There’s no shortage of people in Silicon Valley wanting to connect themselves in some way to Steve Jobs, whether it’s driving the same type of car as Apple’s late CEO, or rocking the same John Lennon glasses.
Now Reed College, the liberal arts school Jobs famously dropped out of, is planning to offer its first undergraduate degree program in computer science — courtesy of a special grant from … Microsoft?
Reed College discussed plans for a dedicated computer science department and undergrad course around 18 months ago, saying it would need to raise $5 million for such a program. This week, school leaders say fundraising is close to complete after Microsoft put in a $500,000 grant. Microsoft Senior VP Kurt DelBene sits on Reed’s board of trustees.
Although Reed, which is based in Portland, Oregon, already offers computer science studies through its math department, the idea of a “state of the art” course designed for undergrads is a first in the liberal arts school’s long history. The head of the newly created standalone computer science department will be named “The Richard Crandall Chair of Computer Science,” after the former physics professor, inventor and Reed alumnus who was a long-time friend of Jobs.
At present, around 10 percent of Reed graduates go on to work in the tech industry, with alumni landing employment at Microsoft, Apple, Instagram, Twitter and other companies. That number is bound to increase after Reed begins offering undergrad classes.
Since undergrads at Reed aren’t required to pick a major immediately, Jobs never selected one before dropping out. He did, however, study ancient Greek and Roman humanities, literature and physics — prior to hanging around to “audit classes” and stumbling upon fields like calligraphy in the process.
We all know how things progressed from there!
Source: Oregon Live
