Date: September 28, 2004
To: Provosts, Vice Presidents, Deans, Directors, Department Chairs,
and Members of the Faculty
From: Philip Furmanski, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Karen Kavanagh, Executive Vice President for Administrative Affairs
Michael V. McKay, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer
Re: Establishment of the Office of Instructional and Research Technologies
We are very pleased to announce several changes in academic computing services that are intended to foster closer integration of information technology with the needs of our academic programs.
These changes result from meetings conducted by Mike McKay, with deans, directors, academic and administrative leaders, and faculty from throughout the University, focused on technological support issues.
Based on these discussions, an Office of Instructional and Research Technology has been created. This office will be responsible for all academic information technology developed or provided through the Office of Information Technology, formerly Rutgers University Computing Services (RUCS).
Additionally, we have appointed Dr. Charles (Chuck) Hedrick to direct this office. Chuck began his career at Rutgers in 1977-1978 as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science. Since then, he has held various positions in academic computer support and information technology. Chuck is widely recognized for his depth of experience in information technology and its application to academic programs.
Chuck will report directly to Mike McKay and Karen Kavanagh, and will also serve as a member of the universitywide information technology strategic planning team, with the specific portfolio of projects benefiting instruction and research. To assure a close relationship between technology and academic planning, Chuck will have an additional reporting relationship to Philip Furmanski, and will participate in relevant planning activities within academic affairs.
To begin development of an academic technology strategic plan, Chuck will be meeting with faculty, student and administrative leaders to assess currently available technologies, to develop a shared understanding of IT priorities for the future, and to form alliances among technology providers already on campus. The goal is to establish collaborative projects that use IT to enhance learning, teaching, and research throughout the university. Plans are underway to host ongoing open discussion sessions with members of our centers, bureaus, institutes, colleges, and schools to elicit recommendations on which technology projects will have the greatest impact on enhanced instruction and research. In addition, a web-based feedback mechanism will be made available for continuing input into these initiatives.
The first open discussion will take place on Thursday, October 7, 8:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m., in College Hall at the Livingston Student Center or via videoconference in the Business Science Building, room 231, at the Camden campus. Topics include enhanced classrooms, instructional computing labs, distance learning, eCollege, and technology-based learning center activities and lecture tools to name a few. More information is available by calling 732/445-2741 extension 6507 or at http://oit.rutgers.edu/oct7.html . You may also register to attend by emailing itech@rci.rutgers.edu. We encourage you to participate.
We believe that this new structure and its leadership will help achieve significantly improved integration of information technologies and academic programs. I know you join us in congratulating Chuck on this new position. We all look forward to working with you to shape and further enhance information technology at Rutgers.