April 14, 2009
Purdue trustee's gift will endow first named professorship in information technology
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - |
The Olga Oesterle England Professorship of Information Technology will be held by Gerry McCartney, Purdue's chief information officer. The appointment is subject to ratification by university's board of trustees.
"Endowments like these enhance positions and help attract and retain leaders in their fields," said Purdue President France A. Córdova. "I'm especially pleased that Gerry McCartney, who has served this university so well, will be the first honored with this title. I am also deeply grateful to Bill Oesterle for this pioneering and innovative gift."
Oesterle, a Purdue trustee since 2005, is chief executive officer and a co-founder of Angie's List, a company that helps consumers choose service companies based on reviews and experiences posted by its members. Previously, Oesterle was a partner with CID Equity Partners, a Midwest-based venture capital firm. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Purdue in 1987 and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
The professorship is named in honor of Oesterle's great aunt.
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Initiatives have included a system that give students in science and math courses real-time feedback on their progress; cloud-computing resources for scientists; and a network that captures unused computer time at universities in Indiana and allows researchers across the nation to use the computer cycles for their work.
Last year Oesterle pledged $250,000 toward the $5 million Presidential and Trustees Scholarship Challenge, aimed at attracting high-achieving high school students to Purdue. The scholarship challenge is part of the university's $304 million Access and Success campaign to expand student aid and programs. He also previously established the Germaine Seelye Oesterle Chair in History in honor of his mother.
The income from the endowment will be used to benefit research, infrastructure and other needs for Information Technology at Purdue, known as ITaP. As the holder of the endowed professorship, McCartney will oversee the use of these funds.
Endowed funds remain intact in perpetuity, and their earnings continue to provide annual endowment funding.
McCartney was appointed the university's vice president for information technology and chief information officer in May 2007 after having served as the top information technology administrator in an interim capacity since July 2006.
As CIO, McCartney oversees ITaP, which is responsible for the planning and coordination of central computing and telecommunications systems on the West Lafayette campus, along with media production and distance-learning services. The organization consists of five business units - customer relations, enterprise applications, infrastructure, the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing, and teaching and learning technologies - and has nearly 500 staff members.
Prior to his interim appointment, McCartney served two years as assistant dean for technology at Purdue's Krannert School of Management.
From 1993 until 2004, McCartney served as associate dean and chief information officer at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. He was director of the Krannert Computing Center from 1990 to 1993 and was manager of user services at the Purdue Computing Center from 1988 to 1990.
He earned his doctorate in sociology and anthropology from Purdue in 1996 after receiving diplomas in advanced programming and systems analysis from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, in 1982 and 1984, respectively. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1981 and 1982 from NUI Maynooth in Ireland.Writer: Kim Medaris, 765-494-6998, kmedaris@purdue.edu
Sources: Murray Blackwelder, 765-496-2144, mblackwelder@purdue.edu
Gerry McCartney: 765-496-3928, mccart@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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