The PUCC Archive

With early roots in computing facilities for the Engineering and Mathematical disciplines, Purdue launched the very first Computer Science department in the nation at the West Lafayette, Indiana campus in 1962. Starting in those early years, Purdue became one of the leading R1 research computing institutions in the world. 

To support these emerging computing needs in engineering and math sciences, the Purdue Computer Sciences Center (later renamed the Purdue Computer Center) was established in the early 1960s to provide world-class computing facilities to the faculty, researchers, and students of Purdue University.

Numerous scientific breakthroughs have been made using the computing facilities that were provided by the staff of the Purdue Computing Center. Over the years, numerous computing systems, supercomputers, and high-performance computing systems have been installed and later decommissioned to support the ever-changing research and academic computing needs of the campus.

In 2001, the Purdue University Computing Center (PUCC), Management Information (MI), and the Telephone Office (TEL) were reorganized into a single IT department. The Purdue University Computer Center (PUCC) and the Purdue Computer Center department names were subsequently retired. The new IT department was called Information Technology at Purdue - IT@P or ITaP. In 2023, another reorganization combined the academic and regional campus IT units with the existing ITAP unit to form a new department called Purdue IT. 

This site is an archive of the history, photos, stories, and the people that contributed to the creation and success of the Computing Center. Some of the earliest computing pioneers trace their roots back to Purdue and the Computing Center, including faculty members, researchers, students, and staff members. Others, like me, came along later to learn from these computing pioneers and to build on what they had started. Like so many, we have fond memories of our time at Purdue and at PUCC.

My hope is that you will find something on the site that triggers a story or a memory of PUCC and the use of the various computing facilities that have been provided over the years. 

Any photos, media, timelines, and stories that you have would be appreciated! Please consider forwarding those along using the feedback page. See the What's New page for recent site updates. 

The PUCC Archive site is maintained by Robert Stanfield. 

See the Photos & Videos page for more PUCC-related photos.