As part of the college's IT Career Exploration series, Penn State IT professionals discussed their professional experiences, shared advice for students, and gave a glimpse into their daily work lives.
Kyle Crain (kdc12@psu.edu) is the Information Security Architect for Penn State. He leads a team of cybersecurity professionals in The Office of Information Security’s Consulting and Architecture group, which focuses on cloud and on-premise architecture, application security, information classification, enterprise initiatives, authority to operate, security enclave design, and more. His former roles include time spent as a security analyst and engineer. Watch Kyle's video.
Laura Davis (lmp183@psu.edu) is a business systems analyst and the release manager for the Service Management Office in Penn State IT. As the release manager, she coordinates the strategic and tactical software lifecycle for ServiceNow, Penn State’s main IT service management system. She is also currently leading an effort to develop an IT asset management program for Penn State IT. Watch Laura's video.
Justin Gruneberg (jmg449@psu.edu) is the IT Service Desk Manager for the Eberly College of Science. In his role, he's responsible for helping facilitate IT support for a diverse customer base of faculty, staff, and students. His team consists of IT technicians and consultants who have a scope of work that ranges from standard break-fix tasks (like the classic broken printer), to long-running projects involving complex systems used for research and teaching. He has a Bachelor's in Art (painting and drawing) and a Master's in Information Science and Cybersecurity, both from Penn State. Watch Justin's video.
Marta Miguel (mam58@psu.edu) is the Director for Data Management, Office of Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research. In her current role, she is responsible for setting direction, vision, and the overall management and support of the University’s core analytics data repositories, Penn State’s implementation of Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE), and Microsoft’s Power BI. Before coming to Penn State, Marta worked as a consultant for IBM Global Services and Price Waterhouse Management Consultants. Watch Marta's video.
Jay Orr (jdo109@psu.edu) is Penn State Software Engineering’s user experience manager. He oversees a group of designers and developers that creates web applications for the University community. Orr’s responsibilities include creating content for applications such as Account Management (including creating new accounts and updating passwords that have expired or been forgotten), and DIMC, an application used by the Service Desk to resolve issues with students’ accounts. Watch Jay's video.
Gretchen Paules (glp5108@psu.edu) is an Analysis & Planning Consultant in User Success for Penn State IT, working cross-departmentally to align the University IT strategy to the overall Penn State mission and vision. She also chairs the IT Learns initiative, part of the IT Connects program, to support professional development within University IT. She is a freshmen member of the University Staff Advisory Council (USAC), serving on the membership and elections committee, and is supporting the Building Organizational Excellence Task Force at the University. Watch Gretchen's video.
Shawn Smith (ses44@psu.edu), director of Software Engineering, leads a team tasked with evolving and advancing software solutions for the Penn State community with an emphasis on system reliability, user satisfaction, and timely deliverability on budget. He has delivered production software solutions in eight programming languages, is an adjunct professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, contributes to The Apache Software Foundation, and is a technical editor for Manning Publishing. Watch Shawn's video.
Holly Swires (hzl104@psu.edu), chief privacy officer and assistant chief information security officer at Penn State, oversees the protection of personal and regulated information at the University and provides oversight for regulatory compliance efforts, including federally-mandated program requirements. Holly leads Penn State’s development and implementation of University-wide privacy and data protection policies and standards. She also oversees Penn State’s system and unit-based risk assessment program; championing efforts to secure information at Penn State and protect the community from the ongoing threat of cyberattacks. Watch Holly's video.
The Office of Career Solutions and Corporate Engagement provides video career resources available to IST students 24/7. The library includes short videos to help students in their job and internship searches, interviews, networking, resumes, and much more.
Click the chapters below to access more videos to help you on your professional journey.
E103 Westgate Building
University Park, PA 16802
careers@ist.psu.edu
(814) 865-4509
