He was a man who stayed calm while riding a huge wave of change throughout his career.

That's one way of summing up tributes offered during a retirement function for Ian Jenkins, CQU's long-serving Director of the Information Technology Division.

Ian this year marked 40 years in the computer industry and 29 years with CQU.

When he first arrived at Rockhampton Campus in 1977, the then-named Capricornia Institute of Advanced Education had just one computer, shared by administrators and researchers.

The ICL 1901a was the size of a couple of washing machines and offered a staggering 16kb of central memory, 6mb of disc storage and 'easy' programming via punch cards.

Ian remembers that the institution soon progressed to a HP3000 series 2 which had 256kb of central memory and a 50mb storage disc. However, the first dedicated academic computer did not arrive until 1983.

Several speakers at the retirement function contrasted this humble start with CQU's current computing infrastructure that has over 190 servers and 25TB (Terrabytes) of disc storage across multiple delivery sites. In addition, it was noted that computing is now crucial to all aspects of University operations.

Workmates also commented on Ian's open door management style and his habit of offering good coffee and good red wine to spark conversations.

Ian remembers that in the early days, when the institution was small enough for him to know all the staff and most of the students, his job was very hands-on.

"With only a small staff I got involved in everything from installing computer terminals and running computer and telephone cables, through to systems administration on central computers and installing and running telephone systems. Now of course there are separate sections in ITD responsible for each of these areas".

Photos: Ian Jenkins at his farewell function, with guests including his wife Jan and Vice-Chancellor Professor John Rickard.