Dr. Hamid Arabnia said in frank dialogue with him: I have learned a lot from my students! He also said: PSU has all elements of success and academic accreditation is an important step in the march of the new universities, and also said in his dialogue: PSU tuition fees are lower than its similar universities in America of a twice and a half.

Sought in the framework of the PSU continued march to a closer relationship with major universities in the world, as well as inviting the Senior experts and advisers in the academic and scientific effort to achieve emblem (excellence in university education), Dr. Hamid Arabnia, from the University of Georgia in the United States, visited PSU based on an invitation from the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Systems. Dr. Hamid, which is one of the master scientists in the area of computer science in USA, was the main speaker in the scientific forum organized by the PSU recently about universities classification.

We took the chance of his availability in the PSU and carried out this open dialogue with him.

Personal Questions:

Q1. Would you please tell us a little about yourself?
- I am Hamid Arabnia, born in Iran in 1958. In 1974, I went to England to complete my secondary school and university studies. I finished my higher education and got my Ph.D. from the University of Kent (Canterbury, England) in 1987. My original nationality is Iranian. I now have a dual nationality, US (American) and citizenship. Currently, I am a full Professor of Computer Science; at the University of Georgia; USA. I am married and have three children.

Position history: During the 6 months before my graduation in UK (1987), I received a number of phone calls from various universities and companies in the USA asking me if I would like to visit USA for the purpose of job interviews. Since they agreed to cover all my costs, I agreed to visit a number of universities as well as do some site seeing. The trip was about 10 days long. This was a very educational trip – I learned so much and began to develop a very high opinion of scientists in the USA. After returning back to the UK, I received a number of job offers from universities in the USA. I chose a faculty position offered to me by the Department of Computer Science at the University of Georgia, USA. I have been at the same university since 1987. This has been my first and only job I have had in my life. Thinking back, I could not have made a better choice.


Q2. Do you consider yourself successful in your life?
- Not yet!
Why?
- Because I have a lot more to do during the next decade in my academic life.

Q3. What do your work colleagues say about you?
- I think they feel that I am too generous with my time for the students. Many have commented about the way I smile (friends and colleagues at UGA and elsewhere). I tend to almost always keep my office’s door open so that students know that I am in the building. Students very much like my Open Door Policy. Obviously, there are times that I cannot see the students at the time they would like to see me – but I always arrange to see them at a mutually convenient time.

Q4. Who helped you to reach this academic state?
- I consider myself to be one of the luckiest individuals. I have received (and still continuing to receive) a lot of help from my former professors in the UK, my colleagues in the USA, and as importantly my school teachers in Iran. I am still in contact with all my mentors who are still alive. Also, I have received a lot of help from my students; I have learned a lot from them.

Q5. You are a highly published scientist; more than 300 papers and edited books during your academic life; when was your first paper was published?
- The first two papers were published in 1986 in Computer Graphics Forum; a reputable journal published in Europe.
How did you achieve such a high level of scholarly activities?
- Scholarly activities cannot be achieved without the help of others. In my case, I have been blessed with outstanding students and colleagues at the University of Georgia and at other institutions. Without their help, I would not have been able to do one-hundredth of what I have done so far. Almost all my publications (except for a very few) are multi-authored. The co-authors have been students as well as colleagues.

PSU related Questions:

Q6. Would you tell us why you consider coming to PSU?
- Dr. Eltayeb, CCIS Dean, sent me an e-mail asking me to visit PSU to evaluate its CCIS programs. At first, I was a little hesitant because I do not enjoy traveling; I do receive at least two such invitations a month from other institutions and conferences. Obviously, I cannot accept all invitations. However, Dr. Eltayeb’s insistence convinced me to accept PSU’s invitation; I should also add that I knew of Dr. Eltayeb’s research contributions and thought that it would be good to see him as well. In addition, I also thought that it would be honorable and very satisfying if I could offer any advice to my friends in the region of the world where I come from.

Q7. What do you know about PSU before coming to it? Or, what was your impression about PSU before?
- I had heard about some Saudi universities; in particular, about KSU and KFUPM. I had read and benefited from some good research publications authored by members of faculty who were affiliated with KSU and KFUPM. But I was not aware of PSU till about three months ago when Dr. Eltayeb told me about PSU.

