Chief Information Officers in US Higher Education:

The rapid rate of growth of technology over the last fifteen years has identified a void within the leadership of most institutions in that no senior officer of the institution was responsible for all technology oversight and planning.

To fill this need, more and more campuses are creating the position of Chief Information Officer (CIO) to assume this role. The stakes are high. In many cases, the operational survival of the university, whether it range from the seamless integration of administrative applications, the operations of the communications infrastructure, or the support for distance education and other academic technologies, rest in the hands of these individuals. As technology continues to pervade every facet of higher education, the need for an individual to plan for, oversee, and coordinate this technology grows.

COMMON CIO Issues:

• Strategic Planning to ensure institution-wide information resources management (including central computing and networking, the library, telecommunications, multimedia, printing, and so forth)
• Aligning IT with institutional mission, goals, priorities, planning and funding strategies
• Management of Technology Funding Issues
  • Life cycles for technology
  • fund raising
• Managing institution-wide information resources, technology, services, and issues including Information Services, Copyright, Bandwidth, and the Worldwide Web.
• Building the IT organization: the challenge of IT staffing, retaining staff, training and professional development
• Outside activities, Recruiting, Fund raising, Institutional best practices.
• Managing Expectations
• Determining cost of services and the appropriate level of service
• Resources:
• National Survey of Chief Information Officers in US Higher Education
• Educause Information Resources Library