The Department of Computer Science received the sad news that alumnus and former faculty, Steven Edward Strong (BA85), passed away on September 13, 2026.

While Steve was born in Wyoming, he grew up in Ankeny, Iowa and started his career as a mechanical engineer with John Deere. Afterward, he taught math in classrooms across Iowa. As the field of computer science grew, Steve went back to school and got a degree in computer science and ultimately moved his family to Silicon Valley where he spent eight years working for Apple Computer, Inc.

On his return to Iowa, Steve also returned to education, teaching math and Computer Science at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, and then as a professor of Computer Science at Cornell and Mt. Mercy Colleges, and here at the University of Iowa.

At Iowa, Steve taught several iterations of Intro to CS and CS1: Fundamentals for us from 2004 to 2014.

In addition to his teaching Hawkeyes, Steve worked with CS leadership in establishing the Informatics program in the early aughts. At Mt. Mercy, he had overlapped with our own Prof. Liza Kleiman before she joined our faculty. She and Chairperson Prof. Segre have fond memories of their collaborations with Steve, as do our faculty.

Memorial Service information for Steve Strong.

"Steve was a good friend, always so full of enthusiasm for computer science. As a result, he was an unusually passionate teacher who touched the lives of many of our students: he will be greatly missed." Prof. Alberto Segre