The mission of the Computer Science Department's graduate program is to serve as a center for intellectual and educational development that promotes critical and logical thinking, and the mastery of a student-selected Computer Science curriculum. The graduate program strives to give all students a solid foundation in the core areas of computer science, to prepare students for research and study beyond the master's level, and to prepare students for careers in computing and software development.

In support of this mission, a curriculum has been developed which encourages a formal, abstract, theoretical approach to the study of computer science while providing students with experience on state-of-the-art equipment. A number of computing environments, encompassing personal, mid-range, and mainframe machines, are available to students.

There is especially strong interest within the department in the areas of artificial intelligence, compiler design, database, networks, operating systems, graphics, simulation, software engineering, and theoretical computer science.