GRADUATE PROFILE
FOR GERARD CARDENAS, A MASTER’S CAPSTONE IS NOT AN ACADEMIC FINALE , IT IS A PASSPORT TO THE NEXT LEVEL. Gerard Cardenas, MSM ’21 Gerard “Gery” Cardenas’ Capstone project has proven to be more than the standard culminating master’slevel assignment. The process has honed his leadership skills, expanded his professional expertise and helped him devise a nonprofit business model focused on honoring fallen military. “My course work helped me gain the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve my goal of launching a technology-based nonprofit that will help chronicle and commemorate the lives of fallen military service members,” said Cardenas, a 2021 graduate of the Master of Science in Management (MSM) degree in Information Technology for Public Service program at the John S. Watson School of Public Service. “Initially, the project will focus on conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
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Cardenas – a U.S. Navy veteran and independent consultant with more than 25 years of experience in shepherding clients and employers through business and technology development and implementation, program and product management, market research and client support initiatives – said his
academic program provided the perfect mix of technology and business course work and allowed him to tailor his independent study. It also incorporated nonprofit management courses, an area entirely new to him, but one that has become essential to his endeavors. “This groundwork gave me the best of all worlds: Acknowledging my professional experience and updating my existing knowledge through the University’s prior learning assessment (PLA) process while providing the next level of theoretical knowledge and applied skills,” he said. “It was a valuable foundation that helped me meet new challenges, but it also enriched the journey.” Along his career trajectory, Cardenas has discovered that the rate of change in technology, government and business is accelerating.
“Even before the pandemic, these three areas were becoming more intertwined,” he said. “My TESU course work helped me to update my skills in all of them.” He also noted that his degree program offered an optimum combination of disciplines unique among other universities, but that was still only part of the draw. “The Watson School’s team was world class,” he noted. “I’ve been involved with higher education leadership at all points in my career, but the dedication, compassion and commitment I experienced from the School’s team, TESU staff and my mentors was phenomenal.” Cardenas didn’t instantly take to the online environment, but with support, the transition became easier and, ultimately, rewarding. Leading up to his culminating independent research project, Cardenas, who came to TESU with a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University, completed PLAs in two key areas: leadership and human resources management for public service. “Working on my PLAs helped me to articulate and document my knowledge
