Belinda Copus

Research Areas: Computer science education, introductory computer programming pedagogy, student efficacy and motivation

Dr. Belinda Copus is an Assistant Professor, since 2013, and currently serves as the chair for the Department of Computer Science and Cybersecurity at the University of Central Missouri. She teaches courses in the areas of modern programming languages and technology ethics. She received a BS Computer Science from the University of Texas and MS Computer Science from UCM. Belinda is passionate about Computer Science education and is currently engaged in research focused on improving student retention in introductory computer science courses. Additionally, she advises computer science majors in planning coursework and exploring career options and is the recipient of the 2017 MACADA (Missouri Academic Advising Association) Outstanding Faculty Advisor, and the 2018 recipient of the NACADA (National Academic Advising Association) Region 7 Outstanding Faculty Advising award. She is also a faculty leader for the student chapters of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), the honor society Upsilon Pi Epsilon, and Women in Computing. She conducts student programming workshops targeted to high school and middle school girls to spark interest in STEM fields.