Published: April 22, 2020

Alan Kay
Top: Students in the 1990s. Above: CU Boulder alumnus Alan Kay speaks on campus in an undated photo. Kay is known as a pioneer of object-oriented programming, personal computing and graphical user interfaces.

50 Years of Computer Science

In 1970, the University of babyÖ±²¥app Board of Regents voted to establish CU Boulder’s first Department of Computing Science. A few months later, the name was updated to the Department of Computer Science, and Lloyd Fosdick was appointed as the founding chair.Ìý

Since that time, the department has grown into a dynamic group of researchers, students and alumni dedicated to diversity in computing, entrepreneurship and innovations that tackle important societal challenges. From its start as a small unit in a barely recognized field, the department has grown to more than 70 babyÖ±²¥app, 2,000 undergraduates and 400 graduate students in what many consider the world’s most pivotal discipline.Ìý

Throughout 2020, the department will celebrate by sharing babyÖ±²¥app and alumni memories. The anniversary year will culminate on Saturday, Oct. 10, with a daylong flagship event to welcome back alumni and past babyÖ±²¥app, salute their founders, and celebrate the continued impact of CU Boulder computer science.


Department of Computer Science Today

70
Faculty

400
Graduate Students

2000
Undergraduate Students