The Chief Information Officer and Associate Provost at UGA

Dr. Barbara White began her tenure as Chief Information Officer and Associate Provost on October 4, 2004, becoming the fourth CIO at the University of Georgia.

Under the direction of CIO and Associate Provost White, the University of Georgia has entered a new era of information technology strategic planning and services. Dr. White views information technology as a strategic asset to the university, enabling the institution to meet its goals of academic, research, and public service excellence while managing the business of the institution. Through her vision and leadership, the University has moved forward in all areas where information technology can further the University's mission "to teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things."

Dr. White's leadership and initiatives in the areas of quality assurance have garnered her many accolades and awards, including the 2007 Quality Leadership Executive Leadership Award. Among the best practices initiated and sponsored at UGA by CIO White are the Compact Planning process and training in Six Sigma methodology. Compact Planning is a highly interactive, collegial, and participatory planning process involving clients, partners, and IT professionals throughout the University. Six Sigma, a quality management program designed to achieve high levels of quality through the application of statistical methods to improve operating efficiency, complements and supports the Compact Planning process.

With Compact Planning as the vehicle through which CIO White ascertains the needs of the campus, she has led numerous efforts to bring information technology infrastructure, architecture, and services operating throughout the campus into a unified and coordinated organizational structure. She has successfully reorganized the primary IT unit on campus, Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS), around clearly defined service goals to more effectively serve the University. She created a unit within EITS, known as Information Technology Planning and Decision Support (ITPDS), to provide a single point of coordination and planning for University-wide project planning and implementation. She has also realigned the CIO advisory structure—Senior UGA Administration Executive Management Team, the CIO Advisory Council, the CIO Advisory Cabinet, along with IT management and user groups—to further engage all stakeholders in providing input, counsel, and advice regarding the direction of information technology at UGA.

Following is a history of the Office of the Chief Information Officer and Associate Provost at UGA and those who preceded Dr. White.

The position of Chief Information Officer and Associate Provost was created in September 1999 at the request of then-Provost Dr. Karen Holbrook. Her decision was based on campus input which clearly indicated that "IT planning and management activities at the institutional level would best be served by a CIO" [September 29, 1999, Campus Information Technology Forum Minutes]. Dr. Walter B. McRae was appointed as interim Chief Information Officer, a position which he held until his retirement on June 30, 2000.

Under the guidance of Dr. McRae, Athene Consultants, Inc., was retained by the University of Georgia to propose a revision of management structure to accommodate a Chief Information Officer. The Athene Report was completed in March 2000 and included the following University-wide information technology goals that would be better achieved under the direction of a Chief Information Officer:

• Establish a collaborative process to determine a consistent vision of information technology.
• Determine a consistent support structure that delivers information reliably, usefully, and cost-rationally.
• Ascertain methods of investment, funding strategies, and budgeting which ensure that information technology has a sound financial footing.
• Manage administrative data so that access to and conversion of information is accessible to the University's decision makers.
• Provide the means for effective recruitment and retention of information technology professionals.
• Provide the University administration with a coherent and understandable method of determining the level of investment being made at the University in information technology services.

Mr. Kirk Bertram succeeded Dr. McRae as acting CIO and was appointed permanent CIO in April 2001. North Highland Company was retained soon thereafter to facilitate a realignment of the dispersed information technology units on campus under the direction of the new CIO. This realignment culminated in the formation of Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS), which included University Computing and Networking Services (the central IT support unit at UGA), Financial Information Systems, Student Information Systems, Access Services (support group for Financial Information Systems and Student Information Systems), Information Systems Scheduling, the Telephone Office, and University Cablevision. This realignment was formally presented to EITS staff on October 21 as A New Vision for IT at UGA. Major initiatives during Mr. Bertram's tenure included enhanced IT security, significant enhancements to networking infrastructure, oversight for the University's course management system (WebCT), a complete replacement to the campus-wide e-mail and calendaring systems, and a major upgrade to the central IBM mainframe.

Mr. Bertam left the University in 2003 for the private sector and was replaced on an interim basis by Dr. Dennis Calbos. In addition to moving IT forward at UGA, Dr. Calbos, a retired IT professional and adjunct professor in UGA's Terry College of Business, provided strong leadership to bring cohesiveness to the many units which constitute EITS. Dr. Calbos was succeeded by Dr. Barbara White in October 2004. Dr. White is the present Chief Information Officer and Associate Provost at UGA.