Tom Doeppner, associate professor of computer science and vice chair of the department, is retiring at the end of this academic year.
Doeppner began working at Brown in 1976 — three years before the CS Department was even established. He was one of the department’s seven founding members and has remained at Brown ever since.
He was initially interested in the more theoretical areas of CS, Doeppner told The Herald. But after being charged with running the department’s first computer, his interest in “more practical topics” grew, sparking a passion for teaching.
For the first few decades after it was established, the department’s growth was “fairly slow,” Doeppner said.
Now, four decades later, CS is the University’s largest academic department.
Doeppner described the department as a “success story,” adding that he will miss teaching and interacting with his students — whether it be in class, during office hours or in advising meetings.
Doeppner recalled a specific memory from when his late wife, Katrina Avery, was sick several years ago, and he had to miss several classes to take care of her.
“I made it back for my very last class of the semester — and I’d never seen anything like this before — but after the class, I was given a standing ovation,” he said. “I was in tears then and in tears now, just thinking about it. I think that students can be just as caring as faculty can.”
To him, Brown is special because the “people, faculty (and) administrators really care about students,” he said. “I hope that students get the impression that all of us here really want them to get through and get something great out of the experience of being here.”
After retiring, Doeppner plans to travel across the country with his loved ones and pursue his passion for wildlife photography.
For his colleagues, Doeppner has been “the backbone of the department,” said CS Professor Andy van Dam, who helped hire Doeppner back in 1976 and served as the department’s inaugural chair.
Van Dam explained that Doeppner, who is also the director of the CS master’s program, advises and helps to select all of the master’s students — something van Dam described as “a gigantic job.”
According to current department chair Roberto Tamassia, Doeppner taught 5,137 students from 2014 to 2023 — or 9% of the department’s enrollment. This is “by far the most among the CS faculty,” Tamassia wrote in an email to The Herald.
Doeppner’s “advising record is also amazing,” Tamassia added, noting that he advised 16% of Brown’s CS and joint-CS concentrators last year.
As the department’s co-director of undergraduate studies, Doeppner has been “probably the most influential person in shaping the (CS) undergraduate curriculum,” van Dam said. Doeppner also manages many other administrative duties, including chairing the department’s space committee and serving on its facilities and curriculum committees.
“Replacing Tom is damn near impossible,” van Dam said. After Doeppner retires, “the department will have one of its most valuable members no longer in the picture.”
When Kathi Fisler, co-director of CS undergraduate studies, began working in the department in 2017, Doeppner was “simultaneously head of the undergrad program, head of the (teaching assistant) program, head of the master’s program, head of space and facilities for CS (and) vice chair of the department,” she wrote in an email to The Herald.
“He’s the one who knows how all the pieces fit together,” Fisler added.
After Doeppner retires, Assistant Professor of CS Malte Schwarzkopf will be taking over CSCI 1670: “Operating Systems” and CSCI 1690: “Operating Systems Laboratory,” two of the courses that Doeppner currently teaches.
“These are big footsteps to fill,” Schwarzkopf wrote in an email to The Herald. CSCI 1690 “has a legendary reputation at Brown, and I have more than once encountered famous faculty colleagues at other schools who were undergraduates at Brown and credit (the course) with giving them a strong foundation in systems that they built the rest of their career onto.”
To Schwarzkopf, Doeppner is the reason that the department’s community feels “tight-knit and family-like” despite its growth over the years.
“Tom has patience in spades, an ability to remain calm in communications and a wicked sense of humor,” Fisler wrote, noting that he is “very student-centered.”
Undergraduate students shared similar sentiments, citing their admiration for Doeppner and the wonderful experiences they’ve had in his classes.
“In computer science, specifically, I feel like we stand on the shoulders of giants,” said Kazuya Erdos ’26. Taking CSCI 1670 with Doeppner this semester has given Erdos “the opportunity to learn from someone who is one of those giants.”
Because Doeppner has been teaching the course for so long, Erdos expected the lectures to be “rehearsed.” But halfway through the semester, it’s clear to him that Doeppner is still deeply engaged with the content he teaches.
Doeppner sets his students up for success, according to Jennifer Liao ’26, one of his former students and teaching assistants for CSCI 0330: “Introduction to Computer Systems.”
Though CSCI 0330 is “notoriously difficult,” Doeppner “doesn’t try to scare you,” Liao said.
“After taking (CSCI 0330), I felt so much more confident about my skills in CS as a whole,” she added.
Liao recalled that Doeppner invited her and her fellow TAs to his home, adding that he always made them feel welcome and appreciated.
“I’m very sentimental that he’s leaving,” she said.
Samah Hamid is a senior staff writer at the Herald. She is from Sharon, Massachusetts and plans to concentrate in Biology. In her free time, you can find her taking a nap, reading, or baking a sweet treat.
