Jerrod Moore is going places—literally. Having recently completed his master’s coursework at GSLIS, Moore is preparing to start work in February at GE Capital, which is based in Norwalk, Connecticut, with offices worldwide. Over the next two years, he will live and work in four different cities as a GE Information Technology Leadership Program (ITLP) fellow.
The highly competitive two-year ITLP program allows new employees to gain hands-on experience at GE offices around the world. Fellows learn about nearly every facet of information technology, from web design to project management to security. Participants also gain business expertise and, through a partnership with Indiana University, complete a fifteen-credit IT Leadership Certificate. Moore’s fellowship will begin with several months of work at GE’s Hoffman Estates, Illinois, office.
“It’s a really cool opportunity to get a broad world view of business and information,” said Moore, who hopes the IT and business expertise he gains at GE will give him an advantage in pursuing work in academic library administration later on. “I’m hoping to gain some skills that are really applicable to things that libraries are doing and the direction the field would like to go in,” he said.
With a bachelor’s degree in business administration and experience working at State Farm as a strategic resource intern, Moore is a great candidate for ITLP. He credits Martin Wolske’s Community Informatics Studio (LIS490ST) and Michael Twidale’s Entrepreneurial IT Design (LIS490IT) courses at GSLIS with preparing him for work in corporate sector IT.
“By studying with us at GSLIS, Jerrod has acquired both design thinking and information search and management skills,” said Twidale. “This is a rare combination that is of great use in both the for-profit or non-profit sectors. It allows him to address a problem by undertaking fast and efficient competitive analyses, and use what he discovers to prototype and assess a range of solutions. All organizations can benefit from the flexible problem-solvers that iSchools nurture.”