Lawrence Von Tersch graduated in 1943 from Iowa State with a BS in electrical engineering, after which he went into the Navy for several years. In 1953 he received his PhD in electrical engineering from Iowa State and then began working with computers at the University of Illinois. Von Tersch came to MSU in 1956 and founded and became the first director of the computer lab in the early 1960s. The computer lab consisted of a copy of the Institute for Advanced Study machine that was at Illinois and Princeton. It was a crude machine that took 10 months to build and was a vacuum tube machine. As an outgrowth of this lab, and in an effort to keep up with the growing computer demands throughout the country, a computer science program was created in the College of Engineering. In 1968, Von Tersch became the dean of the College of Engineering, a position he held until his retirement in 1989. During his tenure as dean, the college purchased a commercial machine (a solid state device) to replace the original computer because it could no longer handle the magnitude of MSU’s computer needs. Von Tersch was also instrumental in designing and building the new Engineering building, in greatly increasing the Engineering graduate program, and in creating a research area for composite materials. Topics/people covered in the interview include: Henry Blosser; Jack Breslin; John Cantlon; Control Data Corporation; cyclotron; College of Engineering; Larry Durzoll; Tom Hamilton; John Hannah; Edgar Harden; John Hoffman; Ag Experiment Station; connection with major corporations; grants from NSF; Interaction of Big Ten Deans of Engineering; international students; University College; Paul Miller; MSU Computer Center; National Electronics Conference; NSF; Jake Nevell; Princeton University; John Ryder; Jack Shingleton; Department of Computer Science; David Scott; University of Illinois; Gerard Weeg; Clifton Wharton; Matilda Dodge Wilson; Clarence Winder
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