The School of Computing and Information Science and the Center for the Development of Information Technology (DIT) is the youngest school at Saint Louis University (SLU) and traces its roots to the vision of then Vice President for Finance and later University President Rev. Fr. Ghisleen de Vos (1976–1983). Forward-thinking and progressive, Fr. de Vos foresaw the automation of university systems such as accounting and enrollment at a time when computerization was uncommon in the country. With acquisitions of IBM systems in 1969 and 1980, SLU also catered to the computing needs of other institutions in the region. The SLU Computer Center handled these tasks until 1990, when it evolved into the Institute of Information and Computing Science and began offering a Computer Science program. The institute became a college in 1994, and the university’s computing and IT management was later devolved to the newly established MIS and SLU NET offices. Courses in Information Technology, Mathematics, Information Management, and Library and Information Science were added over time. Though new, the school was a trailblazer in IT education, and its advanced curriculum was strengthened through international linkages, faculty scholarships and training, and visits from international lecturers. The School hosted the first Northern Luzon international IT conference in 2007, with students, professionals, and experts from around the world in attendance. It has since conducted annual regional IT congresses showcasing research and projects from various universities and industries. As a Center of Development in IT education, the School continually introduces program innovations to meet current industry demands and required skills. The School's ICT Research Laboratory designed and manages the university's Learning Management System and the Research Digital Repository System, which serve as online repositories for course materials, research outputs, forums, and class records. The School has conducted and is completing studies in promising IT research areas such as natural language processing using local dialects (e.g., Ilokano and Tagalog), computational mathematics and algorithms, mobile and wireless computing, and the measurement of IT literacy and fluency. Professionals skilled in digital arts technologies are among the most in-demand workers across several industries. To meet this demand and in support of the Philippine government's call for HEIs to offer ladderized technical and vocational programs, the School offers short diploma programs in digital animation, multimedia systems, digital design, editing, and publishing. The latest addition to the School's graduate programs—the Master of Science in Service Management Engineering (MSSME)—makes SLU the first institution in the country to offer this emerging program. The degree aims to advance, manage, evaluate, and optimize systems in the global service industry. Developed in coordination with Professor Guido Dedene, a renowned IT expert, the program is multidisciplinary and includes courses from SLU's Schools of Engineering and Architecture and Accountancy and Business Management. The School was also selected by the Philippine Statistical Research and Training Center as a regional training center to accelerate national statistical capacity building. Beyond producing technologically skilled professionals, the School seeks to be socially relevant by sharing its expertise and resources. In 2007 it donated numerous computer units to Baguio City National High School (BCNHS) as part of a collaborative project with Belgium's Close the Gap (CTG) alliance, and it designed and conducted training programs for BCNHS teachers on computer and web-based applications. The School's future looks bright as it keeps pace with rapid modernization. The School of Computing and Information Sciences recognizes that the power to create, command, and control information technology comes with great responsibility. The School therefore focuses not only on setting new academic directions toward the advancement of IT and computing education and research, but also on advocating the ethical use of information and computing. SLU was the first institutional Internet service provider in Northern Luzon when it became a member — one of only ten in the country at the time — of the Philippine Network Foundation (PHNet) consortium in 1994.