In the early 1980s, Drexel became the first university in the country to require all students to have a personal computer, a mandate made possible through a first-of-its-kind partnership with Apple Inc.

“The freshmen now entering Drexel [in the early 1980s] will spend the greater portion of their professional lives in the 21st century, in an environment in which the computer will be an everyday, even commonplace tool. … In every field of endeavor the successful practitioner will utilize computer technology in order to understand and deal with the challenges of everyday life,” declared Drexel University’s then-president, William W. Hagerty, PhD, in 1982.

With that proclamation, Drexel announced that all incoming students starting in 1983 would need access to a personal microcomputer — a first within higher education that earned Drexel a national reputation as a bold and technologically advanced institution.

The University doubled down on that reputation when it secured a first-of-its-kind partnership with the Apple Computer, Inc. company (today’s Apple Inc.). Students, and most of the faculty, received a discounted, brand-new Apple Macintosh personal computer in early 1984 — before it was available to the general public.