IT Revives Strategic Council to Engage Faculty, Leadership
IT Revives Strategic Council to Engage Faculty, Leadership
By Javier Chagoya
NPS Chief Information Officer (CIO) Joe LoPiccolo, left, and Deputy CIO Chris Gaucher lead the inaugural meeting of the Information Technology Council in the Executive Briefing Center, July 26. Faculty and school leadership from across campus were invited to be a part of the strategic group, as Information Technology and Communications Services (ITACS) develops future planning and support for the university and its new Strategic Plan.
Both LoPiccolo and Gaucher led a spirited pitch to an assembled group of faculty and school leadership asking to join them in a common strategy to broadly improve client services in nearly every facet of information technology (IT) at NPS.
“Our IT needs to get it right to meet the needs of the current and emerging interfaces our clients are using,” stressed LoPiccolo.
The IT Council is not without precedent, playing a similar role as the former IT Task Force in identifying issues that need to be addressed and prioritized. The council is also focused, however, on giving faculty a voice and representation at the IT table, providing management with an additional resource in reaching their institutional goals.
“We want your help in ensuring that we are making sound strategic decisions, to focus on shared information technology, and to stay in line with NPS’ overall strategic plan going forward,” said Gaucher.
There is a long list of items that the council will be privy to as IT management will continue to follow through on its efforts to expand classified education and learning spaces.
The campus has seen some of these changes in recent months with advancements in e-mail storage and the universal use of NPS Box. And some powerful changes are still in the works, such as looking to Amazon Web Services for Cloud, distilling hardware ownership to leases, and moving away from help desk calls.
LoPiccolo closed the inaugural meeting with a note of encouragement and thanks to council members, seeking their partnership in shaping IT at the university, maximizing its ability to fuel the academic engine at NPS.