Interactive Business Systems (IBS), one of the Foundation’s Named Scholarship Donors, selected James L. McNutt Jr. as a scholarship recipient in the spring of 2002 and again in the spring and fall of 2003. After reading the biography and resume submitted to the Open Door, we can certainly understand why.

As stated in his bio, “he is a non-traditional student”. James is a 38-year-old single parent with physical custody of a beautiful ten-year-old young lady. He bears the sole responsibility of having to pay for both his daughter’s and his own educational and living expenses. Granted, he does receive some state and federal government assistance, in addition to his student loans and working part-time at as a student worker at Eastern Illinois University’s Facilities Planning and Management office.

James McNutt Jr. has considerable experience in the business world, having worked as a manager at APAC Customer Services in Davenport, IA, with the responsibility of quality assurance, training, recruiting, payroll, forecasting and scheduling. Some of his accomplishments with APAC include bringing payroll from worst to first, in terms of accuracy; reduced absenteeism from 30+ percent to less than five percent, and reduced annual attrition from 350 percent to 120 percent. James was also employed with Consolidated Market Response (CMR) in Charleston, Ill., again with the responsibility of forecasting and planning the handling of inbound and outbound traffic for three call centers. His accomplishments with CMR included the development of intraday schedules, based upon daily call volume projections, to determine staff requirements for each half-hour of the day, in addition to 95 percent accuracy on daily call projections. In addition, James was also the sole proprietor of KSP Painting Services.

As a child James was always interested in technology though, at the time, it was in radios and transistors. Working in the teleservices industry made him aware of the vast potential in the IT area, and James found that he was fairly skilled at it with little or no training. It’s obvious that James possesses an analytical stream of thinking, a perfect match in the IT industry.

James will attain his Computer Management degree from Eastern Illinois University in December 2003. Additionally, he has also completed extensive training programs, such as The Zenger-Miller Frontline Leadership Program, Hamlin, Power and Reaves Professional Sales Training Program, Professional for Life Sales Seminar and Understanding Telecommunications Technologies for Non-engineers, which is offered by TeleStrategies™.

Originally, James wanted to attain his undergraduate degree and return to the business world to pursue management opportunities in the networking and/or systems administration area. He has since changed his mind and has now decided to pursue a Masters degree with the intention of teaching at the college level. James has always enjoyed leading training sessions in the business world and the switch to a career in teaching seemed like a perfect fit for him. He also enjoys public speaking and the interaction that is possible in the classroom setting, in addition to being able to impart a unique perspective from his prior business experiences.

James feels that this is the perfect career for a parent such as himself. He says that the ability to spend time with his daughter during the last couple of years while attending school has reinforced how precious childhood is. Furthermore, he feels the time spent with his daughter far outweighs any potential loss in income that he might have experienced by choosing the academic world over the business world.

When asked about the current economic climate, with regards to the Information Technology field, his response is simple. “Business is cyclical, what is down today will be up tomorrow so this downturn is temporary at best. Computers are the future so you better get started now!”