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IT Decisions at the College Level Within a Large University

Presenter: Michelle Stine, The Pennsylvania State University

Studies about IT in higher education are often limited to decisions at the institutional level, even though larger institutions often have decentralized governance structures. Individual colleges and academic departments both may maintain their own IT staff and services, which coexist with institutional IT units.

This presentation summarizes the findings of a study done during the summer of 2004 on IT-related decision-making at the college level within a large research university. Eight college IT staff and/or managers were interviewed for approximately an hour and a half each, answering questions about a) changing or restructuring IT staff b) adding new IT services c) college initiatives that affected IT and d) implementation and enforcement of IT policies.

Insights will be shared about factors driving college-level decisions, their complexity, economically rational versus political justifications, as well as factors associated with "successful" decisions. Attention will also be given to decisions duplicating services already existing at the institutional level. Finally, conclusions are drawn about college IT and how college and institutional IT can improve cooperation and coordination.

Presentation (ppt)