Dr. Koru will be teaching IS 460/600 Health Informatics - I in Fall 2014. The course is a regular face-to-face on campus course scheduled for Tuesdays 4:30 - 7:00 pm.

As the healthcare industry is going through major transitions and changes, health information systems and technology gain a major renewed focus. While it is widely believed that supporting the complex US health ecosystem will be very difficult without health IT, leveraging the existing and emerging health information technologies remain an important challenge. The initiatives and incentives provided by the US Federal Government in this decade marks only the beginning of a new era.

This course will provide a thorough overview of information systems and their importance in the healthcare industry. A detailed discussion of the primary clinical and administrative uses of health information will be provided along with health information technologies such electronic health records, decision support systems, etc. How can a student benefit from this course? In addition to increasing students' capacity to further explore this topic (by taking Health Informatics - II) and to conduct research, what an earlier student wrote in a thank-you email (below) says a lot about how this course can positively affect students' job opportunities in the future.

Dear Dr. Koru,

I was in your Health Informatics I class during the Fall 2012 semester. I graduated with my Master's in IS back in May, I am currently employed as a web application developer for a company that develops health-IT related systems. I wanted to thank you for all that you taught me during that class. So much of what I learned in your class has helped me in my new job. In addition, I was told during my initial interview that the fact that I had taken a dedicated health IT class was a major factor in deciding to invite me in for an interview, as they considered that a major bonus (the actual job announcement didn't require any health-IT experience, although it was preferred).

I really wanted to take the time to let you know how much your class has positively impacted my life. I honestly believe that having a health IT class on my resume is what turned me from just another one of hundreds of IT graduates looking for work into someone who stood out, at least for this company. And on top of that, I feel that I have been able to adjust to my new job so much faster than if I hadn't taken your class. Otherwise, I would still be struggling to understand most of the jargon in meetings.

Once again, thank you for everything.

Dr. Nagaraj Neerchal, GM and Head of Math Gym Operations, made a presentation at the MD-DC-VA Regional meetings of the Mathematical Association of America held at James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA on April 26, 2014.

Partnership pairs DBmaestro with ANTYCIP Technologies, a leading consulting and systems integration firm.

Rebecca Adelman, assistant professor in the Department of Media and Communication Studies, has authored a new book, “Beyond the Checkpoint: Visual Practices in America’s Global War on Terror” (The University of Massachusetts Press, 2014).

Since the 9/11 attacks on U.S. soil, American citizenship has been redefined by the visual images associated with the Global War on Terror (GWOT). Rebecca A. Adelman contends that, in viewing images such as security footage of the 9/11 hijackers, film portrayals of the attacks and subsequent wars, memorials commemorating the attacks, and even graphics associated with increased security in airports, American citizens have been recast as militarized spectators, brought together through the production, circulation, and consumption of these visual artifacts. Beyond the Checkpoint reveals that the visual is essential to the prosecution of the GWOT domestically and abroad, and that it functions as a crucial mechanism in the ongoing formation of the U.S. state itself and an essential component of contemporary American citizenship.

Tracing the connections between citizenship and spectatorship, and moving beyond the close reading of visual representations, this book focuses on the institutions and actors that create, monitor, and regulate the visual landscape of the GWOT. Adelman looks around and through common images to follow the complex patterns of practice by which institutions and audiences engage them in various contexts. In the process, she proposes a new methodology for studying visual cultures of conflict, and related phenomena like violence, terror, and suffering that are notoriously difficult to represent.

Attending to previously unanalyzed dimensions of this conflict, this book illustrates the complexity of GWOT visual culture and the variegated experiences of citizenship that result as Americans navigate this terrain.

Bonnie Miller, author of “From Liberation to Conquest: The Visual and Popular Cultures of the Spanish-American War of 1898” (The University of Massachusetts Press, 2011) writes, “Ambitious in scope and argument, this book stands to make an important contribution to the fields of visual culture, international relations/political science, and American studies.”

Click here for more information.

Too many great quotes in this essay by Peter Welch . I'll just pick this one:

Right now someone who works for Facebook is getting tens of thousands of error messages and frantically trying to find the problem before the whole charade collapses. There's a team at a Google office that hasn't slept in three days. Somewhere there's a database programmer surrounded by empty Mountain Dew bottles whose husband thinks she's dead. And if these people stop, the world burns. Most people don't even know what sysadmins do, but trust me, if they all took a lunch break at the same time they wouldn't make it to the deli before you ran out of bullets protecting your canned goods from roving bands of mutants.

Over-the-top hilariously negative, but you can feel the love through it.

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Programming Sucks is a post from CSS-Tricks

With so much bad news buffering our brains, it is refreshing to report something upbeat.

The high school graduation rate has exceeded 80% for the first time in U.S. history. 

The National Center for Education Statistics also predicts that it can top 90% in 2020.  And as the president of the America’s Promise Alliances stated:

“This is really, really good news.”

What has caused these increased percentages?

1. Progress for Minorities: Curbing drop-out rates for students, especially African-American and Hispanic students, has been largely attributed to the shutting down of failing urban schools. 

2. Helping Low-Income Students: In Connecticut, 70% of low-income students graduate compared to the 94% of their wealthier peers. The lower-income graduation rate saw a huge increase by expanding magnet and charter schools which contributes to more engaged students and thus higher graduation rates.

3. Less Rigorous Curriculum: In some states, graduation rates have been aided by less demanding course loads. In Florida, student no longer need chemistry, physics, or Algebra II to graduate. Nevada also lowered the score needed to pass their math examination. These changes in curriculum have allowed more students to reach the pedestal to grab their diploma. 

4. More Schooling Options: In Texas, a state with an 88% graduation a rate, students have more options to reach graduation. The state expanded nigh schooling and have the option to choose from different schools in their region that focus on studies they enjoy. 

While the 80% can celebrate with their mortarboards and diplomas, the nation cannot forget the other 20%. There are still huge areas of improvement that must be made to ensure every student hears their name called at graduation.

What do you think? What is the best way for the United States to improve graduation rates?