Sr. Middleware Systems Administrator Jon Ross retires after 37 years

If UIT had a hall of fame, Chief Technology Officer Jim Livingston said “legend” Jon Ross “would definitely be enshrined there.”

“It’s hard when someone of your talents moves on, but holy cow, all you’ve done here is commendable and a great example to everyone,” Livingston said at Ross’ retirement reception at 102 Tower on July 22, 2025, which colleagues also joined online. Ross will retire on July 31 after serving the University of Utah for 37 years.

Before presenting Ross with U-branded parting gifts that included a camping chair and sweatshirts, Director for Platform Services Kim Tanner recalled Ross’ quick response to an outage not long after she was hired by UIT as the team’s associate director. Tanner replaced Ross, who stepped in to serve as interim AD while also working as a UNIX systems administrator in UIT.

“The team said, ‘Call Jon. He’ll take care of it.’ Jon came to the rescue. He was out that day and we regrettably had to pull him away from the ski slopes. Once he arrived onsite, he went to his stash of hardware and restored the system in no time. That’s when I knew we’d always be in good hands.”

Ross, in turn, humbly credited his “incredible” Web Application Development & Automation colleagues as “probably the smartest team I’ve ever been part of my entire time at the U.”

A senior middleware systems administrator, Ross served various IT roles throughout his career at the university. During the 1980s, he was a campus Computer Center student intern alongside former UIT employees Craig Bennion, Dave Hoisve, and LeRoy Eide. He served as an IT support staff member for several academic departments, including the Colleges of Education and Business, and Continuing Education, before joining UIT, where he’s worked for the past 15 years.

In retirement, Ross said he plans to remodel his home, take classes at the U, and possibly book a ticket to “roam about for a summer” in Germany, where his sister-in-law lives. Since many of his friends who ski are retired, he also plans to “double the number of days I ski on weekdays,” in addition to biking and hiking.

Please join UIT Leadership in thanking Ross for his dedicated service and wishing him well in his future endeavors.

 

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