Personal Info
- Major: Retirement! (I was a math major and a CS professor)
- High School: Westmont High School, Campbell, CA, Graduated 1969
- Current year at UVU: Retired after 21 years (Professor Emeritus)
- Favorite Ice cream: Butter Pecan
Favorite Books
- The Broken Heart, Bruce C. Hafen
- The Mature Mind, Harry A. Overstreet
- Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
- Red Prophet, Orson Scott Card
- The Love Map, Carol Lynn Pearson
A Limerick
On Valentine's Day years ago I was listening to Prairie Home Companion on the radio when they invited people to compose a limerick in real time and email it in. I submitted five in a hurry. Alas, they didn't use any of mine on the air :-(. I showed them to a friend later and he responded, "Keep your day job." :-). Here's the one that my wife liked best:
That to try one's hand in romance
Is a dangerous notion,
If you treasure emotion,
Only the noblest hearts take the chance.
Personal Interests
Music has always been an important part of my life. I started teaching myself guitar at age 14, and discovered classical guitar at age 19. In 2000 (age 49) I recorded a selection of classical numbers which you can listen to here. Sadly, I remain much an amateur, but that's mainly because I was so busy with my career as a software developer and then a CS professor at UVU, not to mention being a husband and a father of two. I played Un Dia de Noviembre by Cuban composer Leo Brouwer at the convocation of the College of Technology and Computing (now CET) at UVU in May 2009. I had to take a hiatus from guitar from 2015–2023 for one reason or another, after which I started taking lessons from a master. You can see videos from a recent recital here.
I also enjoy technical writing. I have written over 100 articles for various journals and magazines and have published 3 books:
- C and C++ Code Capsules: A Guide for Practitioners
- Thinking in C++: Volume 2: Practical Programming (written originally for CS 3370)
- Foundations of Computing: An Accessible Introduction to Formal Languages (still used in CS 3240)
Teaching is probably my biggest passion. I love learning and sharing what I learn. Even when I was a full-time software developer (1978–2001) I would teach night classes or on-site classes for my fellow employees. I took a 50% cut in pay to join the CS faculty at UVU in 2001, retiring in 2022. I was Faculty Senate President (2008–2010), and Department Chair (2013–2016) and received the following awards:
- Faculty Senate Faculty Award of Excellence (2003–2004)
- Alumni Outstanding Educator of the Year (2003–2004)
- Board of Trustees Award of Excellence (2009–2010)
- Alumni Outstanding Educator of the Year (2012–2013)
- Alumni Outstanding Educator of the Year (2015–2016)
- College of Engineering and Technology Scholar Award of Excellence (2019)
Although I am now retired, I can't stop teaching. I joined the part-time mathematics faculty at Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois in 2023, teaching, among other things, Discrete Mathematical Structures (UVU's CS 2300)!