Documents Contributed by ECAR and Leadership

Presentation at the Sixth Annual ECAR Symposium, December 5-7, 2007, in Boca Raton, Florida. Higher education IT organizations have become increasingly aware of the need for governance processes that sit above day-to-day management and address strategic alignment and the political realities of satisfying IT's many constituencies. But how should -and do- higher education institutions govern IT? This presentation uses the results of an ECAR study of IT governance to frame an interactive session on how to mix good structural governance practices with practical politics.

How to Cite This Work: Yanosky, Ronald, and John W. McCredie. "IT Governance: Solid Structures and Practical Politics." Presentation at the ECAR Symposium, Boca Raton, FL, December 5-7, 2007, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Presentation at the Sixth Annual ECAR Symposium, December 5-7, 2007, in Boca Raton, Florida. What are the essential skills for an IT leader? How do rising IT leaders perceive the CIO role, and are we doing enough to cultivate them? Are generational differences and demographics reshaping the IT workforce? This session presents preliminary findings from ECAR's research of IT leadership and workforce, including data from a 2007 survey of higher education IT leaders and IT professionals.

How to Cite This Work: Goldstein, Philip J. "Leading the IT Workforce." Presentation at the ECAR Symposium, Boca Raton, FL, December 5-7, 2007, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Presentation at the Sixth Annual ECAR Symposium, December 5-7, 2007, in Boca Raton, Florida. In June 2007 EDUCAUSE Vice President Richard Katz began a personal and organizational voyage of discovery. Katz and University of British Columbia CIO Ted Dodds visited 10 European countries and dozens of universities in four months. This talk summarizes a portion of their findings, both personal and professional.

How to Cite This Work: Katz, Richard N. "IT's a Small World - Observations of a Global Community." Presentation at the ECAR Symposium, Boca Raton, FL, December 5-7, 2007, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

This October 2007 survey is part of a study of leading the information technology (IT) workforce in higher education sponsored by the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR). Data from this survey will form the basis of a report designed to help universities and colleges position themselves in this important issue. Questions related to IT leadership and the IT workforce loom large among the concerns of higher education's leaders, in part because demographic data predict that there will not be enough skilled workers in the U.S. to meet demand and in part because many senior IT leaders are approaching retirement. As the workforce becomes more mobile and discerning, higher education faces a significantly more competitive environment for IT staff talent. This study will bring the findings of ECAR's 2004 study of IT leadership up to date and will explore new areas including recruitment and motivation of the IT workforce and generational differences in attitudes and expectations among IT professionals.

This case study complements the 2007 ECAR study by Philip J. Goldstein, IT Collaboration: Multi-Institutional Partnerships to Develop, Manage, and Operate IT Resources. Researchers undertook this case study to understand the methods and practices used to manage ongoing collaborative activity and how the Kuali group partners plan for the sustainability of their collaboration. The case study highlights the collaborative nature of the Kuali Project to meet its goal of building a suite of administrative software, rather than the project’s history, structure, or operations.

This June 2007 ECAR survey of higher education executives is designed to help identify those IT governance practices that result in effective outcomes. It will be used to inform a major ECAR study of IT governance in higher education.

This June 2007 ECAR survey of information technology leaders in higher education is designed to help identify those IT governance practices that result in effective outcomes. It will be used to inform a major ECAR study of IT governance in higher education.

This research bulletin describes guiding leadership principles for CIOs and suggests how metrics can be used to measure the impact they have on motivation, staff satisfaction, turnover rates, customer satisfaction, and the ability to execute.

This research bulletin examines the ways many research universities govern their IT activities, explores some inherent problems in these processes, identifies several good practices, and suggests changes that may improve the current state of the art. It draws on research conducted by MIT and ECAR on IT alignment and governance; information submitted to the EDUCAUSE Core Data Service survey; the results of an extensive review of IT governance at the University of California, Berkeley; a one-day governance workshop hosted by the Common Solutions Group; the work of a project team participating in the IT Leaders Project; and the observations and results of several external review committees on which the author has served.

This research bulletin is a personal account of the career of James Penrod, who served as chief information officer at four higher education institutions for over 25 years. Well known as an expert on leadership, Penrod discusses critical success factors for CIO leaders, from strategic planning to portfolio and policy development to knowing your personal strengths and limits.