Computer Science Alumni Spotlight: Ray McCay, Class of 1979
Part 1 of a 40th anniversary series celebrating Tennessee Tech computer science alumni and the advancement of the Department of Computer Science, established in 1986.
Computer science at Tennessee Tech in the 1970s looked nothing like it does today.
Ray McCay, Class of 1979, one of the university’s earliest computer science graduates, remembers a time before personal computers, when students programmed using punch cards. They submitted stacks of the cards, each with a unique pattern of holes that stored computer instructions, for processing at the computer center in Clement Hall – and waited. No instant results in those days.
“Computer science as a profession was just starting to take shape,” he said.
Even then, McCay recognized the potential of computing technology, focusing on the possibilities these early machines represented rather than their limitations. Over the next 45 years, he witnessed major changes across the IT industry while working in areas ranging from global product strategy to cloud management.
In McCay’s view, however, the essence of the field has remained consistent.
“No matter what the technological advance, the key is how to apply that technology to solve real problems,” he said. “That is the field of computer science — in 1979 and in 2026.”
Professional Highlights
Ray McCay graduated from Tennessee Tech in 1979 and built a 45-year career spanning IT solutions, sales and executive leadership. He held leadership roles with Burroughs, Boise Cascade, McDonnell Douglas, Hitachi and ViON Federal Solutions. At Hitachi, he served as senior vice president of global product strategy and later as senior vice president and global general manager of Hitachi Solutions. He concluded his career as a private cloud general manager at ViON Federal Solutions before retiring in 2024.
Computer Science in the 1970s
- 1970 – First computer science course appears in Tennessee Tech catalog: Fortran Programming.
- 1973 – Computer science is offered as a minor, with a major in mathematics.
- 1974 – Tennessee Tech awards first two computer science degrees.
- 1977 – Department of Mathematics is renamed Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.