Dr. Gerald E. Wagner is Professor Emeritus of Computer Information Systems at California State Polytechnic University (Cal Poly), Pomona. He joined the faculty at Cal Poly in 1966 and served as the founding Department Chair of the Business Data Processing Department, renamed later to Computer Information Systems. He also served as Associate Dean and Dean of the College of Business Administration as well as a member of the teaching faculty prior to his retirement in 1999. During his time in higher education, Jerry was involved in curriculum development and was responsible for developing one of the first, if not the first, business-oriented 4-year degree programs in Computer Information Systems. He also helped to develop the masters degree in IS Auditing at Cal Poly. He served on the original "National Model Curriculum Committee" for the Association of Information Technology Professionals (formerly DPMA) and he served as an educational consultant to develop a Common Body of Knowledge (CBOK) for the computer information systems profession.
Dr. Wagner has been active in higher education and the computer field since January of 1952, getting his start in the main offices of the Rath Packing Company (Waterloo, Iowa). That would be B.C.--before computers. While working at Rath, he served as liaison to Univac and helped to install the 4th Univac SS-90 installed commercially in the world. While serving in the U.S. Army 96th Machine Records Unit (MRU), he was stationed at Armed Forces Far East (AFFE) Headquarters at Camp Zama, Japan. As a systems analyst with Top Secret clearance, he handled all requests from the Pentagon for special personnel reports.
After military service and leaving industry, Dr. Wagner entered university teaching in 1963 and became quite active in many professional associations. He has written numerous computer-related textbooks and articles and has traveled widely as a workshop leader and speaker at conferences and universities throughout the nation. He has served on the Educational Advisory Committees at six Community Colleges in the Los Angeles area and spent two months in Yerevan, Armenia as an educational consultant to Yerevan State University where he was responsible for the development of courses leading to degree programs (both Bachelors and Masters) in Business Administration for the Department of Economics. Dr. Wagner has also worked as a computer consultant to many companies including Datapoint, Freightliner, General Dynamics, and Hunt Wesson Foods.
During his career Dr. Wagner has been the recipient of numerous awards including "Meritorious Performance and Professional Promise," "Educator of the Year," "Data Educator of the Year," and "Outstanding Educator" by different professional associations or universities; and "Lifetime Membership" for Meritorious Service by the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP).
Dr. Wagner completed his bachelors and masters degrees in Business at the University of Northern Iowa and his doctorate at UCLA. He also holds the CDE, CCP, and CISA credentials.