Lawrence (Larry) C. Dennis is currently a Professor in the iSchool. He served as dean of the FSU College of Communication & Information from its founding in July 1, 2009, until August 9, 2021. He earned his BS in Physics at the University of Michigan in 1974 and his PhD in Nuclear Physics at the University of Virginia in 1979. Previously, he was Dean of the FSU College of Information (2004-2009), Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Director of the Office for Distributed and Distance Learning (ODDL) at FSU (2002-2004). In addition he has served as acting Director of the FSU Supercomputer Computations Research Institute. He taught physics at FSU from 1979 t0 2004 and has won a University Teaching Award and two State of Florida Teaching Incentive Program Awards. In his role as Director of ODDL, he gained extensive experience developing online degree programs and applying technology to instruction. He is currently teaching courses in Information Systems and Services, and hopes to teach project management, database concepts and data analytics courses in the future.
Dr. Dennis has an interest in IT education and helped establish the STARS Alliance in 2005. The STARS Alliance is focused on recruiting, retaining and graduating more women and minorities in IT. This Alliance has grown from its 10 original members to over 50 Colleges and Universities. He directed the Florida IT Career Alliance, a five year program, which successfully increased number of students pursuing computing and IT careers, helped students find appropriate academic programs, and helped graduates find great companies in which to build a career.
Dr. Dennis has served on the Board of Directors of the Southeastern University Research Association, as Chairman for the CLAS Collaboration Coordinating Committee and as a member of the EDUCAUSE Advisory Committee on Teaching and Learning. He is currently serving as the Task Force Lead for the FSU Health Big Data Initiative to create secure computing infrastructure for FSU research and education and is working on the ASPIRE program to expand the IT workforce in North Florida. He is also a member of FSU's Clinical Translational Science Award leadership team and the School of Information's representative to the FSU Council for Research and Creative Activities.
Education
- BS, 1974; University of Michigan, Physics
- PhD 1979, University of Virginia, Nuclear Physics
Research Interests
IT Education and Diversity in IT
Teaching Interests
Information Systems and Services, Databases, Information Architecture and Project Management
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