Robert L. Constable has been reappointed for a second five-year term as dean of the Faculty of Computing and Information Science at Cornell. Constable became the first dean of the new faculty unit when it was created in the fall of 1999. Previously he had been chair of the Department of Computer Science.

“The Faculty of Computing and Information Science is an important component of the College of Engineering’s world-class excellence in computation, communication, and information,” said Kent Fuchs, dean of engineering. “It is a privilege to work with Bob and for our college to benefit from his leadership.”

“Under Dean Constable, the Faculty of Computing and Information Science has more than fulfilled its original mission of making computation and information sciences available to every discipline on campus,” said Provost Biddy Martin in announcing the appointment. “Bob’s intellectual curiosity and collaborative spirit have made a mark across the campus. The faculty’s imagination and expertise have combined to create new research tools and opportunities and to encourage previously unforeseen uses of computing, especially in the humanities and social sciences. We look forward to the continued success of the faculty under Bob’s leadership.”

The Faculty of Computing and Information Science (CIS) is an interdisciplinary program that, as Constable describes it, fits “sideways” over all the colleges and departments of the university. It was created in 1999 in response to the report of a university task force, which concluded that “Cornell University should undertake to become an institution where anyone can bring ideas from computing and information science to bear on any discipline.” CIS now comprises 53 faculty members, including many newly hired to expand the CIS program. All hold joint appointments in CIS and some other academic department.

“That’s the nature of computation today,” Constable explained. “It’s deeply involved with almost every discipline, and our job has been to recruit world-class professors into many departments and give them a second home in CIS.”

—Bill Steele, Cornell News Service