A. P. Jensen Papers
Collection
Identifier: MS451
A. P. Jensen was a student and professor at Georgia Tech who helped create the College of Computing. This collection contains documents, correspondence, and reports on computing at Georgia Tech and developing computer systems. Series 1 contains materials from Jensen's personal files, including computer studies, papers, and research; Series 2 contains printed materials including manuals, proposals, reports, publications, and student papers and theses; and Series 3 consists of two untitled, undated films.
(11 document cases, 1 half-size document case, 1 oversize box)
The films in Series 3 are not accessible at the time of writing (April 2013). There are no other restrictions on access.
Permission to publish materials from this collection must be obtained from the Head of Archives and Special Collections.
5.4 Linear Feet
This collection documents Jensen's activities during the early years of computing at Georgia Tech, his teaching, the establishment of the Rich Electronic Computer Center, and his research for Georgia Tech, private industry, and the government.
Series 1 contains Jensen's general files and includes papers about computing at Georgia Tech, general computing information, and papers from Jensen's student and teaching days. The folders with titles beginning with APJ are folders that were originally grouped together in the donated collection. A large part of this series is made up of correspondence with the National Science Foundation, government organizations, universities, and companies. Most of the correspondence regards computer use at Georgia Tech and information about computer studies and research grants. This series also contains papers and reports regarding the establishment, updating, and operations of the Rich Electronic Computer Center (RECC). The series includes proposals and reports regarding increased computer use at Georgia Tech and the development of a computer system and program at the institute. There are reports from various computer committees at Tech. Some of the papers address the President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control (1982). Other items found in this series include punch cards, computer use surveys, and time studies about computers. There are also student surveys about Jensen's instruction, academic papers and reports, coursework from Jensen and his students, and overhead slides from courses and reports.
Series 2 contains printed materials and is divided into six subseries. Subseries 1 contains studies performed for the Colonial Pipeline Company about automation. Subseries 2 contains research reports and internal research memorandums completed by the School of Information Science and the School of Information and Computer Science at Tech. These reports include information about time-sharing, computer management, the PDP-8/1, and storage. Subseries 3 includes papers related to the National Science Foundation. These include research proposals and research reports. Subseries 4 contains reports from Tech related to the President's Reorganization Project. Subseries 5 contains reports, manuals, publications, and papers mostly related to computer studies at Tech. This subseries includes data from computer systems at Tech, work plans, information from the Georgia Technical Services Program, studies and papers about computers and education, research plans and computer use studies. This subseries also contains information about the doctoral program in Information and Computer Science and a Lockheed Georgia Quarterly. Subseries 6 contains student papers and theses. The papers are from classes where Jensen was the professor and the theses are focused on computing and were written by students at Tech.
Materials from series 1 and series 2 are similar and sometimes match up closely. They are divided due to the original arrangement of the collection.
Series 3 consists of two untitled, undated films, which may be relevant to the early history of computing at Georgia Tech.
Alton Peter Jensen (1925-2005), known as "Pete," was a student and professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is recognized for his contributions in the computing world and for his work in establishing and growing Tech’s computer system and its College of Computing.
Jensen was born on July 25, 1925 in East Point, Georgia, to Peter Roosevelt Jensen and Emma Brown Jensen. He had three brothers: Edward Norman Jensen, Joseph John Jensen, and James Russell Jensen. Pete Jensen enlisted in the army during World War II and served as a Private First Class in companies I and L of the 94th Infantry Division.
Jensen graduated from the Southern Technical Institute in 1952 with an A.S. in Industrial Technology and an A.S. in Mechanical Technology. He then went on to study at the Georgia Institute of Technology, graduating with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1956. He pursued graduate work in Mechanical Engineering at Tech after finishing his undergraduate degree.
Jensen joined Tech’s research faculty in about 1954. Ten years later, in 1964, the School of Information Science was formed at Tech, the first of its kind in the world. Jensen founded Tech’s first computer laboratory and installed the university’s first email system in 1965. He formally joined the Information Science faculty in 1968. Two years later the School changed its name to the School of Information and Computer Science (ICS). In 1972, ICS began offering an undergraduate degree.
Jensen was granted tenure and promoted to professor in the School of Information and Computer Science in 1981. He was actively involved throughout his career in the development of the computer industry, especially in the areas of computers and education, instruction delivery systems, and the paperless classroom. He retired in 1984, but he remained active in teaching and research until he returned in 1987 to serve as Director of the ICS School. In 1990, under Pat Crecine's Presidency, the academic programs at Tech underwent a restructuring. One result was the formation of the College of Computing in 1990. Jensen worked to define Tech’s role in computer science by serving as chairman of the restructuring committee, he oversaw the transition, and he served as the College’s first Associate Dean.
Jensen’s first wife was Jackie Epperson Jensen. His second wife (and wife of 28 years) was Judith Bourgeois Jensen. He had a son, Allen P. Jensen, and a daughter, Jean Jensen Terrell. He died in Atlanta of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on February 9, 2005, at age 79. He is buried in Milledgeville, Georgia.
Source: Georgia Tech Archives Personality Files - Jensen, Alton P.
This collection is divided into three series:
A print copy of this finding aid is available in the Georgia Tech Archives reading room.
Donation, 2000 (accession number 2000.076).
The visual materials in this collection (including photographs and negatives) will be processed separately as VAM 451.
(11 document cases, 1 half-size document case, 1 oversize box)
April Martin and Christine de Catanzaro processed these papers in April 2013.
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Library, Georgia Institute of Technology Repository