Alumni and Friends

Dear Graduates,

We honor you as you complete your undergraduate studies and embark on new challenges and adventures. As only the second cohort to complete a minor in our program, we are encouraged by the growing interest in our curriculum and inspired by your demonstrated commitment to engaging with computing in purposeful, expressive, and conscientious ways.

You begin your next journey at a time of immense technological change, which have led some to question the value of a computing education. Nevertheless, while things may change—and they will—your computing knowledge still has great value. For all the things these new technologies may do, it is ultimately we who make sense of and give meaning to their outputs. Never relinquish your human agency in these matters. In many ways, engaging with AI and modern computing is less a story of passive replacement and more a reminder that we are still needed to shape, guide, and occasionally “slap the TV”—just as we did when that once-new technology wouldn’t work quite right on its own!

Human ethics, aesthetics, and collaboration remain essential. It’s up to you to ask tough ethical questions, challenge assumptions, stay curious, and insist that technology serves society responsibly. Computing is not only a science, but also an art—demanding creativity, imagination, and a commitment to educating one another and raising all ships together. As you move forward, lean into these values: be thoughtful innovators, ethical leaders, creative problem-solvers, and collaborators who ensure technology reflects the best of our humanity.

Be well.

Tyrone Stewart, Ph. D.

Academic Program Manager, PCAS