EDUcause Conference Highlights

Wayne O’Neill & Kevin Cray of Wayne O’Neill & Associates participated in the recent EDUcause West/Southwest Regional Conference 2013 entitled “Strategic Impact:  Partnerships and Value in a Changing World.”  EDUcause provides information technology (IT) leaders in higher education with the data and research they need to align IT strategy with institutional strategy, plan new initiatives, manage existing services, and operate their organizations.

Impactful sessions included:

“Benchmarking for CIOs” led by Pam Arroway, Senior Statistician, EDUcause   Arroway said, “The CIO role is changing from technologist to business strategist, communicator, and financial manager.  In this new role, having data and knowing what to do with it will be instrumental to CIOs success.”

“Leadership Discussion:  Identity and Access Management (IAM) in Higher Education” led by Christopher Betcher, Senior IT Manager, University of Texas at Austin and Michael Berman, Vice President for Technology and Communication, CSU-Channel Islands.  This session discussed enterprise strategy, effective practices and solutions, current challenges and future opportunities related to IAM.

“Student Engagement:  Exploring Today’s Mobile Technologies” led by James Crawford, Executive Director, Office of Technology Services, LSC-Montgomery, and Butch Jueig, Associate Vice Chancellor, Technology Services talked about how the “mobile tsunami” is changing the mobile landscape on campuses.  Mobile technologies are breaking down the walls of the classroom and making course content available anytime, anywhere which is affecting learning and professional development.

“They Just Don’t Get It:  Seven Ways Geeks and Non-Geeks Can Get Along” by Paul Glen and Maria McManus from Leading Geeks  For more on this and how to become more effective in working with diverse teams, check out our blog, “Build Your Business:  Learn to Work With People Different Than You.”

Click here for details on “Managing Big Data” led by Barry Ribbeck, Director, Systems Architecture, Infrastructure, Cloud Strategies and Initiatives at Rice University and “How the University of Texas System Efficiently Utilizes Data to Drive Effective Change” led by Dr. Stephanie Bond Juie, Vice Chancellor Ad Interim, University of Texas System.

“An Innovative and Integrated Approach to Advancing Online Faculty Support and Professional Development” led by Marwin Britton, Executive Director, Lone Star College-Online, Lone Star College System

“More Than One Way to Skin a Plan” led by Christine Haska, Vice President, Information Resources and CIO, Naval Postgraduate School and Mary Doyle, Vice Chancellor, Information Technology, University of California, Santa Cruz explored many options and approaches to building an effective IT strategic plan that does not take years.  Here are six questions to consider:

1.  How much detail does a plan need to be effective?

2.  How often should the plan be reviewed and updated?

3.  Who needs to be involved in the planning process?

4.  How do you engage constituents in creating the plan?

5.  How do you keep the plan “alive” and on the front burner of campus attention?

6.  How do you differentiate IT in the mix of competing institutional priorities?

Some of the top institutions that attended were:

• University of Texas System
• Texas Tech University System
• Arizona State University
• Lone Star College System
• University of Oregon