Computer Science Alumni Spotlight: Karen Ryan, Class of 1979
Part 2 of a 40th anniversary series celebrating Tennessee Tech computer science alumni and the advancement of the Department of Computer Science, established in 1986.
Punch cards. Overnight job runs. And a lot of patience.
That was computer science at Tennessee Tech in the 1970s, when Karen Ryan, Class of 1979, chose a major few understood – including her.
At the time, computer science was housed within the Department of Mathematics, not yet a standalone department until 1986. Ryan hadn’t even planned on studying computer science, but her love of math opened the door.
“Math was my favorite subject in high school,” she said, noting that Tech’s math department offered two majors: math and computer science. “I didn’t really know much about computer science, but I thought I would give it a try.”
That decision launched Ryan into a field on the brink of rapid change, even if it didn’t seem that way at the time.
In those days, students wrote programs on punch cards and took them in carefully ordered batches to the D.W. Mattson Computer Center in Clement Hall for processing.
“It was usually overnight to get results from job submissions,” Ryan said. “The early days of computer science seemed like crawling compared to the fast pace of today’s world of computing.”
Ryan attended Tech during a formative period for computer science on campus. In 1977, the Department of Mathematics was renamed the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, and math faculty taught the university’s first computer science courses.
One of the most influential figures for Ryan was Roger Lessman.
“He was a great teacher and mentor,” Ryan said. “I enjoyed all his classes and can give him credit for keeping me in this field.”
Other faculty members in the 1970s included James Harris, David Hume, Leland Long, Larry Neal, Don Ramsey and Vason Srini [‘71].
Regardless of the slower pace and limited technology of computer science at Tennessee Tech in the 1970s, Ryan learned something lasting – that computer science is a continuously changing field.
“It was a great major to prepare for later life, where computers are so integrated into daily living,” she said.
Professional Highlights
Karen Ryan graduated from Tennessee Tech in 1979 and began her career as an IT developer at nuclear facilities in Oak Ridge and Paducah, Ky. Over the course of her career, she advanced from development into database support and later into management. She later led database support at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) before returning to the nuclear facilities, where she ultimately worked in cybersecurity until retiring from Y-12 National Security Complex in 2022.
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.