True to form, with the 4th of July weekend behind us, summer has finally come to Seattle. Hopefully the weather isn’t just teasing us, but we won’t really know until our grass starts to turn brown, we complain of the heat, and we start wishing it might rain. For many of us this past weekend was the first chance of a summer get-together with family and friends, an opportunity to gather around a campfire, or for burgers hot off the grill. At UW-IT many people worked this July 4, just like any other holiday, because we are a 24/7 operation with systems that need to be monitored and things that need to be fixed. Over the course of any given year almost everyone in the organization pitches in for this duty, because that is our culture and what we do – we keep the campus systems running. Sometimes our efforts are noticed, but just as often they are not. I want to assure you that I notice; all your work this weekend, as it is throughout the course of the year, is appreciated.
We have another mission at UW-IT as well, and that is to continually improve systems that enable campus to be as productive as possible in research, administration and education. Over the course of the next few years UW-IT will be asked to do much more as an IT organization; many projects will be significant efforts. We will be asked to replace at least one major administrative system from our aging portfolio of applications. We will be asked to engineer and operate more sophisticated networks for major research projects, as well as for our outstanding medical centers and their ever increasing network of clinics. We will be asked to make cloud computing a more accessible alternative for researchers, educators and students, and to deliver systems that enhance staff & faculty productivity and collaboration. We will be asked to bring better ways of engaging with our next generation of students through more web-friendly interfaces and integrating social media into our workflow and processes. I know we will tackle all the upcoming challenges with vigor, and that every effort will be made to ensure success; it is, after all, what we do at UW-IT.
Just like the systems we support, UW-IT as an organization must evolve and change to meet the challenges ahead. We must be an organization that is able to deliver new capabilities and services much more quickly, at a lower cost, and to move across boundaries within the organization and with our campus partners. The reorganization that was announced a few weeks ago was the first step on this progression. Today there are more details to share on our organization Download Org Chart 07.06.10 Teams and Names; the linked organization chart fills in names, identifies the UW-IT Senior Leadership Team (light purple fill), and standardizes the names of the levels within UW-IT: organization, division, unit, group, and team. The organizational chart will shortly be updated online at the UW-IT web page. I am excited about this reorganization, as it brings together groups and teams from across the organization, and aligns different skills to tackle some of our major projects in the future. Again, tackling challenges is what we do at UW-IT.
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