Technology Selection

Ever wonder what your president really thinks about: the role of technology in higher education; the job of the CIO; career paths; the future? In this hour-long podcast, recorded at the 2008 NERCOMP Annual Meeting, we feature a moderated panel discussion to learn how our panelists took their path to the top and what they learned along the way.

Participants in this conversation, entitled "From Their Viewpoint", include:

• Cheryl Norton, President, Southern Connecticut State University
• S. Georgia Nugent, President, Kenyon College
• Susan Scrimshaw, President, Simmons College
• Session moderator: Joanne M. Kossuth, CIO and Associate Vice President for Development, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

This 45 minute podcast features a keynote address by Scott Kirsner, Columnist for the Boston Globe, recorded at the NERCOMP 2008 Annual Meeting in Providence, Rhode Island. The speech is entitled, "What Innovators Can Learn from Hollywood".

Technology innovators sometimes expect that users will embrace new ideas and new tools with open arms. In reality, most innovations are met with hostility and indifference, and it can take a lengthy campaign to persuade organizations to change the way they work. In an illustrated spin through Hollywood history, journalist and author Scott Kirsner will demonstrate how innovators like Pixar, George Lucas, and Bing Crosby (yes, "Mr. White Christmas") have changed the movie industry while facing enormous resistance. He'll also describe the three kinds of people that exist in every organization and some of the key reasons people tend to rebel (or go into a shell) when confronted with a new piece of technology.

 

Beacon Technologies has a history of working with Universities to provide IT services including website design and development, programmatic solutions, content management systems, ecommerce solutions, and other services.  Beacon began their work in the education sector with providing the University of North Carolina at Greensboro's Genomics department in combination with Duke University with a website that captured the departments need for a highly technical, yet clean and functional look and feel.   The designers at Beacon Technologies are able to transform a vision into web graphics that convey the sophistication that today's graphic design demands.  

Since their humble beginnings with the UNCG Genomix department, Beacon Technologies has gone on to work with Wake Forest's MBA school site providing search engine optimization to designing and developing the entire website for Texas Southern University.  

Many schools are now moving to provide ecommerce solutions to sell their school's products directly on their websites.  Beacon has been able to capitalize on this by providing turn-key ecommerce solutions.  A good example of this is NC State's Engineering department's ecommerce store in which they now sell school products and resources nationwide.