Julius Nadas Professor of Mathematics Wilbur Wright College

I am an ethnic Hungarian born in Austria at the close of the second world war. My family moved to Cleveland when I was six years old and I stayed there until I earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics from Case Institute of Technology. Case was a very exciting environment which produced many computer science pioneers during those years like Don Knuth and John Walker. From there I went to Madison Wisconsin for a Master's degree in Mathematics. I then joined Sperry UNIVAC as a software developer and was transferred into their Central Marketing organization where I installed computers at schools like Michigan Technological University and Illinois Institute of Technology as well as at several engineering and insurance companies. While at UNIVAC I worked with Grace Murray Hopper among others.

I started working at Wilbur Wright College in the Fall semester of 1976 in what was then called the Data Processing Department. The name of the department was later changed, first to Information Technology and subsequently to Computer Information Systems. I served as chair of the department from 1993 thru 2006 at which time I was transferred into the Mathematics Department. I have also taught Computer Forensics in the Social Science Department and numerical methods in the Engineering Department. For a while I was also the Wright College webmaster. Over the years I served on many college and district committees and was elected president of the Wright College Faculty Council. I am currently serving my ninth year as secretary of the Faculty Council of the City Colleges of Chicago. Among the many awards I have received I am particularly proud of the Wright College Distinguished Service, the PTK Golden Apple and the SGA Advisor of the Year awards.

I have been married for forty years and have four children and nine grandchildren. I am active in the Chicago Hungarian Community as well as the International Hungarian Scouting Movement. I have seen most of North America in various RV's. In addition to riding a Harley Davidson 2012 FLSTC Heritage Softail Classic, I am a member of Chicago's Active Transportation Alliance and ride my bicycle 50-100 miles a week.

In 2011 I polished my software skills by taking an artificial intelligence MOOC at Stanford University. The following year I worked at Obama for America Headquarters. This year I have a special assignment defining semester by semester academic pathway maps. I am constantly looking for new ways to share my technical knowledge and institutional memories with others.