Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

April 18, 2003

ISU creates info technology post

by Anne Krapfl
Later this month, a search committee will begin the task of finding a chief information officer (CIO) for Iowa State. Business dean Labh Hira will lead a 20-member committee of staff, faculty, administrators and students.

Increasingly common at universities, a CIO oversees information technology services, special projects and new initiatives for the campus community. At Iowa State, that includes units such as Administrative Data Processing, Academic Information Technologies and Telecommunications.

Iowa State's CIO will report to the vice president for academic affairs and provost and be a member of the president's Cabinet. The CIO will work closely with the university's three vice presidents to set information technology priorities for the campus community.

A CIO position at Iowa State emerged last year as a recommendation from the budget and planning task force and was reaffirmed earlier this year by the President's Advisory Committee on Budget and Planning. President Gregory Geoffroy concurred with the recommendation.

"Faculty, staff and students increasingly require outstanding services from our information technology units," Geoffroy said. "My expectation is that this leadership position will result in even better and more efficient coordination among our information technology units, some long-term cost savings and increased alignment of our information technology services and infrastructure with the strategic goals of Iowa State."

Iowa State's chief information officer will:

Lead the main IT (information technology) units on campus.
Assess campus-wide structures, purchases, security and policies in IT and advise the president's cabinet on related strategic planning.
Anticipate the effects of future IT on higher education.
Enhance the university's resources for high-level computing.
Facilitate ongoing development of scholarly work in computationally intensive areas.

The search committee will begin reviewing applicant files after July 15. The goal is to hold campus visits for candidates in September and October, and announce a decision in early November, with the new hire on the job by Jan. 1, 2004.

Nominations and applications (letter of intent and vita) should be sent to: CIO Search Committee Chair, 1550 Beardshear, by July 15. Electronic submissions may be sent to rbirch@iastate.edu.

Search committee members
Joining Hira on the search committee are Alicia Carriquiry, provost office; Chiu Chan, architecture; Carl Chang, computer science; Floyd Davenport, Extension communication services; Fred Gulden, library; Maury Hope, Administrative Data Processing; Robert Jernigan, Center for Bioinformatics and Biological Statistics; Kathleen Jones, registrar's office; Ricky Kendall, Ames Laboratory; John Kingland, telecommunications; Wolfgang Kliemann, research and advanced studies; Dorothy Lewis, Academic Information Technologies; Chris McCoy, Engineering computer support services; Johnny Pickett, business and finance office; Allan Schmidt, Instructional Technology Center; and Arun Somani, electrical and computer engineering. Student members also are being finalized this week. Ruth Birch, provost office, will provide staff support to the committee.