Dr. James R. "Jim" Rowland

Funeral services for Dr. James R. “Jim” Rowland will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 16, 2026 at Agent Mallory-Martin Chapel located at 904 E. Shawntel Smith Blvd., Muldrow, OK. Jim passed away on April 17, 2026 unexpectedly after a brief illness. Jim was born to Imogene Beatrice Angel Rowland and Richard Cleveland Rowland on January 24, 1940 in Muldrow, OK. He is survived by his wife Dr. Mary Anderson-Rowland, daughters Jennifer and Angela Rowland, Angela’s husband Greg Oehrtman, step-sons Tal (Tiffany) Anderson and Trev (Kristi) Anderson; 7 grandchildren: Brevin (Annesley), Jensen (Bee), Kasana (Joel), Kynan, Tiegan, HannahMarie, and Lucas; and two great-grandchildren: Macrina and Connelly. He is preceded in death by his parents Imogene and Cleve, and his wife Jonell Condren Rowland.

Jim graduated valedictorian from Muldrow High School in 1958, where he had been a successful debater and FFA member raising and showing angus cattle and pigs. He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1962 with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. In 1964 and 1966 he graduated from Purdue University with Masters and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering. That same year he began a career as an Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor in academia that spanned 51 years and throughout which he garnered several national engineering awards and academic teaching awards. Jim was a founding member of Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference beginning in 1971, in addition to being awarded a Life Fellow in national engineering organizations IEEE and ASEE. In IEEE he served as Education Society President in 1982 and 1983. In 1984, he was honored with an IEEE Centennial Medal. He also served as IEEE Admissions and Advancement Committee Chair in the late 1990’s, and was a member of three IEEE major boards on education, technical, and regional activities in the 1980s and 1990s. In ASEE he had been a member of Multidisciplinary and Ethics divisions, and in 2015 he was awarded a meritorious service award by the ASEE Electrical and Computer Engineering Division. Jim was also a long-time ABET Program Evaluator for academic engineering program accreditation around the country from 1985 until his retirement in 2017. Throughout his time in this role, Jim visited over 40 campuses for IEEE and ASEE, including three international visits to Mexico and Saudi Arabia. He served for five years as an Alternate to the Engineering Accrediting Commission representing ASEE and was a continuing member of the ASEE Accreditation Committee just prior to his retirement. He was awarded an FIE Conference Award in 1988.

Jim served as engineering faculty at 3 universities in his career: Georgia Tech University (1966-1971), Oklahoma State University (1971-1985), and most recently the University of Kansas (1985-2017), where he had served initially as Department Chair (1985) and then for the majority of his career at KU as a faculty member before retiring in 2017 as a Sharp Teaching Professor after 32 years. He was Professor Emeritus at KU after his retirement. Other accomplishments throughout his career include having served as Chair of the National Electrical Engineering Department Heads Association, as State Chair of Professional Engineers in Education (NSPE), and as Director of the National Eta Kappa Nu Board. Jim’s professional expertise focused on nonlinear control systems stability, stochastic control systems, optimal estimation, and systems modeling. His research had included serving as a consultant with the U.S. Army Missile Command (Redstone Arsenal), Sandia Laboratories, and Lockheed-Georgia, among others. Examples of research projects in his career included: Lockheed Martin - Biosensor Detection, NASA-EPSCOR Next Generation Aviation Aircraft, ONR-NASA Radar Backscatter from Sea Ice. Throughout his career, he had written over 75 journal and referenced conference publications, chapters for control systems handbooks, and 16 chapter-openers for a popular 10 th edition Wiley circuits textbook. He had also authored a Wiley textbook on linear control systems for senior undergraduates. He received numerous teaching awards throughout his career, including the following from KU: EECS Department Excellence in Teaching Award, Harry Talley Award (twice), University Center for Teaching Excellence Award, University Mortar Board Outstanding Educator Award, in addition to the IEEE Region 5 Outstanding Educator Award. He is described by academic colleagues as being a “Master Teacher”. He was inducted into several honor societies throughout his career, including Omicron Delta Kappa, Sigma Tau, Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi.

Jim will be remembered not only for his professional accomplishments, but also as a beloved father, grandfather and great-grandfather by his family. He loved fishing with his two daughters when they were younger, gardening was a life-long passion, playing cards (especially Bridge), and travelling in both professional and family-based capacities were other highlights. He was a lifelong sports fan, rooting for basketball and football teams with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, Kansas Jayhawks, and Phoenix Suns, among others.