jonathan hill – Seidenberg School News

Jonathan Hill reappointed as Dean of the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace University

The Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace University is delighted to announce that Jonathan Hill, DPS, has been reappointed as Dean.

After two years of service as Dean of the Seidenberg School (following one year as Interim Dean), Dr. Hill has built a list of achievements that have elevated the School as an institution of academic excellence and opportunity for our students. Under Dean Hill’s leadership, enrollment at the Seidenberg School has grown year over year, and the School’s presence on both New York City and Pleasantville campuses has improved with new construction work, additional lab space, and active participation in unique programs like the Design Factory Global Network (DFGN).

In a letter to the Pace community, President Marvin Krislov wrote, “We appreciate and admire Dean Hill’s many accomplishments for the Seidenberg School and for the University. We look forward to his continued success and progress.”

Dean Hill’s ability to engage students, faculty, and staff in the community is reflected in the culture of the Seidenberg School – or, as we like to say, our Seidenberg fam!

We very much look forward to supporting Dean Hill in his vision for the Seidenberg School and continuing to offer a great student experience for Seidenberg and Pace students alike.

Please join us in congratulating Dean Hill!

Accepted students came to meet us and it was awesome

The first weekend of March brought frigid temperatures, but many students who have been accepted to the Seidenberg School braved the weather to meet us for lunch and learn with the Dean events on both campuses.

On the Pleasantville campus, accepted students and their parents visited Seidenberg for the first time for a warm, friendly event that included games, presentations, lunch, and the chance to get to know our community a little better. Seidenberg students, faculty, and staff attended to meet with our prospective new students – it was a lot of fun and we were delighted to meet the students we have invited to join us in the fall.

To offer a little taste of our academic program, we held a cryptography competition: teams were given a decoder pinwheel and had to crack several codes. The first few to finish were awarded prizes, so the competition got pretty heated and many a Seidenberg t-shirt was won. Congratulations to our winners!

There were also presentations from Matt Ganis, a Seidenberg alum who works at IBM. Professor Ganis also teaches here at Seidenberg – he offers classes in programming for Python.

Dean Dr. Jonathan Hill also made some remarks.

“College is both a choice and a cultural fit,” said Dean Hill, emphasizing the importance of finding the right program and community for your individual needs.

The next day, in New York, the lunch and learn took place as part of an overnight #PaceBound event happening at Pace University. There was an impressive turnout as accepted students and their parents flocked to join us for presentations, food, and fun!

Just like the Pleasantville event, faculty, students and staff enjoyed meeting new accepted students and getting the opportunity to chat about just what makes Seidenberg so special.

Seidenberg students Connor, Melanie, Eiman and Christian sat on a panel discussion and shared their experiences and the opportunities they have received as students at Pace. They also offered tips on how to navigate college-work-internships balance and their favorite things about Seidenberg.

Guest appearances were also made in the form of Lego robots – part of a programming challenge that got students thinking about code (there’s no such thing as a day off here!).

Seeing programming come to life in a hands-on exercise really helps cement the idea of just what you can do with programming.

We very much hope that everybody who attended our lunch and learn events had an excellent time. We certainly did – and we hope to see you here in the fall!

Want to learn about upcoming events? Connect with us!

Seidenberg breakfast club enjoys #tacotuesday

It takes a lot to get some students out of bed early on a Tuesday morning, but the thought of hot breakfast tacos enticed people to leave their warm cocoons and join us for coffee and conversation over a hearty plate of food!

The Seidenberg Breakfast takes place every other Tuesday and offers a theme both in terms of cuisine and conversation topic. Each breakfast has a host who briefly discusses the topic (just for a minute or two!) while everyone enjoys the delicious fare. And at only $2 for all the food and coffee you can consume, it’s a pretty good deal!

Today’s theme was Seidenberg International, and the host was our very own Dean, Dr. Jonathan Hill.

“We are a very international school,” Dr. Hill said. “It’s important that all of us let our international colleagues and friends know that we love them and that we want them here and that we need them very, very much. The point of these [breakfasts] is to foster a greater sense of community. Our strength as a school is that community, and the heart of that strength is the fact that we are such an international place.”

We certainly are – many of our students, faculty, and staff hail from outside of the USA. The chance to learn from other cultures and viewpoints is one we hold dear to our community.

Dr. Hill preps breakfast early Tuesday morning

Beginning at 8:30 and (of course) running past its end time of 10am, the breakfast was overseen by Chef Olga Bogomolova, who ensured the cheese was adequately melted to perfection. Thanks to Olga and student Niamh Fitzsimon for organizing everything!

