Early Years
Clarence “Skip” Ellis was born on May 11, 1943 as one of 5 children, raised by a single mother. He grew up in a poor, violent area on the South Side of Chicago. Despite the area he grew up in, Ellis tended to stay out of trouble, holding a good head on his shoulders.
At age 15, Ellis got a part-time job as a graveyard shift computer operator. Due to his age, his supervisor's did not allow him to actually use the computers. Instead of wasting the time away, Ellis would read the computer manuals, learning the ins and outs of computers.
Through his pastor, Ellis became aware of a scholarship opportunity at Beloit College. Ellis applied for and earned the scholarship, moving him 100 miles away from home, and making him the only African–American student on the Beloit College campus at the time.
College
Beloit College
Unprepared compared to his classmates as a new college student, Ellis tended to find himself drowning in work. As a freshman, Ellis found himself spending most of his free time studying, keeping him away from many extracurricular activities.
As a Junior in college, Beloit received a computer as a donation. With his prior knowledge of computers, Ellis and a chemistry professor at the school were tasked with setting up the computer. With countless hours in the computer lab, Ellis realized he wanted to pursue a career around computers.
Despite struggling through the beginning years of college, Ellis pushed through, earning his Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Physics, as Beloit didn't have any computer science courses.
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Although he did not follow the stereotypical mold of a computer scientist at the time, Ellis decided to follow his passion. Despite the recommendations against it, Ellis enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
At the university, Ellis was presented with many opportunities, one as significant as working with the hardware and software of one of the first supercomputers called the Illiac 4. Through his hard work and perseverance, Ellis became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in computer science in 1969.
Post–College
After becoming the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. in computer science, Ellis went on to work for some of the largest computer companies in the world. In his times at Xerox, IBM, Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation, Los Alamos Scientific Labs, and Argonne National Laboratory, Ellis made his mark in the computer industry. While at Xerox, Ellis helped create the idea of point and click, later known as the mouse that everyone uses to this day.
Not only did he leave a legacy in the computer industry, Ellis also turned his knowledge to the teaching realm, becoming a professor for some of the highest ranked colleges in the world. Ellis taught at Stanford University, the University of Texas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stevens Institute of Technology. Wanting to share the knowledge he had gained throughout his years, Ellis even ventured to Taiwan to teach overseas on an American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS) fellowship.
After a lengthy career all across the United States and various parts of the world, in 1992 Ellis settled down in Boulder, Colorado, as a professor in computer science. Ellis conducted research in many areas including “workflow technology, groupware, cognitive science, object-oriented systems, computer supported cooperative work, and systems design and modeling” (Encyclopedia.com)
At the University of Colorado, Ellis helped develop a summer program called “Summer Multicultural Access to Research Training (SMART)” (Encyclopedia.com) which provides internships in science and engineering to many of the students enrolled at the university.
While in Colorado, Ellis became the “director of the Collaboration Technology Research group and a member of the Systems Software Laboratory and the Institute for Cognitive Science” (Encyclopedia.com). With his love of sharing, Ellis wrote many books, technical papers, and reports in his field of focus, as well as traveling to many different parts of the world, lecturing about computer science topics.
On May 17, 2014, Ellis died unexpectedly at the age of 71 of a pulmonary embolism during a flight home from Ghana. Although an unfortunate death, Ellis was known to be loved by everyone that got the opportunity to spend time with him.