University Computing Services (Indiana University)

The Research Computing Center was established in 1954 after IU President Herman B Wells, in his 1953 State of the University Address, spoke of the need for more advanced computing equipment.

Lynne Merritt served as acting director when the Center was first established but the following year Marshal H. Wrubel was appointed as the Center's first official director, for whom the Center was named in 1973. In the 1970s the Center's mission changed and it was then responsible for providing not only high-speed mainframe computers for research purposes, but also terminals in various locations around the Bloomington campus from which users could access the large central computers as well as computing services for regional campuses. In 1981 the Center combined with other groups to form the larger Bloomington Academic Computing Services (BACS), later renamed University Computing Services.

Computing at Indiana University began in 1940 with the establishment of the Central Statistical Bureau, housed in the Business and Economics Building, now Woodburn Hall. Headed by Dr. Francis McIntyre of the economics department and managed by Harold Bly, it was charged with providing statistical services for faculty research. During and after World War II it also came to be used heavily by the Office of the Registrar for student records and course registration. In the late 1940s the Bureau was dissolved, and most of its functions absorbed by the Registrar.

A new computing center for research needs began to take shape in 1949, when Dr. Lynne Merritt of the chemistry department arranged for the University to acquire an IBM Calculating Punch. A grant from the Office of Naval Research fully supported the $3,072 rental charge. The system was installed in the Administration Building, now Bryan Hall, along with the older equipment still used by the Registrar.

In his 1953 State of the University Address, President Herman B Wells spoke of the need for more advanced computing equipment to support faculty research needs. Following the President's charge, Herman T. Briscoe, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, formed a committee, chaired by Merritt, to draft a proposal for a computing center. The result of the committee's effort was the Research Computing Center, established in 1954 with Merritt acting as director. In 1955, with Merritt away on sabattical, Marshal H. Wrubel was appointed as the center's first official director.

Continuing to grow, the RCC soon needed larger quarters. In late 1961 and early 1962, the Center moved from Bryan Hall to a specially designed facility in the HPER Building. The Center's new home was designed by Dale Hall, who would become the first full-time director of the Center in 1966.

The Center's mission changed in the 1970s with the growth of interactive computing. It now became responsible for providing not only high-speed mainframe computers for research purposes, but also terminals in various locations around the Bloomington campus from which users could access the large central computers. Additionally, it was given responsibilty for providing computing services to the regional campuses as well. In 1973, the Research Computing Center was renamed the Marshal H. Wrubel Computing Center in honor of its first official director, following his death five years earlier. (For additional information on Wrubel's career, see Collection C151, the Marshal H. Wrubel Papers.)

The 1980s also saw a number of changes for the Center. The explosive growth of microcomputer use led to a greater emphasis on support for these systems and their users. Along with the Small Computer Support Group, founded in 1979, and the Office of Instructional Computing, the Center was consolidated into Bloomington Academic Computing Services. BACS was led by the University's first full-time administrator for academic computing, Dean Daniel W. DeHayes. In July 1986, the Wrubel Computing Center again moved to a new location, designed to meet the center's current and future facility needs for both computers and staff.