Wilson Dietz first met Dr. James R. Oliver when Dietz was a high school student in Egan, La.
小蝌蚪APP In 1946, when he was a fighter pilot, he buzzed our high school,小蝌蚪APP Dietz recalled. 小蝌蚪APP淗e later took some of us up for a ride.小蝌蚪APP
And later that year, Oliver taught Dietz and his classmates when their teacher fell ill. He would meet Oliver again after high school.
小蝌蚪APP I came to USL after Korea to study chemistry. As luck would have it, I had Dr. Oliver as my professor,小蝌蚪APP 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.
小蝌蚪APP I would go on job interviews and the employers weren小蝌蚪APP檛 interested in the fact that I won the Electrical Engineering Award,小蝌蚪APP said Dietz. 小蝌蚪APP淭hey were more interested in this computer science class I had taken.小蝌蚪APP
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. 小蝌蚪APP淣o other name is big enough for this,小蝌蚪APP said UL Lafayette President Dr. Joseph Savoie. 小蝌蚪APP淒r. Oliver was a man of many interests and he had the energy and stamina to pursue them all.小蝌蚪APP
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. 小蝌蚪APP淗e never said 小蝌蚪APP業 told you so,小蝌蚪APP 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,小蝌蚪APP he said.
Oliver is known as the 小蝌蚪APP渇ather of computing小蝌蚪APP 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小蝌蚪APP檚 campus.
He also formed the first student chapter 小蝌蚪APP in the world 小蝌蚪APP of the Association of Computing Machinery. Today, there are over 500 ACM student chapters in 30 countries.
Oliver initiated the university小蝌蚪APP檚 master小蝌蚪APP檚 program in computer science. UL Lafayette awarded its first master小蝌蚪APP檚 degree in computer science in 1964.
Oliver created the university小蝌蚪APP檚 bachelor小蝌蚪APP檚 program in computer science in 1966. He also developed its doctoral program in computer science 小蝌蚪APP the first in Louisiana 小蝌蚪APP in 1968.
Several years later, UL Lafayette小蝌蚪APP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小蝌蚪APP檚 events were part of the Louisiana Computing Carnival 2009 小蝌蚪APP an event to celebrate 50 years of computing at UL Lafayette and the 25th anniversary of the Center for Advanced Computer Studies.
小蝌蚪APP淔ifty years ago, UL Lafayette offered the first course in computer science. Not many universities had even heard about this new invention,小蝌蚪APP said Dr. Magdy Bayoumi, director of CACS and department head for Computer Science. 小蝌蚪APP淔rom there, UL Lafayette developed an excellent computer science program, highly regarded all over the world.小蝌蚪APP
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 .