{"id":2708,"date":"2015-01-13T13:46:29","date_gmt":"2015-01-13T18:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/?p=2708"},"modified":"2016-05-24T16:36:46","modified_gmt":"2016-05-24T20:36:46","slug":"jack-rutts-journey-to-emu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/2015\/01\/13\/jack-rutts-journey-to-emu\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Rutt’s journey to EMU"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jack<\/a>

Jack Rutt ’72 moved from a management role in the private sector to direct EMU’s information systems from 1999 to 2014. The changes he oversaw were extensive. Computer technology has grown to claim about 5% of EMU\u2019s total budget. (Photo by Kara Lofton)<\/p><\/div>\n

After graduating in 1972<\/span> as a psychology major from EMU, Jack Rutt got his first job in the business world at Goodville Mutual Casualty Company in New Holland, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Rutt initially earned $1.85 per hour as a trainee in underwriting. Three years later \u2013 at age 25 \u2013 he was named head of the automobile underwriting department, succeeding his mentor, a pastor who was transitioning to full-time ministry work.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, Rutt was managing a department of about a dozen people, developing underwriting procedures for no-fault automobile insurance. \u201cThe job of an underwriter is to find people you don\u2019t want to cover with insurance and to exclude them,\u201d he now says wryly, by way of explaining why he decided not to make a career out of the position as his predecessor had done.<\/p>\n

Goodville did, however, expose him to the workings and possibilities of computers \u2013 the company had an IBM mainframe that processed data that Rutt\u2019s underwriters needed.<\/p>\n

Next life stage: one of six owners and president of an office supply and furniture business. Through the 1980s, this new company, The Office Works, added a personal computers sales division and grew to have seven retail outlets in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Rutt found himself writing the software code that his company needed for inventory control, accounts receivable, and service-work orders. He worked on a mini-computer that was one of the first to challenge the dominance of IBM mainframe computers for small businesses.<\/p>\n

Ironically, the only class Rutt had ever dropped at EMU was Fortran taught by Joe Mas<\/strong>t, because the challenging class didn\u2019t seem worth it when Rutt already had a full courseload. As a result, Rutt had to learn about computer technology the hard way \u2013 on the job.<\/p>\n

Rutt and his partners sold their computer division to a national chain in 1990. Almost immediately, Rutt was recruited to be systems manager for a health maintenance organization affiliated with Blue Shield of Pennsylvania. There he supervised a small group of employees responsible for keeping three high-availability, multi-million dollar computer systems running. There, too, he earned the highest annual income of his lifetime.<\/p>\n

That work continued until Beryl Brubaker<\/strong>, then vice-president of enrollment at EMU, contacted him to consider the role of information systems director at EMU, where Rutt\u2019s two children were then undergrads. Feeling called, Rutt took a substantial pay cut to come to a place in December 1999 where stability was needed \u2013 he would be the third IS director in as many years.<\/p>\n

The changes in EMU\u2019s information systems since 1999 have been extensive. Computer technology now claims about 5% of EMU\u2019s total budget. Key markers: the staff nearly doubled in size under Rutt\u2019s leadership; about every seven years, the core networking infrastructure has been replaced; its student information system was converted in 2007-09 to a new operating platform.<\/p>\n

In May 2014, Rutt handed over his departmental leadership to someone he had trained, Ben Beachy \u201902<\/strong> and stepped into a pre-retirement role of doing project management and communications facilitation for EMU\u2019s building renovations.<\/p>\n

Rutt is married to Gloria Short Rutt \u2019<\/strong>72<\/strong>, a schoolteacher for much of their married life. Their children are Eric Rutt \u201901<\/strong> and Megan Rutt Rosenwink \u201902<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After graduating in 1972 as a psychology major from EMU, Jack Rutt got his first job in the business world at Goodville Mutual Casualty Company in New Holland, Pennsylvania. Rutt initially earned $1.85 per hour as a trainee in underwriting. Three years later \u2013 at age 25 \u2013 he was named head of the automobile […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":2709,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[466,6],"tags":[777,776,534],"class_list":["post-2708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fallwinter-2014-15","category-magazine","tag-computer-technology","tag-information-systems","tag-jack-rutt","issues-fallwinter-2014-15"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2708"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2747,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2708\/revisions\/2747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}