Chuck Allison


Chuck Allison in 2019
Chuck in 2019

Personal Info

Favorite Books

  1. The Broken Heart, Bruce C. Hafen
  2. The Mature Mind, Harry A. Overstreet
  3. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
  4. Red Prophet, Orson Scott Card
  5. 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:

'Tis common knowledge in France
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:

  1. C and C++ Code Capsules: A Guide for Practitioners
  2. Thinking in C++: Volume 2: Practical Programming (written originally for CS 3370)
  3. 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:

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)!