History
The first graduate student in the computing field at McGill University was Gerald Ratzer. He came from Cambridge in England in Sepetmeber 1964, and was registered for a M. Sc. in the Faculty of Graduate Sciences. He was attached to the McGill Computing Centre, and his supervisor was David Thorpe, who was the Director of the Computing Centre. The creation of a Computer Science organization was lead by the Dean of Engineering John d'Ombrain, who wished to see computers used for assisted learning in classrooms, as well as data systems in hospitals. However, there were some detractors from the idea. One mathematician is alleged to have said, "When radios came along, we did not start a School of Radio Science! Computers are just another application of Electrical Engineering!"
The use of the term "School" was to reinforce the idea of independence from the Faculty of Engineering. Over the years, the School of Computer Science continued to face difficulties over sharing resources such as academic slots, teaching assistants, and space with their Engineering peers. This was partly due to cross-appointments of faculty from Electrical Engineering, leaving Computer Science understaffed. There were also concerns amongst engineers that Computer Science was not a professional discipline, and that students would choose Computer Science over Engineering, lowering the amount of funding available. This led to engineers pressuring the School not to have major and Master's degrees for a long time. Eventually, a heated debate between Dean Dealy of the Faculty of Engineering and Dean Shaver of the Faculty of Science in 1995 lead to the School moving to Science.
The original Computer Science building was Burnside Hall, also created in 1970. It is notable for containing the Computing Centre, which contributed funds to Computer Science faculty such as Tim Merritt. The School moved into the McConnell Building in 1988.
In 1984, McGill University owned the two USENET nodes in Quebec: one for Computer Science, and the other for Computer vision. Around 1992, McGill was also the main network hub for all of Quebec's academic networks
Read more about this topic: Mc Gill University School Of Computer Science
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