Notes on the Department from Dr. VH

  • A photograph depicting Dr. Vasil Hnatyshin standing in front of the bookcase in his office. Dr. Hnatyshin is a white man with salt-and-pepper hair and a partial beard. He is staring at the camera, not smiling. He is wearing a gray sweatjacket with a black suit jacket on top. On the bottom left corner of the photo, a Rowan yellow rectangle extends across the bottom sixth of the photograph, fading into a Rowan brown gradient. The rectangle has text on it that reads, "Notes on the Department from Dr. VH."

Notes on the Department from Dr. VH

Notes on the Department from Dr. VH

Rowan is changing, and the university’s computer science department is no different. To explore its rapid growth, we took a seat with Dr. Vasil Hnatyshin to get his perspective on the department’s future. 

Dr. Vasil Hnatyshin is the current head of the CS Department. He joined Rowan CS over 20 years ago and served the department for more than 10 years. In his time here, the department has grown dramatically. “We’ve gone from about 250  students in 2003 to over two thousand in Fall 2024,” Dr. Hnatyshin says. The department’s also home to many more faculty; “In the past 20 years or so we went from about 11 full time faculty to 23, from almost no adjunct faculty to 90  last year, and from 0 teaching fellows to about 15,” Dr. Hnatyshin continues.

To keep up with the rush of new students and faculty, the curriculum has bloomed to meet their needs. Starting from just three programs, Rowan CS now proudly presents eight total: Bachelors of Science in Computer Science, Bachelor of Arts in Computing & Informatics, Bachelor of Arts in Computer Systems Technology, Bachelor of Science in Data Science, Masters of Science in Computer Science, Masters of Science in Cybersecurity, Masters of Science in Data Science, and a full Ph.D. program in Data Science. The Ph.D. in Data Science is the department’s first Ph.D. ever, a monumental accomplishment. Dr. Hnatyshin expects 15-20 Ph.D. students in the program come fall, which is wonderful growth for the new degree.

The department’s graduate programs are thriving more than ever before. “Rowan started recruiting from foreign countries… Once COVID was over, we got a huge incoming international class,” says Dr. Hnatyshin. “At the same time, we’re trying to recruit more domestic students. Rowan is expected to become an R1 institution in the next 3-4 years, I think that change will attract… more research-focus students,” he continues.

Speaking of R1, the Rowan CS department is one of the departments leading the charge by bringing in more research-oriented faculty. Professors like Dr. Sihan Yu, Dr. André Gomes, Dr. Shen-Shyang Ho, Dr. Nick Ivanov, Dr. Guimu Guo, Dr. Silvija Kokalj-Filipovic, and Dr. Bo Sun are here to help students flex their research muscles, fostering a deeper understanding of their computer science niche. The department also started several circular initiatives to support CS research endeavors, such as Ph.D. seminars, weekly research presentations, and more research classes. “Over the past few years, I can clearly see Rowan’s reputation helping us attract better and better candidates—we attract people from top universities,” Dr. Hnatyshin says.  

Dr. Hnatyshin also sees the department having a bright future with augmented and virtual reality, thanks to Professor Richard Rabbitz’s new AR/VR lab. He’s happy with the development of the MakerSpace and CS lounge and new spaces within the department that give students the tools to encourage collaboration. On top of all that, the CS department is currently building stronger relationships with past students with the newly founded Alumni Board, a group of student leaders and alumni organizing events to connect current students with successful CS alumni. 

There’s still much more to accomplish; the department’s working on a Ph.D. in computer science, an online master's in cybersecurity, a bachelor's in cybersecurity, and an NSA designation of center of academic excellence in cyber defense. Between research, curriculum, faculty, students, and new tech—the future is looking bright for Rowan’s Computer Science Department.

Written by Kiley Parker | Posted 3.14.25