During the week of October 14, a handful of LSA Technology Services staff attended the 2019 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference hosted in Chicago, Illinois. Those in attendance included Cathy Curley, Michael Douglas, Dush Fernando, Laura Green, Gretchen Kopmanis, Rachel Kreager, Matt Olex, Richard Richter, Anne Rickert, and Kyle Roberts. The annual conference showcased the best ideas in higher education IT with over 300 sessions and 800 presenters. This year the conference offered several programmatic tracks:
- Creating a Culture of Data-Informed Decision-Making
- Evolving Infrastructure and Enterprise IT
- Exploring New Boundaries in Teaching and Learning
- Leading and Partnering Across the Institution
- Making an Impact with Innovative Ideas
- Managing and Reducing Information Technology Risk
- Navigating Change
- Supporting the Institution
- Transforming the Student Experience
The conference started with an opening keynote by author and PBS host Steven Johnson titled “Where Good Ideas Come From.” Johnson delivered an inspiring talk about his insights on the environments, practices, and platforms that best support new ideas and creativity. He also provided a glimpse of the coming tech revolutions that will transform tomorrow’s educational landscape.
Cathy Curley, LSA Chief Information Officer, presented as part of a Lightning Round Session focusing on Leading and Partnering Across the Institution. Curley spoke alongside colleague James Dudek, Senior Organizational Strategist at the University of California, Berkeley, about how to create, sustain, or reenergize a “one IT” model across a distributed campus. Attendees learned how to engage communities, pilot and implement programs, and brainstormed ideas for strengthening their own IT community.
Gretchen Kopmanis, Senior Desktop Support Specialist, also presented this year with Susan Perreault, Director of LSA Student Recruitment. Kopmanis and Perreault showcased their work on a four-year pilot program to loan university-owned laptops to low socioeconomic status (SES) students. They shared knowledge on how to increase recruitment of low-SES students and what to consider when keeping track of a pool of tong-term loaner laptops.
The multi-day conference wrapped up with another inspiring keynote by Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code. Saujani spoke about the importance of closing the gender gap in technology and advocated for a new model of female leadership focused on embracing risk and failure, promoting mentorship, and charting your own course.
Interested in next year’s 2020 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference? Mark your calendars! It will take place October 26-29, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts.
