G.E. Presents Computer
On October 3 the General Electric Company gave Dartmouth title to more than $2.5 million worth of computer "hardware" with which the College and the company have teamed for three years to unlock the computer as an educational tool. The title transfer of the computer equipment was made in behalf of G.E. by Dr. Donald L. Shell, Manager of Information Service Development, to Dartmouth Provost Leon- ard M. Rieser '44; Prof. Thomas E. Kurtz, director of the Kiewit Computation Center; and Dr. John G. Kemeny, Albert Bradley Third Century Professor and project director of the Dartmouth time-sharing system.
At the same time, they announced a new three-year agreement to continue their unique partnership. The cooperative venture, linking campus and corporation, began in 1966 when G.E. loaned the College without cost a 635 Computer and other hardware to undertake research in ways to make the computer readily accessible to large numbers of students and researchers. Under the new agreement, Dartmouth will share its research developments with General Electric, while the company will supply personnel to engage in joint development programs to meet the ever-increasing demands on the time-sharing system. Representing G.E. at Dartmouth will be W. Derrick Johnston, recently appointed Development Consulting Specialist in the Information Service Division. For the past seven years he served with G.E.'s Apollo Systems organization at Daytona Beach, Fla.
Working with Professors Kurtz and Kemeny at the College in computer systems development are Prof. Robert F. Hargraves Jr. '6l, associate director of Kiewit; Prof. Stephen J. Garland '63, assistant director for educational applications; and John S. McGeachie '65, assistant director for systems development, all of whom began their computer work as undergraduates.
In addition to serving the College's students and faculty, the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System currently is linked by telephone lines to approximately 50 colleges and secondary schools throughout the East with nearly 10,000 additional users. At Dartmouth today nearly 90 percent of the student body gains a hands-on knowledge of the computer before graduation.
