SJC loses a leader

Michael Oakes will be leaving Rensselaer and SJC and moving to Columbus, IN where he will be teaching classes at IUPU-Columbus. He played many roles at SJC, and those who know how much he did wonder if others will step up to fill those roles. He was the mover behind the IACBE accreditation of the business program and is on the board of directors of IACBE. After Dave DeLauro left, he took over the administration of the course management software called Moodle. He was exceptionally active on committees and was serious about program evaluation. He pushed for curriculum innovation and encouraged both his colleagues and the administration to explore using more technology in education. Whenever there was a need to actually get results rather than merely spin wheels talking about things, it was good to have Michael Oakes involved.

He also has been active in the local community. He was on the board of Main Street Rensselaer and designed their visitrensselaer.com website. (He put the link to this blog there, which is how many people found this blog.) I was told that he did a lot of the work for Oktoberfest. I am sure people at Main Street Rensselaer will miss him as much as his friends at SJC, and will join in wishing him the best of luck in his future endeavors.