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40 Years Ago, Drexel Made Computer – and Apple – History

In the early 1980s, Drexel became the first university in the country to require all students to have a personal computer, a mandate made possible through a first-of-its-kind partnership with Apple Inc.

I had pre-existing programming experience, but I didn’t know how to use a spreadsheet or a personal computer,” remembered Eva Thury, PhD, associate professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences. IBM’s young competitor Apple, on the other hand, was willing to give discounts, provided the University agreed to secret negotiations and discreet showings of its newest, unreleased personal computer. A one-hour documentary filmed by David Jones, Dean of the Pennoni Honors College from 2008 to 2014, depicting the time Drexel made the very bold decision of committing all students to purchase a previously unreleased and untested computer from Apple.

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