Jesse Oakes, director of Education Technology Services at the IU School of Education, has won the Spirit of Leadership award from the IT Leadership Community at IU.

“It is hard to feel truly deserving of this recognition, when the previous winners and the other nominees include my literal role models, folks I’ve looked up to for years. I’m in truly impressive company, and it’s hard not to feel like I don’t quite belong there – at least, not yet,” Oakes said of winning the award. “I am also proud of the work I do. This was particularly rewarding largely because the traits that were recognized in my nomination are the things I care most about, the person I try to be. Overall the synthesis of both sentiments is just that I want to continue to grow – I’ll take the recognition to mean that I’m on the right path, and I need to keep pushing myself. Maybe one day I’ll feel like I’ve earned that award; until then, it’ll be a source of motivation.”

The IT Leadership Community (ITLC) is a group of like-minded IT professionals at Indiana University with formal or informal leadership training and an interest in continuing the growth of leadership in themselves and other IT professionals at IU. ITLC recognizes the work of IT professionals at IU through the ITLC Technologist Recognition Program.