All are welcome at Seidenberg Breakfast, including students at other Pace colleges, staff and faculty, alumni, and friends and colleagues in the area! We are big on community and always happy to meet new friends. Keep an eye on our calendar for the next event!

Seidenberg represents at CERN Design Factory

In the STEM world, there are few places that will make people gasp with awe. CERN is one of them, and during one special week in December, several Seidenberg staff and faculty were there.

CERN is one of the world’s largest and most respected centers for scientific research. It’s also home to a Design Factory, which this year was the host of International Design Factory Week, an annual meeting of Design Factories around the globe to collaborate, bond, and have a good time with other members of the network.

Why were we there?

Pace University recently opened our very own entrant into the Design Factory Global Network (DGFN) – the NYC Design Factory. The purpose of these factories is to build a space within a community where members can research, collaborate, give and get feedback, and ultimately develop excellent ideas and products that solve problems. They do so using a methodology called Design Thinking, a non-traditional way of working that we hope to bring into the mainstream through NYC Design Factory and across the greater Seidenberg and Pace community.

But back to CERN. Delegates from Seidenberg included Dean Jonathan Hill, Professor Stacey Sarris, and Program Manager Olga Bogomolova. They flew out to Geneva, Switzerland, over the weekend preceding the Dec 12^th kickoff.

Checking out CERN

So what did our envoys think? “CERN was the perfect backdrop for a collaborative Design Factory global event given that CERN is proof that anything is possible and that’s what Design Factory is about!” said Professor Stacey Sarris.

“CERN is this amazing, dynamic place with thousands of scientists – most of them physicists with some computer scientists sprinkled in – who are working on some of the largest physics problems in the world today. You can’t not be inspired spending a day there among the world’s top science minds,” Dean Jonathan Hill said.

Do you want to collaborate?

45 people from 15 countries attended the event. Olga explained the benefits of having an annual get together. “We all have strengths and areas of focus, so when we get together we can exchange ideas and best practices and brainstorm ways of working together. Because we are so different, we can leverage our differences to create a wholesome experience for our students.

There are 16 universities or institutions around the world that think similarly and practice design thinking, project based learning; we have a similar way of thinking and doing things. By getting to know each other, you learn that if you want to work with an institution in Australia, Korea, China, Columbia, and so on, I can just send someone from that country’s design factory a message and say ‘I have an idea, do you want to collaborate?’

Just knowing that even if you don’t know someone in the country there is an institution of people that think the same way as you… it breaks down barriers. The week is great because we get to meet each other as human beings, which helps us work together.”

Top secret

International Design Factory Week has several goals. The first one is to meet and get to know one another. People were spending 10-16 hours per day with each other, so that wasn’t difficult! The second goal was to come up with a project for everybody to work on together. “There’s so many of us, covering the whole world and different timezones. Coming up with a project to leverage the whole network sounds difficult, but we did it,” said Olga. “It’s top secret.”

Top secret? Yeah, right – we found your Mannequin Challenge video, DFGN! We know what you really got up to! Just kidding – but watch their amazing video below!

Jonathan Hill appointed Dean of Seidenberg School

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Jonathan Hill has been appointed as the Dean of the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems!

Dr. Hill has been a part of the Pace community since 2003, and has worked relentlessly to elevate the school’s reputation within the NYC community and far beyond. He is known among faculty, staff, and students for his dedication to the school and his determination to see each and every member of the community succeed.

The formal announcement of Dr. Hill’s new appointment was made by Pace University President, Stephen Friedman, on Monday June 20.

Jonathan Hill’s dedication, leadership, vision, record of achievement, and management skills make him the right person to lead the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems to new heights of excellence and reputation.

Stephen Friedman, Pace University President

Countless jobs and internships for our students have been won through Dr. Hill’s tireless cultivation of relationships with government and corporate programs, which have also resulted in many research opportunities for our faculty and students.

In the academic year 2015-16, Dr. Hill was appointed Interim Dean and worked to grow the school’s student enrollment – and grow it did, exponentially.

We are excited to see what the coming years bring with DEAN HILL at the helm – please join us in extending heartfelt congratulations on a very deserving appointment!

Pace University names Dr. Jonathan Hill as the Interim Dean of the Seidenberg School

It is our greatest pleasure to announce that Pace University has named Dr. Jonathan Hill as the Interim Dean for the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. Dr. Hill has been at the roots of this flourishing Seidenberg community for over a decade, and as Dean, we’re sure that his passion and ingenuity in the field of technology will continue to advance the Seidenberg School for many more years to come.

We offer Dr. Hill the most heartfelt of congratulations for the recognition of his success in this school, and we look forward to all that he has to offer as our Dean!