In 1990, the Computing Center moved from the Hallden Engineering Laboratory to the newly-constructed Nutt Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science Center (MECC), then known as the Mathematics, Computing, and Engineering Center (MCEC). It remained there until it was combined with the library in 2002.

Macintosh Computer Lab in MCEC in 1991. Photo credit: Trinity Reporter

The new building had facilities purpose-built for the needs of the Computing Center. These included two large rooms on the first floor with several dozen personal computers on desks for students to use and for the conducting of classes. These rooms had large video projectors mounted on the ceiling connected to a computer for the instructor.

Across the hall were laser printers and a desk where student workers known as “consultants” were ready to help. There was also a computer store on the same floor there where Apple computers could be purchased and computers of various makes repaired.

Upstairs was a computer lab for the Computer Science department equipped with Sun Microsystems workstations. There were also a number of classrooms with video projectors, video players, and computers for the instructor.

The DEC Vax minicomputer used for administrative functions, ca. 2003. Photo credit: Ralford Mclean

Downstairs were three computer rooms. These rooms had electrical power for the Vax minicomputers which had been moved from Hallden and an air conditioning system which circulated air under a raised floor. From one of these basement computer rooms, conduits ran upstairs though a wiring closet on each floor. From the closets, the cables routed through troughs high up in the hallway ceilings, behind the lights which ran along the two sides.

Access to the building and to some of the rooms within was controlled by electronic locks, which were opened by sliding an ID card with a magnetic strip.

IBM-compatible servers, a CD-ROM tower, and a Sparc server in MCEC, ca. 2003. Photo credit: Ralford Mclean

Use of servers based on the IBM-PC increased greatly during the 1990s. Photo credit: Ralford Mclean

During the time that the Computing Center was in MCEC, the personal computer revolution was in full swing. The minicomputers in the basement were gradually replaced by a growing assortment of servers running Unix, Windows NT, and Linux.

The local area network run by the Computing Center was gradually expanded into all office buildings. By 1992, wired network connections were available in MCEC, the Life Sciences Center, Hallden Hall, McCook Academic Building, Austin Arts Center, Clement Chemistry Building, Seabury Hall, Downes Clock Tower, the library, and the English department. Deployment to works was also starting with Localtalk connections for Macintosh computers available in student dormitories, namely Jones, Elton, Jackson, Jarvis, Northam, Cook, Goodwin-Woodward, High Rise, Anadama, and North Campus Hall. This gave students remote access to file servers, the Vax minicomputer, the library card catalog, and the Internet. An article in the Tripod in February 1992 explained that the Internet was “a world-wide computer network that is used by almost every college in the United States, as well as major colleges overseas, various research institutions, government agencies, and companies.” Students could use the Internet to “transfer electronic mail, and files for free to anywhere within Trinity, or the world.” The World Wide Web (i.e., web browsers) would not become well known until the next year.

Increasingly, computers were seen not as scientific tools or an alternative to typewriters but as a means of obtaining information using the Internet. There was an increasing interest in ways that the network could be used in teaching. For example, in 1993, the Writing Center announced a course called “Writing On-Line.” Only the first and last class were to be conducted in person. The rest of the time the students would receive their assignments, submit their work, and receive feedback from instructors and peers over the network.

By 1993, one of the goals of the Strategic Plan was that all or most students should have a computer which could connect to the campus network. Many students bought computers through the Apple computer store in the Computing Center. The store ran large advertisements in the Tripod during the 1990s.

By 1996, plans were underway to renovate the library building and add a new wing to which the Computing Center and computer labs would be moved.

In 2002, the Computing Center moved to the new wing of the library and the departments were combined. However, one server room was kept in the basement where networking and telephone equipment remains to this day. The computer labs on the first floor were turned over to the Computer Science department which remained in MCEC.

Trinity Tripod, 3/19/96, p. 5.

'Writing On-Line', New Computerized Class, Trinity Tripod, 4/27/93, p. 8.

Trinity Tripod, 4/2/92, p. 5.

Trinity Reporter, Spring 1991, pp. 10-12, 14, 15.