A Conversation with the Director
Henry Leitner, PhD, is associate dean for information technology and chief technology officer at the Harvard Division of Continuing Education. He has taught at the Extension School since 1981 and is also a senior lecturer on computer science at Harvard University.
Q: What sets this program apart?
A: Outstanding faculty whose classes are not run-of-the-mill IT courses. We have many cutting-edge computer science courses that you can’t find elsewhere.
Also, distance education allows us to offer Harvard College courses that would otherwise be inaccessible. For example, Harry Lewis—who is a tenured professor of computer science at Harvard—teaches both theoretical courses and a technical course for nonspecialists called Bits, which is a core course at Harvard College. His lectures are available online through distance education.
Q: What are students prepared to do after graduating?
A: They go on to work just about everywhere, not just at computer companies—although, some have gone on to organizations such as IBM, and we even have a couple students who currently work at Microsoft and take classes online. These days, many local graduates are working at biotech companies, which have large IT departments, so there is a lot of opportunity there. Oh, and we have 1 graduate, Nathán Lebrón, who is now the IT director at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. I actually visited him recently when my baseball team played a game in Cooperstown; he’s doing some really creative work over there.
We’ve also had students finish our program and then go on to advanced degree programs in software engineering or a more theoretical part of computer science at Harvard and other top schools. Our programs can certainly be a stepping stone to a lot of different paths.
Q: What is the networking potential?
A: A lot of individuals get a kick out of meeting other industry professionals—not just because of their interaction in the classroom but also because they are uncovering job markets, even through their instructors in some cases. A number of our faculty are industry professionals, and it’s not unusual for them to inform their best students about employment opportunities.
Q: What advice would you give those who are considering the master’s degree?
A: If you’re working full time, start by taking 1 course per semester because, depending on the class, the workload is considerable and I hate to see people get frustrated by the fact that there are only 24 hours in the day. Programming assignments don’t necessarily require an inordinate amount of work, but sometimes, when you get stuck debugging a problem, you end up spending much more time than you would if you were, say, writing an essay. Taking 1 course at a time is probably a good idea.
Also, don’t choose courses that just meet the stated requirements, but look at your background and consider courses that are somewhat more advanced than the requirements. If you’re investing the time and financial resources, you want to get the most out of your academic experience as you can.
Q: What are the courses like?
A: Our courses are generally applied, but they aren’t just about learning a particular software package or particular programming language. To the extent we can, we try to offer courses that offer a broader view of a subject. So you might take a course on database management systems and along the way, yeah, you will learn MySQL or Oracle, but you’ll also likely learn theory and explore the bigger picture of the programming environment.
Q: What kind of computer facilities do students have access to on campus?
A: For students taking courses that require specialized hardware or software, the Extension School’s computing facility at 53 Church Street has everything they could possibly want to use, whether it’s GIS software or very expensive or esoteric multimedia software. For example, our course on 3-D animation and modeling uses an imaging package called Maya. Anyone who wants to become a modern animator, working for an organization like ILM or Disney, needs to get exposed to this sort of technology. Most individuals would be hard pressed to purchase such systems themselves because they’re expensive. But we keep our labs well equipped—in some cases, better than the rest of Harvard.