A campus veteran, who served the university community for 35 years, died Oct. 8. James K. Hightower, professor emeritus of information systems and decision sciences, was 79.
The business educator joined the University in 1969 and served not only as a faculty member, but also as associate dean of graduate programs in the then-School of Business Administration and Economics. Hightower left CSUF to join the California State University in 1976 and served 18 years as director of academic computing. When he returned to campus, Hightower continued to serve, even after being awarded emeritus status in 2004. A year later, he became program coordinator for the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics’ first online program — master of science in information technology. He served for an additional four years.
Hightower was active in and held leadership positions in such professional organizations as the Econometric Society, American Association of Artificial Intelligence, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the New York Academy of Sciences and Innovative Technology in Computer Science Education, which he co-founded and co-chaired.
He is survived by his wife, Sharon; son, Matthew; and daughter, Elizabeth.