Three open forums were held this week to facilitate feedback from the campus community for the Associate Provost for Information Resources and Technology candidates.
The three forums were mostly populated by faculty and staff in the departments affected by the new APIRT, with the greatest number of students present at any of the forums was four.
Some common issues discussed were management style, initiatives candidates accomplished at their previous positions, challenges of the job, new technology, software requests and faculty IT support.
The first forum featured candidate Lowell Ballard, who is currently working at Wheaton College as Director of Information Technology.
Using primarily technical jargon, Ballard said his focus would be on creating a balance between maintaining and growing technology, as well as putting resources where they best serve the university.
“[Bradley] is going to be going through a strategic planning process for the college as a whole, and that needs to happen before the full IT strategic planning, because the IT strategic planning really should support the college planning, not being off on their own doing what IT thinks is best,” Ballard said. “It would be a big part of the college strategic planning process and then in the IT process make sure we are putting our resources where it makes the most benefit to the college as a whole.”
The second candidate is Keith Weber, the current vice president for Information, Technology and Strategic Planning at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Weber, who spoke in more layman’s terms, said he wanted to make sure he wasn’t being too technical. He focused on aligning with the university’s vision, as well as being inclusive and collaborative.
“I really think we need a strong IT governance,” Weber said. “There are not enough resources to do everything, and I really don’t want as a [Chief Information Officer] to be one to play the Tsar all by myself and saying ‘this one goes, this one does not.’ It really needs to be a collaborative effort.”
Lisa Bazley spoke at the third forum. She previously worked at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, as the Chief Information Technology Officer. Bazley spoke about how she worked on the network upgrades at Denison, and she also stressed the importance of a body of people to help prioritize initiatives best for the university.
“I’m really big on communication and keeping everybody in the loop,” Bazley said. “I don’t like surprises—the good and the bad. I like to hear about the good, but I want to hear about if something is going wrong. I want to know about it. Just keep me in check.”
Students are most concerned with issues directly relating to their technology experiences at Bradley.
“We’ve all experienced some shortcomings with the Bradley networks, either in the dorms or academic buildings,” senior chemistry preprofessional major Nat Dexter said. “The Wi-Fi has been an issue, but some issues are due to the concrete architecture not playing well with the routers [for] access points. Other than the limitations brought about by the buildings, improving the systems that [divvy up] data and adding access points or routers to the library to better handle peak usages would be nice starting points.”
Dexter, also a Technology HelpDesk technician, said the HelpDesk has been slowly decreasing the services it offers for various reasons, and the improved funding for student workers would be a welcome improvement.
The APIRT Search Committee Chairperson Jeff Bakken said the committee will recommend its chosen candidate to the Provost the week of April 20.
