John Higginson, '90, serves as chief technology officer of Curriculum Associates, which creates and runs
software for millions of K-12 students. (Photo from John Higginson)

Watching “Star Trek” as a youth inspired John Higginson, ’90, to get into computers and technology, but it was working for his single mom that sparked his passion for equity in the workplace.
 

Higginson leads a team of more than 400 software engineers, data scientists, project managers and infrastructure engineers as the chief technology officer of Curriculum Associates, which creates and runs software used by more than 13 million K-12 students in the U.S.

“Growing up, I loved ‘Star Trek,’” he said. “Where other kids had Legos, I had an electronics kit that you could build your own radio or a random series of flashing lights. Then, when I was 11, I started working with early personal computers. In grade school, my friend Tom and I would use the school pass to code on the school computers. We were completely hooked. I went on to take every computer and math-related course my high school had to offer.”
 

Higginson said he was inspired by educators at a young age because he struggled to learn.

“I’m where I am today because of the help I received from my teachers,” he said. “When I was in grade school, I was diagnosed with a motor learning disability, where I couldn’t make the letters or images in my head match with the movement my hands were making, and because of that, I repeated first grade. Without the help of caring, supportive and dedicated teachers who supported me in overcoming those learning struggles and growing, I almost certainly would have stopped at high school.”

With his current job, he is able to help struggling students like him succeed.
 

“Today, I’m grateful to work for a company that is focused on student outcomes and thinks every day about improving those outcomes to reach or exceed grade level,” he said. “It’s incredibly fulfilling work.”

Higginson said a pair of educators in high school encouraged him to apply to NIU.

“One was a counselor with both undergrad and graduate degrees from NIU who raved about the faculty and campus,” he said. “The other was my physics teacher, who was good friends with a professor at NIU teaching a course that blended physics and electronic music. That led me to apply, and I chose NIU over the University of Illinois.”

He initially entered NIU as a dual major in computer science and English, hoping to marry his love of computers and technology with storytelling and become a game developer.

“However, because of my interest in coding and computer science in high school and the time I had invested in learning on my own, I already had a lot of the 100-level knowledge available in those early computer science days,” he said. “I was also a pretty independent 18-year-old, so I decided to continue learning independently and just drop into the computer classes rather than pursue it formally. Instead, I graduated as an English major in 1990. I became the first in my family – both immediate and extended – to go to and graduate from college.”

Higginson spent his first two years at NIU living in Grant Towers North, and his final two years in an off-campus apartment with friends. He built strong friendships and has incredible memories of his years in DeKalb.

“I have so many great memories from my time at NIU — everything from wandering the stacks at Founders Library to spending the day outside when ‘thundersnow’ canceled the first day of finals,” he said. “I made lifelong friends and received an education that I use every day.”

While a student, he took advantage of NIU’s extensive course catalog.

“My degree program allowed me to take a wide variety of courses — from climate science to psychology — and NIU had a great speaker series where I got to see politicians, thinkers and firebrands share their knowledge,” he said.

Higginson recalled three faculty members who made an impact on him as a student.

“The first is Frank Court, who taught essay writing, a course I took during my senior year,” he said. “I was not a great persuasive writer before his class, but he made me one. The class was all about argument and persuasion, and he honed our work through his feedback and peer review. It's one of the most challenging classes I’ve ever taken, but I got an A, and I have used those skills every year since as a leader and a technologist to sell ideas.”

“The second is Lucien Stryk, who taught poetry, which was my preferred medium. He taught me the magic of language and the power of rhythm. How he would read poems aloud shapes how I give presentations or product keynotes. He was also a Zen Buddhist scholar, and through him, I discovered Zen writers and Japanese Zen haiku, which I read to this day.”

“The third was Madame Hull, my sophomore-year French teacher. She was an adjunct who came to NIU from Reykjavik, Iceland, because she married an American and settled in the area. Her class was so much fun, and I discovered reggae because her lessons always consisted of translations of Peter Tosh's or Bob Marley's lyrics. She showed me you could be a leader but still have a sense of humor.”

Higginson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs by his mother who managed a restaurant; his parents divorced when he was four years old.

“I worked for my mom when I was younger and saw how customers – often businessmen -- would come through the restaurant she managed and argue about the table they received, the bill, or their reservations,” he said. “I watched countless times as they would speak with my mother, grow frustrated, and ask for the ‘real manager.’ For some reason, they could not wrap their minds around the idea that a woman could be in charge. Seeing that instilled a desire to use my position to advocate for marginalized groups.”

He said being raised by a single mother and then working for her was an incredible gift that later inspired him in his career.

“It gave me a different way to look at the world, to see that gender wasn’t a barrier to having a career or being a leader,” he said. “It also showed me how the world often isn’t fair to women or other minorities. That understanding and perspective from my mom continue to inspire me to do my part to build equitable work environments, especially in tech spaces.”

He continued, “Whether it was working at CHIEF, the professional women’s network, as their first CTO, creating a women-in-tech conference in Chicago, or supporting employee resource groups as an executive sponsor, I want to help make the world inside the office reflect the diversity of the world outside. I get to continue that work at Curriculum Associates, where I lead the tech organization and serve as the executive sponsor of one of our six employee resource groups.”

Higginson said he’s passionate about education and the opportunities it gave him and gives others.

“Despite my somewhat unusual educational background, education changed my life,” he said. “I would not be able to do what I do – serving as a CTO of an ed-tech company – or serving as a board member for startups without education giving me the opportunity.”

Higginson is a proud Huskie and shared that he believes he and his fellow NIU alumni are doing great work in the world.

“We Huskies are best known for our kindness, our support for one another, and our quiet accomplishments,” he said. “We’re not out there bragging — we’re building and making a difference. It’s a testament to the school and the alumni and, maybe, a bit of the diet of corn and beer nuggets.”