WIU has released its tech support reorganization plan. Summary:
- A new VP position is being created for the Quad Cities. Technology may report to this person as well; this is not yet decided.
- A new University Technology (UT) organization will be created as the umbrella organization for several new technology organizations. The current decentralized model will go away. Administratively, UT will be divided into users, infrastructure, and Quad Cities. These are further divided into users & classrooms, web, infrastructure, and telecommunications.
- WIU will hire a CIO to lead UT. This will not necessarily be a faculty hire.
Obviously, it’s too early to know how this is going to play out. Tentatively, I’m pleased by the following things:
- Western has acknowledged our technology support services are lacking, and we need to do something about it.
- There will finally be a Big Administrator for whom university technology is the number one priority.
- The president is deeply involved with the reorganization. Not that I didn’t expect this; Goldfarb is a hands-on leader. But his time is limited and he has other projects which are his focal points.
- It sounds like Western is going to commit to spending some money to improve technology infrastructure. They’ve already started, with a fibre loop around campus, wireless all over the place, and programs in the works to replace old computers and add electronic classrooms. I’m interested to see what happens next, and if this continues.
- By moving telecom into infrastructure, I get the impression they’re thinking about VOIP. Good idea.
What looks troubling?
- Bad, bad, bad acronyms. I can’t bear to repeat them here.
- I don’t see a much-needed reduction in bureaucracy from this plan. If anything, there may be more “supervisors” to deal with. I certainly hope not. Right now WIU suffers from shortages of front-line support staff. If the new organization fails to significantly reduce the numbers of “Directors” and “Managers” and replace them with actual support people, not paper-pushers who attend meetings six hours a day, we will be making our problems worse, not better.
- Why reorganize before hiring a CIO? Why not hire the CIO, then reorganize under his or her direction?
- The decision to leave the “users & classrooms” administrative area without a leader for the present (explained in the presentation, not really apparent from the web site) is deeply problematic. It’s another indication of WIU’s failure to prioritize user needs; instead the focus is on infrastructure.
- During the Q&A there were several questions about job elimination. Goldfarb answered with an emphatic “No.” Hrm. I understand the need to not start a riot and/or make people freak out about getting the sack. But I have to wonder if it’s wiser to just admit that yes, some folks are gonna have to retire or retrain if Western is really going to rethink the ways it provides tech support.