Still connected after all these years

When he doesn't bodysurf, S. Gill Williamson focuses on providing free educational materials for CSE 20 and CSE 21. The former chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, now in his 70s and an emeritus, was profiled in This Week @ UC San Diego as part of a feature about faculty members who have been connected to the campus for 50 years or more.

Williamson joined UC San Diego as a professor of mathematics in 1965 and then became the chair of the computer science department in 1991.  He retired in 2004.

Here are some of the things he had to say:

On why he decided to provide free educational materials:

 “From 1965 to 1991, I was a mathematics professor. I taught many calculus classes large and small during this period. In 1991, I transferred to Computer Science and Engineering—so my calculus teaching days were over. But in cleaning out files I came across handouts that I used to give to students who wanted to tutor for my integral calculus classes. I had fun rereading this ‘tutors’ guide,’ so I decided to bring it up to date with respect to online resources now regularly used by students.”

On why he stayed at UC San Diego for so long:

“The main change in higher education for me,” said Gill Williamson, “was the increasing number of students in my classes and less opportunity to talk with them personally about the subjects I was teaching. A student can ace every exam but, under questioning in person, show little imagination or curiosity. This important type of information about students was missing for me in later years.”

On being chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering:

"Although I had had little experience in administrative work, the change worked out well for me. CSE had hired many talented young people who were willing to tell me about their research. I learned a lot from them. Also, CSE had an excellent and talented staff.”

On higher education and research:

“The main change in higher education for me,” said Gill Williamson, “was the increasing number of students in my classes and less opportunity to talk with them personally about the subjects I was teaching. A student can ace every exam but, under questioning in person, show little imagination or curiosity. This important type of information about students was missing for me in later years.”

Read the full story here.