Date: March 1, 2000
To: The Campus Community
From: Henry T. Yang, Chancellor
Dear Colleagues:
I am pleased to announce the formation of the Office of Information Technology (OIT). The proposal to form this new office results from a two-year campus consultative process that started with discussions within the Campus Network Committee (CNC). The CNC was appointed by and reported to former Executive Vice Chancellor Donald Crawford. Its membership included faculty, administrators and technical staff. While the membership changed over time, during the period of the discussion of IT infrastructure, it included the following:
Robert Sugar, Chair (Professor, Physics)
Mark Aldenderfer (Professor, Anthropology)
Art Battson (Director, Instructional Resources)
Joseph Boisse (University Librarian)
Ken Bowers (Director, UCSB Bookstore)
John Bruno (Professor, Computer Science)
Peter Cappello (Professor, Computer Science; Chair, Academic Senate
Committee on Computing, Information Technology and Telecommunications Policy)
Becky Davis (Computer Resource Manager, Budget and Planning)
Glenn Davis (Director, Information Systems & Computing)
Deby Deweese (Computer Resource Manager, Education)
John Doner (Professor, Mathematics)
Mary Doyle (Assistant to the Provost, College of Letters & Science)
Michael Furlong (Professor, Education)
George Gregg (Assistant Director, Housing and Residential Services)
Greg Gorgain (Computer Resource Manager, MicroComputer Laboratory (Now Instructional Computing))
William Koseluk (Director, MicroComputer Laboratory (Now Instructional Computing))
JoAnn Kuchera-Morin (Professor of Music; Associate Dean, Computing and Technology, L&S)
Roger Lenard (Network Manager, L&S)
Tom Lawton (Manager, Student Affairs Information Technology)
Tom Marazita (Computer Resource Manager, Engineering)
Ed Melschau (Computer Resource Manager, Geography)
Elise Meyer (Computer Resource Manager, Physics)
Alan Moses (Computer Resource Manager, L&S)
Larry Murdock (Computer Resource Manager, Biology & Psychology)
Candy Poolman (Computer Resource Manager, Office of Research)
Kevin Schmidt (Campus Networking)
Vince Sefcik (Director, Communications Services)
Victoria Vesna (Professor, Art Studio)
After extensive discussion, this broadly representative group (the CNC) recommended a restructuring of IT services through the creation of three units:
- An Information Technology Board (ITB)
- An Information Technology Planning Group (ITPG)
- An Office of Information Technology (OIT)
The first two recommendations were unanimous and have been implemented. The structure of the OIT recommended by the CNC was quite close to the one that recently emerged from the ITB. Its establishment was supported by a large majority of the CNC, including all of the faculty, academic and technical staff.
The CNC's recommendation to create an OIT was reviewed and approved by the Senate IT Committee. Both CEPAP and Senior Administrators received the various recommendations.
For over a year, the ITB discussed the IT administrative structure, in general, and the creation of an OIT in particular. The final recommendation was approved by the ITB with no dissenting votes. While the discussions within the ITB were taking place, Professor Sugar sought input from a wide array of senior members of the administration, and consulted extensively with the co-chairs of the ITPG, Glenn Davis and Elise Meyer, as well as with a number of faculty. In addition, Professor Sugar met with the Deans, the Provosts, and with the members of the Academic Affairs Advisory Committee to discuss the recommendations. The current members of the ITB are:
Robert Sugar, Chair (Professor, Physics)
Mark Aldenderfer (Professor, Anthropology)
William Ashby (Provost, College of Creative Studies)
Steven Butner (Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Dorothy Chun (Professor, Germanic, Slavic and Semitic Studies)
France Córdova (Vice Chancellor, Research)
Jeff Dozier (Dean, Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management)
Jennifer Gebelein (Graduate Students Association, Geography)
Robert Kuntz (Assistant Chancellor, Budget and Planning)
Alan Liu (Professor, English)
Joan Murdoch (Manager, Humanities and Social Sciences Computing)
Sarah Pritchard (University Librarian)
David Sheldon (Vice Chancellor, Administrative Services)
Jan Smith (Information Resources Manager, Academic Personnel)
Matthew Tirrell (Dean, College of Engineering)
Ronald Tobin (Associate Vice Chancellor, Academic Programs)
John Wiemann (Vice Chancellor, Institutional Advancement)
Michael Young (Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs)
Jules Zimmer (Dean, Graduate School of Education)
Everett Zimmerman (Provost, College of Letters and Science)
Ex Officio
Peter Cappello (Professor, Computer Science; Chair of Academic Senate
Committee on Computing, Information Technology and Telecommunications Policy)
Glenn Davis (Director, Information Systems & Computing, Co-Chair, Information Technology Planning Group)
Elise Meyer (Computer Resource Manager, Physics and Co-Chair, Information Technology Planning Group)
The OIT will plan, develop and maintain the campus-wide IT infrastructure, provide leadership in IT matters, and coordinate those campus-wide IT services for which it does not have direct responsibility. The OIT's operational responsibilities will encompass those now carried out by Communications Services and the campus network programmers. These include management of the campus wiring plant, the voice, video and data networks, and external voice and data connections.
The Director of the OIT will be a faculty member with a half-time administrative appointment. He/She will work under the general supervision of the Executive Vice Chancellor and also work directly with the Chancellor. The Director will work with the Information Technology Board in setting IT priorities for the campus, and will lead the IT planning process.
Professor Robert Sugar, Chair of the Information Technology Board, will oversee the startup of the OIT and will serve as Acting Director through the remainder of this academic year while the campus commences a search for a permanent director.
The creation of the OIT completes the reorganization of IT services that began last year with the establishment of the Information Technology Board and the Information Technology Planning Group. I believe that this new structure puts UCSB in a strong position to capitalize on the exciting opportunities provided by the rapid development of Information Technology.
Sincerely,
Henry T. Yang
Chancellor
