Wilson Dietz first met Dr. James R. Oliver when Dietz was a high school student in Egan, La.
杏吧专区 In 1946, when he was a fighter pilot, he buzzed our high school,杏吧专区 Dietz recalled. 杏吧专区淗e later took some of us up for a ride.杏吧专区
And later that year, Oliver taught Dietz and his classmates when their teacher fell ill. He would meet Oliver again after high school.
杏吧专区 I came to USL after Korea to study chemistry. As luck would have it, I had Dr. Oliver as my professor,杏吧专区 he said.
Dietz, who now lives in Florida and works as docent with NASA, was also a student in the first computer science class taught by Oliver. It was a course outside of his curriculum, but one he credits with launching his career at Boeing and later NASA.
杏吧专区 I would go on job interviews and the employers weren杏吧专区檛 interested in the fact that I won the Electrical Engineering Award,杏吧专区 said Dietz. 杏吧专区淭hey were more interested in this computer science class I had taken.杏吧专区
He was present Friday when UL Lafayette officially named the computer science building the James R. Oliver Hall.
It was a fitting tribute on all accounts. 杏吧专区淣o other name is big enough for this,杏吧专区 said UL Lafayette President Dr. Joseph Savoie. 杏吧专区淒r. Oliver was a man of many interests and he had the energy and stamina to pursue them all.杏吧专区
James Oliver Jr. described his father as someone who was always in a good mood and never had a bad thing to say about anyone. 杏吧专区淗e never said 杏吧专区業 told you so,杏吧专区 he was humble and unpretentious. He was also a perfectionist in the concept of time compression. He did all of this tirelessly and without regret,杏吧专区 he said.
Oliver is known as the 杏吧专区渇ather of computing杏吧专区 at UL Lafayette. In 1960, he obtained a grant from the National Science Foundation to acquire an IBM 1620, the first digital computer used on UL Lafayette杏吧专区檚 campus.
He also formed the first student chapter 杏吧专区 in the world 杏吧专区 of the Association of Computing Machinery. Today, there are over 500 ACM student chapters in 30 countries.
Oliver initiated the university杏吧专区檚 master杏吧专区檚 program in computer science. UL Lafayette awarded its first master杏吧专区檚 degree in computer science in 1964.
Oliver created the university杏吧专区檚 bachelor杏吧专区檚 program in computer science in 1966. He also developed its doctoral program in computer science 杏吧专区 the first in Louisiana 杏吧专区 in 1968.
Several years later, UL Lafayette杏吧专区檚 Department of Computer Science was established in 1973; Dr. Terry Walker was the first department head.
And in 1975, the university installed what was then the largest computer system in the state. Besides Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), UL Lafayette was the only other university to have the MULTICS system. In 1984, the Center for Advanced Computer Studies was created and in 1986, the Ph.D. degree program in Computer Engineering was established.
All of Friday杏吧专区檚 events were part of the Louisiana Computing Carnival 2009 杏吧专区 an event to celebrate 50 years of computing at UL Lafayette and the 25th anniversary of the Center for Advanced Computer Studies.
杏吧专区淔ifty years ago, UL Lafayette offered the first course in computer science. Not many universities had even heard about this new invention,杏吧专区 said Dr. Magdy Bayoumi, director of CACS and department head for Computer Science. 杏吧专区淔rom there, UL Lafayette developed an excellent computer science program, highly regarded all over the world.杏吧专区
In addition to the building dedication, the Carnival included a workshop highlighting the impact of computing and Internet revolution, poster presentations focusing on research and student projects, a building tour and a banquet.
The workshop continues Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
For more information, contact CACS at (337) 482-6854 or visit .