From foreign language to math, business to physical science and biology.  The bulk of our students learn computers through English classes . . Keith McCoy and Sharda Gudehithlu are young teachers in the Math Department who really use computers in teaching.  They're biting at the bit for interactive web access."

To help teachers keep up-to-pace, Nadas is working on acquiring laptops for full-time faculty.  He'd like the lap- tops to be loaded with PowerPoint, a program which provides an excellent way to prepare lecture notes.  Indeed, the CIS job market that City Colleges' students face require both students and faculty  be up and running – fast.

"When I get a new student who wants me to teach them about computers, I want to know how much the student really wants to know," said Nadas.

Nadas provides this analogy: if his students want to know about time, he'll ask them if they want to know the time of day, the history of clock development, or perhaps even quantum theory and relativity in relation to time.  With teaching, sometimes, a different route is the best way to make a direct connection.  Nadas' irreverent humor helps with the learning process, too.

Julius Nadas can be reached at 773-481-8271.