ACM: the past 15 years, 1972-1987

In this short history of ACM, covering the early 1970s through the first half of 1987, I am trying to note briefly the major happenings in the association and recall the members who were involved in those happenings. In 1972 ACM had 28,838 members. At last count, the membership was 72,723. In 1972 ACM issued 4 publications to meet the perceived needs of the membership. In 1987 ACM issues 10 formal publications plus the Special Interest Group (SIG) newsletters to meet the ever-increasing needs of the membership for information. (Harry Goheen, one of the founders of ACM, told me that the original plan was to circulate papers among the members, rather than to publish formally.) The need for publications grew, and by 1971, the Editorial Board was renamed the Publications Board and its chairman became a member of the ACM Council. Changes in computers, languages, and disciplines were accompanied by changes in the needs for SIGs and hence changes in the SIGs; new ones were formed, starting as Special Interest Committees (SICs) and evolving into SIGs as they stabilized; some SIGs took on new disciplines. As the discipline grew and divided into subsets of the original disciplines, the number of SIGs grew. A committee was formed to handle the mundane affairs of the SIGs, SICs and the chair of that committee also was a member of the Council. The committee became the SIG/SIC Board. Later, when the SICs were phased out, the board was renamed the SIG Board. The growth of the industry, with its accompanying need for knowledgeable practitioners, not only encouraged SIG growth, but gave impetus to the chapter movement. In the early 197Os, as Council increased support of its subsidiary organizations, the chapter movement gained momentum. The Lectureship Series, which began in 1961, provided speakers in various computing specialties to the chapters. It was supported vigorously, and the growth in computer science disciplines at colleges and universities resulted in more student chapters.