Xavier Sets the Pace in the Information Age — To a Degree - computer engineering degree to be offered by Xavier University - Brief Article

NEW ORLEANS -- Adding to its reputation as a leader in the sciences, Xavier University this fall will become the nation's first historically Black college or university to independently offer a degree in the red-hot field of computer engineering.

The small liberal arts college will become the second university in the city and the fourth in the state to prepare students for one of the more lucrative jobs in the high-tech work force.

"It's the single most important initiative in the new millennium for Xavier in terms of academic programs," says Xavier's president, Dr. Norman C. Francis, of the evolution of the 3,820-student university's department of computer science into a department of computer sciences and computer engineering.

Xavier joins Tulane University, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Louisiana State University here in taking advantage of what the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts will be the fastest-growing occupation in the next eight years