Initiatives Address Campus IT Needs

February 16, 2007

During his recent announcement of changes to the organizational structure and leadership of Information Technology Services (ITS), Brian Roberts, CIO and Vice President for Information Technology, also announced the creation of two important new initiatives aimed at addressing specific IT needs and concerns at The University of Texas at Austin.

Education and Development Office

This initiative will offer professional IT learning opportunities to the entire campus IT community. Building on the current tradition of the Analyst Training program, which will become a cornerstone of this new office, the Education and Development office will provide classes and certification opportunities to the technical community which have previously been unavailable. The Analyst program will become more than it currently is by building up a commitment to lifelong learning. Training will be designed to keep pace with ever-changing and emerging technologies at the university. Under the associate vice president of customer services, a search is currently underway to identify a director for this office.

Projects Office

This initiative, which will come under the leadership of the associate vice president of business services, has been created to bring more structure to ITS project selection and product management. Randy Standridge, in the newly-created director of projects position, leads this endeavor and brings a long history of demonstrated accomplishments in the areas of both product and project management. “I look forward to establishing clear, effective methods for prioritizing and managing our project portfolio,” says Standridge. “This office will work hard to ensure that our staff and resources are better aligned to serve our campus customers.” Standridge brings substantial experience in this area to his new role after filling comparable positions at Southwest Research Institute, Intelligent Technologies Corporation, and Digital Motorworks.

These new initiatives are in direct response to customer and user feedback. The creation of these offices demonstrates a new level of commitment towards providing top-rate service and clear direction for information technology at the university.