Charles Severance

Dr. Charles "Chuck" Russell Severance is an American computer scientist and academic who currently serves as Clinical Associate Professor of Information at the University of Michigan.

Severance studied at Michigan State University, gaining his BS in 1984, his MS in 1990, and his PhD in 1996, all in computer science. After graduation, he became an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Michigan State, also serving as Director of the Division of Engineering Computer Services. He left this role in 1999 to become Associate Director for Advanced Technology at the University of Michigan's Media Union, and left the institution entirely in 2001 to serve as Director of Product Development for Strategic Interactive.^[1] In August 2002, he returned to the University of Michigan as the first Chief Architect of the Sakai Project, later becoming a member of the Sakai Foundation Board of Directors, and then its first Executive Director.^[2]

In 2007, he resigned from his position as the Executive Director of the Sakai Foundation, becoming Clinical Associate Professor of Information at the University of Michigan. In 2012, he was hired by Blackboard Inc. to lead their initiatives involving Sakai projects.^[2] He announced his departure from this role in March 2014.^[3] Outside of teaching and the private sector, Severance helped write the POSIX P1003 standard and has hosted several television shows, including Nothin but Net and Internet:TCI.^[4]

Books

• Severance, Charles; Dowd, K. (1998). High Performance Computing. O'Reilly Media. ISBN 156592312X. 
• Severance, Charles (2009). Using Google App Engine. O'Reilly Media. ISBN 9780596800697. 
• Severance, Charles (2011). Sakai: Free As in Freedom (Alpha): A Retrospective Diary. CreateSpace. ISBN 1461166292. 
• Severance, Charles; Fontichiaro, Kristin. (2013). Raspberry Pi. Cherry Lake Publishing. ISBN 1624311393. 
• Severance, Charles. Python for Informatics: Exploring Information. 

References