Students returning to school this fall may notice new faculty additions to the Computer and Information Sciences department: Dr. Tony Pittarese and Dr. Ron Zucker. Dr. Pittarese is an assistant professor from Pensacola, Fla., who has recently moved to Tennessee with his wife. He will be teaching Essentials of Web Development and Client and Server Side Programming in the fall. “When I saw the job ad, it matched up exactly with that I was looking for and what I had been teaching before; Internet Development, Human Computer Interaction and E-Business,” said Pittarese. Pittarese is now in his 15th year of teaching college. During the last four years he taught for Pensacola Christian College and served as department chairman. “I have a bit of a unique background in addition to having degrees and training. I have an MBA and have studied the business side of things as well as computers,” said Pittarese. Pittarese did his undergraduate work at Pensacola Christian College and received his M.B.A. and an M.S. from the University of West Florida. He received his doctorate at Auburn University. Also new to the department this semester is Dr. Ron Zucker. Zucker has worked in the computer industry for over 20 years in Australia, Canada and throughout the United States. “I was born in Kentucky. I was a navy brat and we traveled all over, I guess the traveling bug just stayed with me,” Zucker said. Zucker has been to all 50 states and visited every continent with the sole exception of Antarctica. He describes his arrival in Tennessee as a “return home” due to his wife’s roots in Knoxville. Zucker began teaching as an adjunct faculty member in 1984 and went to full time in 1989 at Troy State University at Montgomery (TSUM) and then went to the University of North Florida. Zucker will be teaching Introduction to Computer Science and Introduction to Unix in the fall. Introduction to Computer Science will be going JAVA based as of this fall. Zucker is excited about this change in the program. “I am ecstatic, in a word I love JAVA and I think that it is the right choice. It is easy and comprehensive. It is becoming the industry standard,” Zucker said. Zucker received his bachelor’s at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, and his master’s at TSUM. He graduated from the University of South Florida with his doctorate in engineering. “I think that with my industrial experience I can contribute both real world and academic expertise,” Zucker noted. “I am looking forward to working with the students – and having them teach me something too.” Also officially new to the faculty and staff this year are David Frazier and Jessica Smith. These individuals are returning professors from last year but until now only temporary full time. Both will be working in the Emerging Technology Center (ETC) in addition to teaching. Frazier teaches Network Fundamentals and Essentials of Information Security. Smith teaches Human Computer Interaction and Essentials of Web Development. “This department has all the resources you need to be a successful computer scientist – you get out of it what you put in to it,” said Smith, who attended ETSU as a student for her undergraduate degree. “I like that there is a student focus here – there are smart people here who keep students the focus” said Frazier, who comes to ETSU from Northeast Community College. “If you aren’t focused on the students – then why teach?”

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