Samuel D. Conte papers

Samuel D. Conte was born on June 5, 1917 in Lackawanna, NY. He lived near Buffalo, NY throughout his childhood, and received his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Buffalo State University in 1939. He stayed in town to work on his Master of Science degree in mathematics at the University of Buffalo, which he completed in 1943. With the onset on World War II, Conte joined the Army and served on the European front. After the war ended he... stayed in Biarritz, France to teach mathematics to the G.I.s who were waiting for transport home, and upon his return to the United States decided on a career in education.

Conte began teaching at Wayne State University in 1946 while pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, which he completed in 1950. In 1956, he left Wayne State and moved to California for a job in the aerospace industry, where he focused his mathematics skills on the relatively young field of computer science. It wasn’t until 1962, after then-Dean of the School of Science, Felix Haas approached him with a position, that Conte moved to Purdue as Head of the world’s first Computer Science Department. There he played a fundamental role in the development of computer science curricula and programs not only at Purdue, but nationwide, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Conte stepped down as department head at Purdue in 1979 and retired in 1982, though he continued to teach until 1993. By the end of his tenure as Department Head, Computer Sciences at Purdue had over 20 faculty and over 300 undergraduate majors, had granted over 50 Ph.D.s and 300 M.S. degrees, and was ranked in the top 10 programs in the United States. In recognition of his legacy, a Distinguished Lectureship Series in the Computer Science Department and Distinguished Professorship in Computer Science at Purdue were named after him. In 1997, Conte was awarded a Sagamore of the Wabash from Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon.

Samuel Conte passed away on July 1, 2002 in West Lafayette, IN.