Sam Franz

My dissertation investigates the institutionalization of computing instruction and research in American universities as a problem of political economy in the 20th century. I study the relationship between the changing structure and function of US universities and computing activities on campus, including statistical laboratories, digital computer centers, and the influence of computer science. I argue that the changing emphasis, from computing centers to computer science, was part of a complex solution to an institutional and economic problem--increasingly constrained resources and a responsibility to reproduce America's technical workforce--that confronted universities in the decades after WWII. I study large state institutions, analyzing the relationship between computer manufacturing firms and universities in the postwar period, alongside the creation of computer science through collaborations between federal officials, academics, university administrators, and industrial representatives. Finally, I connect such political economic narratives to computing education initiatives, including computer aided instruction and changing business administration education.