K-State IT staff Jay Alloway and Rich Williams were recently honored for 40 years of service as state employees at an Aug. 20 ceremony in Topeka. They both started in academic computing at K-State and have continued working in central IT throughout their careers, albeit with many technology changes along the way.
“The K-State mainframe computer that I started with in 1969 required a 1,200 square-foot room, and now people have more power in the palm of their hands with cellphones than that first computer had,” said Williams. He started as a computer operator Sept. 15, 1969, “which will be right at 41 years this week, and I think just a few weeks after Jay was hired.”
Alloway said he started his full-time career at K-State as a system programmer and recalled his office was right next to the Computer Center, which was housed in the basement of Cardwell Hall. “That was an unclassified position from the start. My current title is assistant director of Computing and Telecommunications Services.”
“PCs weren’t invented when I started at K-State, and input/output was through computer cards,” Alloway said. He noted the university did have remote communications and connectivity with other educational institutions in the state in the early history of his K-State career.
“Mainframe computing was all that was available to faculty/staff and students,” said Williams, who was handling that input from computer cards, processing “jobs” through the IBM mainframe, and returning output to customers on large, greenbar paper printouts. “We had three shifts at that time to provide 24/7 coverage, and even then we couldn’t keep up all the time.”
Over the years, Williams has also provided desktop support to many departments across campus, including the president’s office and the College of Agriculture. Currently he is an applications developer on K-State’s central webteam (in the Office of Mediated Education), with responsibilities for K-State’s online directories; website permissions and maintenance; desktop support; and office cubicle design and setups.
