Joel Podolny, the former Dean of the Yale School of Management, will be joining Apple to become the dean and VP of Apple University. Podolny worked at Yale for about 3.5 years before stepping down.
Podolny will be officially leaving his post as dean on November 1st. Podolny will stick around at Yale until the end of the year to help transition Sharon M. Oster, a teacher that is stepping up as the interim Dean.
Many big IT companies have special training schools where they prep employees before stepping up as full-timers. This is especially big in India where companies like Infosys, WiPro, and Tata bring have major training programs to understand the basics of software engineering. Personally, I participated in the Infosys program.
Some examples of other companies that have training programs include Walt Disney’s Pixar University, McDonald’s Hamburger University, and the University of Toyota. Podolny’s specializes in organizational behavior and is currently researching how leaders influence their qualities in major companies.
I’m assuming that when Apple starts hiring new college grads, they will be attending Apple U. to build a foundation of Apple’s corporate culture. These new college grads will also probably learn how to develop software that revolves around Apple hardware.
