Through Purdue’s online Master of Science in Computer and Information Technology, Executive IT Director John Goodfellow turns a long-held dream into reality

John Goodfellow dreamed of going to Purdue for nearly 40 years before he became a student in the university’s online Master of Science in Computer and Information Technology program. He first became interested in Purdue in the 1980s, when he was considering where to get his undergraduate degree. When his grades fell short of Purdue’s admission standards, he promised himself he wouldn’t give up — no matter where life took him.  

Between then and now, Goodfellow earned his associate’s and bachelor’s at another institution and amassed more than 30 years of experience working in the IT industry. Over the course of his career, he developed a passion for learning and teaching. That passion inspired him to keep the dream of getting a Purdue degree alive, especially since he wanted to teach project management at the collegiate level one day. 

“Wanting to start teaching is what inspired me to consider a master’s,” Goodfellow said. “But if I was going to go to grad school, I wanted to go to the best school and learn from the best people, and I knew that Purdue offered that.” 

After seeing that Purdue had an online master’s degree in computer and information technology with a concentration in project management, Goodfellow decided to take a shot at making his long-held dream come true. When he was accepted into the program, he felt ecstatic, but he also knew there was a lot of hard work ahead of him. He was enrolling as a full-time student while also working full time as the director of IT at St. Petersburg College. 

Nonetheless, Goodfellow was excited to start the program and put what he was learning into practice. He wanted to create a project management standard at his college to help his team manage more complex IT projects. He had been working in the project management field for quite some time, but the science of project management had changed a lot since he first got his certification. 

“I started learning about project management 20 years ago, and I became an expert at the techniques that were popular back then, like waterfall, but now there are new techniques like agile that practitioners need to be proficient in,” Goodfellow said. “I wanted this program to update and challenge my project management knowledge.” 

Purdue’s program gave Goodfellow the challenge he was looking for and much more. He loved getting to take classes and collaborate with other experienced project management and IT professionals. They took their studies seriously, and they helped expose Goodfellow to new perspectives and ideas. The program’s professors were also exceptional. They were all accomplished practitioners and scholars, and they pushed their students to hone both their technical and interpersonal skills — a balance Goodfellow said made the program stand out. 

“Something that drew me to Purdue’s program initially was that it was applied, and it emphasized both technical proficiency and developing soft skills like communication, emotional intelligence, and relationship-building,” Goodfellow said. “Those skills are so critical in project management — you don’t want to sacrifice your interpersonal skills for technical achievement. If you can’t convince others that your ideas have merit, you’re going to be lost.” 

In his courses, Goodfellow had the chance to bring concepts like this to life through hands-on projects. In Advanced Topics in Project Management, Goodfellow was challenged to read a book every week, and he learned that breaking large projects down into smaller parts helps increase efficiency and leads to more productive relationships. In Organizational Change Managment, Goodfellow got to complete an assignment on project management in higher education that was directly applicable to his job. He also got to mentor undergraduate students taking their project management capstones. This experience made him feel confident that a future career in teaching was attainable. 

Though he was studying hundreds of miles away from campus, Goodfellow forged a strong connection to Purdue by taking advantage of all the opportunities the program offered for face-to-face communication. He went to his professors’ virtual office hours, built lasting relationships with faculty and attended all the live lectures he could. He became particularly close to professors Jeffrey Brewer and Kevin Dittman, who acted as important mentors, keeping Goodfellow motivated through the hardest parts of the program. 

“The engagement was amazing, even as an online student,” Goodfellow said. “All the faculty and support staff are so committed to your success.”  

Goodfellow was also able to customize his degree and take on new challenges via the program’s stackable graduate certificates. He earned his Managing Information Technology Projects Graduate Certificate on the way to getting his master’s, an experience that gave him even more project management expertise specific to his workplace. These extra credentials made him even more confident that he could lead his organization to take on bigger projects more successfully.  

“Everything I studied was so relevant to what I was doing at work,” Goodfellow said. “I was able to take what I learned and apply it immediately. The experience is worth every cent, and I mean that.” 

After countless hours spent studying and completing projects, Goodfellow graduated with his master’s in spring 2025 and achieved a 4.0 GPA. He felt excited to make it to the finish line and finally get his weekends back, but he also described the experience of finishing as bittersweet. Being a Purdue student was, for him, a dream come true. As he plans for what’s next, he hopes his journey will take him back to Purdue eventually, perhaps as an instructor or coach. In the future, he would love to help other Boilermakers turn their dreams into reality.

“It took me 53 years to make it to Purdue, and I finally did it,” Goodfellow said. “I’ll never forget that. Your next giant leap really can come from anywhere.” 

To learn more about Purdue University’s Master of Science in Computer and Information Technology, visit the program’s webpage.