Chairman to highlight University’s reputation as top source for corporate recruiters
Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and chief executive officer at General Electric (GE), will highlight his company’s ongoing partnership with Penn State during a daylong visit to the University Park campus on Oct. 26. Immelt will talk to students, faculty, staff and academic leaders about the importance of continued cooperation between GE and Penn State, focused on the education of a global workforce and continued innovation through research.
Penn State is among GE’s top five schools for recruitment and employs about 1,000 alumni in positions across the organization. In a 2010 Wall Street Journal survey Penn State’s high-caliber graduates earned the University first place among corporate recruiters. Interest among recruiters remains strong; in September, representatives from more than 500 companies came from across the country to talk with students at Penn State’s annual fall career fair.
The GE Foundation has been a strong supporter of education research, scholarship and workforce training programs at Penn State, and GE has contracted with the University to conduct research in areas including materials science, engineering and energy. GE has provided more than $23 million in funding to Penn State in the areas of research and philanthropy over the course of the partnership.
“High quality education and cutting-edge research are exceedingly important in a world with a growing population,” said Penn State President Rodney Erickson. “Penn State’s continued partnership with GE will move us toward solutions to some of society’s most pressing challenges, including increased access to clean energy, natural resources and medical care. Penn State’s mission of teaching, research and service, and GE’s focus on workforce development and innovation, go hand-in-hand.”
Immelt will participate in a moderated discussion on business, leadership and competition, at 3 p.m. in the atrium of the Business Building on campus. The talk, titled “Executive Insights with GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt: Competing for the Future,” will be moderated by Charles H. Whiteman, dean of the Smeal College of Business. The limited-seating, hourlong event will be free and open to Penn State students, faculty and staff. To register, visit http://www.smeal.psu.edu/immelt.
Also during his visit, Immelt will tour Penn State’s Millennium Science Complex. Officially opened this year, the building is a state-of-the-art, 297,000-square-foot facility housing two of the University’s premier research organizations: the Materials Research Institute and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. The building represents a new style of research in which experts from many disciplines coordinate their technologies and knowledge in ways that produce exponential advances.
Immelt has held several global leadership positions since coming to GE in 1982, including roles in GE’s plastics, appliance and healthcare businesses. He was appointed president and chief executive officer in 2000 and chairman in 2001. A graduate of Dartmouth College and holder of a master of business administration degree from Harvard, he is the chair of U.S. President Barack Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
Immelt’s visit is being sponsored by the University’s Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations and jointly hosted by Penn State’s College of Engineering, College of Information Sciences and Technology, and the Smeal College of Business.