Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Records

Mathematics courses have been taught at the University of Denver since it opened. In the Spring Quarter of the 1930-31 school year, the Schools of Chemical Engineering and Electrical Engineering were combined with the Departments of Astronomy, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, and Zoology a major was offered in every department listed with the exception of Astronomy and Geology. In the early 1950’s, Mathematics broke away from the Mathematics and Astronomy Department to form their own department. In May of 1967, a Mathematics PhD program was approved. In 1967, there were also two sponsored research programs (differential equations and relativity theory) under the National Science Foundation that started to be offered .

During the 1968-69 school year, the Department of Mathematics received two grants. Both grants were awarded from the National Science Foundation, the first being a Departmental Development Grant of $500,000 and the second being a Mathematics and Computing Curriculum Development Grant of $350,000. Also in 1968, the Mathematics Laboratory was established. In 1970, a Mathematics major with a concentration in Computer Science was first offered, which started a change in the Mathematics Department to also begin to focus heavily on Computer Sciences.

For the 1977-78 school year, an official Master’s degree in Computer Science was introduced; in the following year, the Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics with an option in Computer Science was replaced with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science.

During the 1978-79 school year, faculty voted to change the name of the department from the Department of Mathematics to the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science due to the increase of computer science courses taught and the popularity of the program.

When the College of Arts and Sciences was broken down in 1984 into four facilities each with their own Dean, the first Dean of Mathematics and Computer Science was Herbert J. Greenberg. Faculty of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering was also created in 1984. In 2001, the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science separated into two departments. The Department of Computer Science moved to the School of Engineering and Computer Science (U031) in 2003.