The Department of Computer Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin officially opened its doors on September 1, 1966. At that time it was strictly a graduate program consisting of 44 students, 13 faculty members, and an administrative staff of one. As the plural term implies, the new department was designed to bring together computer scientists previously identified with several different academic fields.
When the popularity of computer-related studies began to soar in the mid-1970s, the need for a coordinated undergraduate computer science program was evident. The undergraduate program became a reality in September 1974 with 350 undergraduate computer science majors.
Today the Department consists of 42 tenure-track faculty members and 22 full-time lecturers. Approximately 274 graduate students study at UTCS, 192 of whom are in the Ph.D. program, as well as 858 undergraduate students. It is the largest top-10 computer science department in the United States.
The educational background of UTCS faculty members include some of the most prestigious universities and colleges. A number of the department faculty hold leadership roles in computer science education at the national and international level. These positions are a reflection of the department's continuing influential role in computer science education.
The UTCS research and graduate programs are ranked in the top-ten nationally by U. S. News World Report. UTCS is especially strong in Artificial Intelligence, Formal Methods, Robotics, Systems and Theory impacting many other areas such as architecture, compilation, computational biology and bioinformatics, data mining, graphics, machine learning, numerical analysis, programming languages, and visualization.
The goal of the UTCS undergraduate program is to provide a broad education in the science of computing, offering over 45 courses that span the full range of topics in modern computer sciences. Every student is expected to be proficient in the theories of computing and be able to apply them to the processes of design and implementation of software systems.
As a foundation on which to build their computing proficiency, all
our students develop a strong background in the hardware architectures
and the mathematics. The UTCS undergraduate program requires
all students to obtain a background in other scientific disciplines
and develop effective communication skills. UTCS offers computer science
classes for non-majors through its popular Elements
of Computing certification
program and participation
in the Bridging
Disciplines 
program in Digital Arts and Media.
Our students also have access to other excellent computing-related programs at the University, including computer engineering, cognitive science, computational and applied mathematics, computational mechanics, and management information systems. Check out Other Computing Research at UT for a representative list.
UTCS students have many opportunities to hear and interact with scientists and engineers from outside the University. There is a steady stream of seminars given by visiting computer scientists from all over the world. Visit the department calendar page for more information on lectures, camps and other activities.
UTCS is a driving force in the economy of Central Texas and is involved in community
outreach on several levels. Our award-winning First
Bytes summer camp educates approximately 50 high school women each year on
careers in Computer Science. UTCS will hold a teacher camp this summer for high
school computer science teachers. Our
Friends of Computer Sciences (FoCS) program works to collaborate with industry
on research, scholarships, internships,
and careers for students. We also actively seek opportunities to speak to
students in middle school and high school though our undergraduate recruitment
efforts. In addition, UTCS is always active in university events such as the Explore
UT , where gaming, robotic soccer dogs, the visualization lab and other activities
educate and enthrall the public.
