Ray Trygstad, Professor Emeritus of Information Technology and Management

Professor Emeritus of Information Technology and Management

Faculty Adviser, Beta Chapter of Gamma Nu Eta

Senior Member, Association for Computing Machinery
B.S., United States Naval Academy
M.S. Systems Management, University of Denver

Current Hot Items from Professor Trygstad:
I'M RETIRED!

NOTE:	I retired from full-time employment at Illinois Tech as of August 17, 2025. All my ITM advisees except those graduating in May or September 2025 have now been reassigned to other advisers. I am not advising anyone for Fall 2025.
Office:	IIT Mies Campus: Michael Paul Galvin Tower Suite 1500A, 10 W 35^th St, Chicago, IL (Google Map Location)
Office hours:	By appointment only. (I'm retired!) Appointments may only be made by email, and online appointments are preferred. Online appointments will always be via Google Meet at http://meet.google.com/bjt-cvwh-uib.
Telephone:	312.567.5252 (Unified number rings my mobile phone. Supports voice, text, MMS, and Teams Meetings.) Fax: None.
Email:	trygstad [at] illinoistech.edu
ORCHID:	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3432-1307
Snail Mail:	Nope.
Résumé/Bio:	Faculty Vitae\| Résumé\| Detailed Biography\| Aviation Résumé\| About My Last Name
LinkedIn:
Just for fun:	Failed Predictions
Appointments:	Appointments may be made by email only. trygstad [at] illinoistech.edu or scan the QR code below.

About Ray Trygstad

Ray Trygstad is a Professor Emeritus at Illinois Institute of Technology. (This means he is, for the most part, retired.) He has broad experience and education in the management/administration of information systems, information security, computers, the Internet, and higher education. As a professor at Illinois Institute of Technology, he taught cyber security management, legal and ethical issues in information technology, systems integration, disaster recovery and business continuity, open source operating systems, digital multimedia, and management. He served as the Associate Chair of Illinois Tech's Department of Information Technology & Management (ITM), and wrote the curricula currently in use for all of the degrees in information technology and cybersecurity offered by the department. His experience as a college professor as well as over four years as a Navy Flight Instructor has made him an expert in curriculum development. In fall of 2023 he was named one of the first seven Illinois Tech faculty members to be appointed to the new new rank of Teaching Professor with the title of Industry Professor, and in 2025 became the first Teaching Professor to be appointed as a Professor Emeritus. He was also the Director of Undergraduate Advising for the ITM degree program. He is the Past Chair of the IIT Undergraduate StudiesCommittee and a was also a member of the IIT HLC Accreditation Team. Ray previously served as the Director of Information Technology for the IIT School of Applied Technology, where he was responsible for technology planning and computer system management and administration for the school. He has taught Naval Science, Computer Science, Business, and Public Administration at IIT, and has guest lectured at the University of Chicago. Ray is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, and was designated a Computer Systems Management Subspecialist by the U. S. Navy, where he served as an Information Systems Manager and Information Systems Security Officer when he was not flying helicopters. In this capacity he did his first information systems security audit in 1988. He is a Senior Member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and is the Past Chair of ACM's Special Interest Group in Cybersecurity and Information Technology Education (ACM SIGCITE) (formerly ACM SIGITE). He is a professional member and past National Chairman of Gamma Nu Eta, the Information Technology Honor Society. In his capacity as an ABET Team Chair he goes on program accreditation visits to evaluate degree programs in computing, and he also serves as a Commissioner on the ABET Computing Accreditation Commission, as well as a member of the joint CSAB/ABET CAC Criteria Committee. As a member of the Criteria Committee, he wrote the first draft of the ABET General Criteria for Accreditation of Master’s LevelPrograms. He earned a Master of Science in Systems Management from the University of Denver and has done Ph.D. Studies at Illinois Institute of Technology. He was named as a Senior Member of the Association for Computing Machinery in 2024. ● ● ● ●

Professor Trygstad is now the Principal of Trygstad Academics, a veteran-owned public benefit corporation. Trygstad Academics actively encourages institutions of higher education to offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in information technology to expand opportunities in the field of computing while particularly targeting underserved populations. Trygstad Academics offers higher education consulting and curriculum design services to further this end.