Q8. What is your current image about PSU after visiting it even though your trip has been short?
- First, I found PSU to be an impressive university. Clearly, the overall infrastructure is excellent and the plans for the new buildings will further enhance that. The long-term commitment to PSU will assure its success.
- Second, I developed a very high opinion of the PSU’s Rector, Dr. Yamani. I found him to be a visionary of the highest caliber. I have met 14 other university presidents/rectors during recent years. I must say that I found Dr. Yamani to be among the top rectors I have met. New organizations (including universities) cannot possibly do well without a visionary leader. Dr. Yamani’s road map, mission, commitment and vision for PSU are essential ingredients for successful universities. He is not only a Rector of great caliber but is also young enough to see the implementations of various phases through.
- Third, I could not have been more impressed with PSU’s CCIS faculty qualifications and scholarly activities. I did read the profile of all members of the CCIS faculty. They have excellent publication records. Some have even published text books. The areas of research expertise and interests of faculty are in the fields that are considered to be important in computer science and information systems. One of my recommendations is that the CCIS web site should reflect the fact that the college has such competent members of faculty.

Q9. Would you explain us why it is important for PSU to be accredited locally and internationally?
It is important for all new universities to be accredited locally. Mainly because; without local accreditation; it would be a challenge to attract good students to the university. In my view, it is also important for individual departments/colleges to get international accreditation. For example, for the PSU CCIS college, ABET accreditation would be quite helpful in many ways. Securing ABET accreditation would attest that CCIS meets the standard minimum requirement at the international level. I believe that CCIS is very well positioned and also qualified to secure ABET accreditation. ABET accreditation will help the graduates of CCIS at PSU to continue (if they wish) their M.Sc. and PhD education outside Saudi Arabia. Their degrees will be more widely respected and accepted worldwide.

CCIS related Questions:

Q10. How did you find CCIS programs compared to similar programs in some US universities and colleges?
- The CCIS curriculum for Computer Science and Information Systems degree programs are quite comparable to degree programs offered by teaching-oriented universities in the USA. Teaching-oriented universities in the USA are those institutions that have teaching as their sole mission. Members of faculty in such universities tend to invest most of their time in teaching.

Q11. What is your image about the current state of the CCIS programs?
- All indications are that after the proposed revisions, the CCIS programs will be very solid and will compare favorably with similar programs offered in the USA.
Faculty?
- As I have said before, the members of faculty at CCIS are superb. I just hope that they can be retained.
Students?
- I met a number of PSU students. In addition, CCIS arranged for me to have a closed meeting with four students. I was amazed to hear the students’ English language and communications skills. They all spoke English very well. The students freely volunteered their thoughts. They all had very good experience at CCIS and highly valued the education they had received from CCIS. One student complained about the high cost of tuition at PSU. After asking about the costs, I was told that the fees were about $5,500 each term. I explained to the students that the fees in the USA; for the same level of education; is about 2.5 times more. They were quite surprised to hear that. Obviously, any monetary amount is considered to be high for young students. But long term, they will all realize that they have had a good education for reasonable fees.

Q12. What are your suggestions to improve the current state of the CCIS programs?
- I will soon communicate my recommendations with CCIS Dean. Some of these are too detailed and so would not be relevant for this interview. However, I feel that one major area that CCIS should consider working toward is to shape their degree programs and the size of faculty so that each member of faculty could teach about 10 hours a week. In computer science and information systems, it is important for faculty to invest a significant part of their time to update themselves about the field and also to continue their research work. It should also be recognized that in computer science and information systems, it takes about one hour to prepare oneself to teach one session of a class. This means that a faculty, who teaches 10 hours a week, would be spending an additional 10 hours a week for preparation of the lectures. They would also spend additional time for grading and office hours. It should be noted here that computer science and information systems are rapidly evolving fields. What we used to teach two years ago is no longer relevant in many computer science courses (unlike, mature fields such as Mathematics). Therefore, it is well understood by the community that teaching a computer science course takes much more preparation time than most other fields.

Q13. What are your suggestions to improve the CCIS faculty members?
- The CCIS members of faculty are all highly qualified. So far, CCIS has managed to recruit and retain excellent faculty; this is admirable. However, I believe that due to many opportunities available worldwide, it will be more of a challenge to recruit new faculty and retain existing ones. In order to counter this, it would help to reduce the teaching load of existing faculty members as well as providing opportunities for professional development (such as participation at international conferences).

Q14. Finally, Dr. Hamid what would your last word for us be?
- Overall, as someone who has developed a high opinion about both, CCIS and PSU, I have no doubt that CCIS and PSU, under the current leadership, will soon achieve; not only a regional; but also an international reputation that will make their graduates proud to have been affiliated with PSU (insha’Allah).

OK.

Thanks a lot Dr. Hamid for your kindness and valuable time you gave us and for the helpful comments you provided. Bye and Good Luck.

Dr. Hamid said: last and foremost, thank you so very much for the excellent hospitality you and your colleagues provided to me. Good Luck