Jim Knox
Jim Knox
On July 4, 2010, the University of Michigan lost a real, dedicated colleague and a true friend. Though he had officially retired along with the May 2010 Information and Technology Services (ITS) retirement class, Jim had been unable to attend the celebration event due to his illness, so many of us didn’t get the chance to say goodbye.
He also worked at the university for more than 30 years. When he retired, Jim was director of the university's Adaptive Technology Computing Site, where he provided adaptive and ergonomic computing hardware, software and workstations for students, faculty and staff with disabilities. He also served on the university's User Advocate team, which helps educates the U-M community about proper use of IT, protects users against abuse, and handles IT abuse complaints sent to the university. Though I don’t know for certain, I suspect that Jim had a foundational role in the development of both the ATCS and the User Advocate at the university.
In a very unsung and understated way, he was always working to help folks with disabilities be better able to use computing technology. That was a big passion for Jim. He also believed in computing overall and wanted to keep the computing environment safe and friendly for everyone so that all could benefit from the positive things it has to offer. He was one of the rocks of simple, positive practice on which the U-M computing community was built over the years.
One can’t really appreciate that kind of contribution enough until you travel to other campuses where you see a more convoluted, locked-down, dysfunctional computing environment. It makes all the difference in the world in your daily work, and our system was born from a caring philosophy about people and a dedication to work through the hard problems so users wouldn’t have to. Jim wasn’t the only one, but he was right there on the front lines, never giving up, always advocating for the user against unnecessary bureaucracy, restraints or obfuscation. And he gained a very positive reputation in the IT community for these efforts.
A man of Michigan