Stanley H. and Joyce A. '77 Lipson
Dr. Stanley H. Lipson, retired professor of mathematics and computer science, and his wife Joyce A. Lipson '77, are proud members of the Kean Medallion Society .
The couple have included a bequest in their wills to benefit the Kean University Foundation, which will support the existing Dr. Stanley H. & Joyce A. '77 Lipson Endowed Scholarship in Computing and Mathematical Disciplines . This scholarship was initially established through generous donations from Dr. and Mrs. Lipson, as well as friends and family, upon his retirement from Kean in 2015.
When Dr. Lipson joined the faculty at Kean in 1966, the home computer hadn't even been invented yet. Dr. Lipson is very aware of how fast technology evolves. When developing students' minds, he believes, "We must teach people to solve problems that won't even be concerns until 10 to 15 years after they graduate."
The first time Dr. Lipson saw a computer was in 1958.He was taking a summer course at New York University (NYU) while on summer hiatus from his regular undergraduate studies at Trinity College. Dr. Lipson recounts,"NYU had a brand-new UNIVAC II computer. It consisted of 20,000 vacuum tubes and took up five floors of a brownstone building in New York City." Reflecting on how far the field of computer science has come since its inception, Dr. Lipson pointed to the personal computer on his desk and remarked, "The modern-day desktop computer has far more capacity than all the computers on the planet back then."
After graduating from Trinity College with a triple major in mathematics, chemistry, and physics, Dr. Lipson earned his M.A. degree in mathematics from Teachers College, Columbia University. Early in his career, Dr. Lipson initially taught math to high school students in upstate New York. While doing so, he was selected to receive training in General Electric's (GE) computer-engineering program. The following summer, he worked with seven students, teaching them to use a teletype machine to remotely access a prototype GE 630 computer in Phoenix.“The manuals we used outlined the programming language called BASIC, and very few people at GE were cleared by the company to access that information." He added that, since they were working on a prototype, it is quite likely that he was the first person in the country to teach the BASIC language to high school students.
After teaching high school for a short time, Dr. Lipson returned to Columbia University to earn his doctoral degree. His first-rate education combined with his early experience with computers led Dr. Lipson to obtain a faculty position at Kean University, where he is credited with assisting in the creation of the computer science program in 1969.
Dr. Lipson also played a key role in helping Kean obtain university status in 1997. First, he chaired a faculty senate committee that recommended taking steps to pursue university status and then co-chaired a task force that made it happen.
"When I first came to Kean, I figured I could teach for three years, and then seek employment anywhere I wanted," Dr. Lipson said, smiling.Despite his initial plans, Dr. Lipson became part of the very fabric of the University. He served on the faculty at Kean for forty-eight years and is very grateful for his time at Kean.
In addition to Dr. Lipson’s long-time tenure on the faculty, three members of the Lipson family have earned their degrees from Kean University: namely his wife, Joyce, his late daughter, Laurie, and his grandson, Elijah.
There is no doubt that Dr. Stanley Lipson has had a profound effect on countless students and their families, as well as his colleagues and the community at large.
Because of his generosity and wise financial planning, the Dr. Stanley H. & Joyce A. ’77 Lipson Endowed Scholarship Fund will live on in perpetuity, carrying out the Lipson family legacy while impacting countless students at Kean for generations to come.