KLUNGNESS SPRING COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER
James Klungness, president of Cable Constructors, Inc., of Iron Mountain, will address 700 graduates at Spring Commencement on Saturday, May 22. He will also receive an honorary doctorate in electrical engineering.
Klungness graduated from Michigan Tech with a BS in Electrical Engineering in 1949. In 1954, he created Klungness Electronic Supply to serve the developing television business in the Iron Mountain area.
In 1955, he entered a partnership to form Northern Electronics to develop a cable television system in Iron Mountain and Kingsford. This led to cable system ownership in other cities and eventually six states, serving almost 200,000 homes.
In 1960, he formed American Microwave & Communications to deliver broadcast signals to remote area cable TV systems and later established Cable Constructors to design and build cable systems nationwide.
Klungness chaired Michigan Tech's Setting the Stage Campaign, which has successfully raised $20 million for the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts. In 1990, his professional achievements and service to the University were recognized when he received the Board of Control Silver Medal, and again in 1998 when he received the Distinguished Alumni Award.
Klungness and his wife, the former Verle Anderson of Iron Mountain, have established an endowed scholarship for Michigan Tech students from the Iron Mountain-Kingsford area. They are members of the Presidents Society, the Second Century Society, and the Hubbell Society. He is also a member of the Michigan Tech Fund Board of Trustees.