Starting in the Spring 2022 semester, the Ying Wu College of Computing will be offering a new course: CS 485-### – Introduction to Computing History. The word “introduction” is important, according to Evan Koblentz, a staff writer in the Office of Strategic Communications at NJIT and instructor for the new course, because the course will have no prerequisites. “I want the course to be accessible to everyone at NJIT,” he said. 

Before NJIT, Koblentz served as the executive director of Vintage Computer Federation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that educates about computer history, leading the organization’s fundraising and publicity. 

In 2019, Koblentz joined the Office of Strategic Communications in 2019, writing about a wide range of topics including a three-part series about the history of computing at NJIT. In case the trend of computing history wasn’t obvious, Koblentz also presented “Nevertheless, She Persisted: Important Women in the History of Computing,” hosted by the undergraduate and graduate Women in Computing Societies on Nov. 17. 

This will be the first time that Koblentz is teaching a course at NJIT, but given his knowledge and experience in the subject, getting the course approved was straightforward. “I asked Dean Gotsman, and he supported the idea,” he said, adding that “the department chairs were also supportive” of the course’s creation. 

This new course will cover “everything from Babbage to ENIAC to timesharing to Apple, and much, much more,” touching on a wide variety of topics in a history dating back to the 1700s. It’s sure to be an interesting elective for computing students and beyond.