RECOMMENDATION 5: GOVERNANCE & COMMUNICATION The University should cultivate engaging, active, and impactful communication methods as well as establish a strategic IT governance structure. These will enable continued engagement of the University community in the creation and deployment of strategic recommendations and subsequent projects, supporting ongoing operation of IT resources. Such structures should expand and transform the exchange of information between the central IT organization and the University community. Action Item 5:1 The University community must be actively involved as a partner in the creation and execution of IT strategies and service direction taken at UK. A long-term role for the ITSP task forces that developed this plan should evolve into a formal governance structure for IT that is composed of students, faculty, and staff, and integrated with other forms of shared governance at UK. IT governance is critical to the University’s success. Past governance structures, while effective in some ways, did not extensively engage the University community in determining long-term directions for IT enablement or facilitate open and constructive conversations between central IT, distributed IT support, and the customers of IT. The model employed for the development of this strategic plan should serve as a starting point for a new model of engagement. Due to the unique role IT plays in enabling nearly every function of the University, ITS must have an all-encompassing and multi-tiered governance structure in order to be effective. These groups should review policies and procedures related to specific services (e.g., infrastructure, enterprise systems, research) and provide guidance. The CIO should work with the University community, sharing successful implementations of IT governance structures and best practices in constructing a governance model that includes engagement from students, faculty, staff, and executive leadership. Action Item 5:2 The CIO should place the role of a faculty liaison designed to assist the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) within ITS leadership to effectively communicate and interact with the faculty at the University. Whether this role is filled by a single individual or a small group of complementary individuals is a matter for the CIO to determine. Central IT organizations are not typically populated with experienced faculty members from the institution. As a result, having a resource who provides a solid interface with faculty on a continual basis will add value, not only to the ongoing success of ITS, but also to foster a future IT governance structure securely integrated with faculty. A part-time, respected, faculty liaison, should improve communication with faculty and ensure that as new services are implemented, they have been vetted in the early stages of development with a faculty representative. Finding the suitable candidate should be a process informed by leaders in the University Senate, as well as Deans, and key IT-centric faculty members. It is recommended that the process to select the liaison be informal, and the term of appointment should be flexible and left to the respective liaison and the CIO. 23 | EmpoweringTransformation