At the University of Illinois, technology is central to our work and learning. At a university as large and diverse as ours, guiding technology priorities requires collaboration, transparency and input from across the university community.
As part of the university’s strategic framework and the Boldly IT strategic plan, the Office of the CIO is establishing a new technology governance structure for Illinois to help ensure that major technology decisions are informed by the people who use these tools every day. Establishing new technology governance creates clear pathways for faculty and staff to help guide how technology is implemented while also better aligning technology investments with institutional priorities.
The result? Ensuring tech resources deliver maximum impact, empowering our faculty, staff, researchers and students to reach their highest potential.
What we’ve done so far
We began establishing several connected groups. Together, these groups create a connected technology governance structure: The Technology Governance Executive Committee, content-specific subcommittees, and content-specific Technology Leadership Tables. This model fosters dynamic, multi-directional collaboration across three interconnected bodies. Rather than a top-down or bottom-up flow, insights, ideas and decisions move across all levels-ensuring that ground-level expertise informs leadership priorities while institutional goals shape and support the work happening across campus.
The Teaching and Learning Subcommittee and Teaching and Learning Technology Leadership Table are the first to launch, with additional committees and tables planned to launch later this year. Future plans include creating an AI Infrastructure Subcommittee and Technology Leadership Table, a Research Technology Subcommittee and Technology Leadership Table and more as needs arise. Explore a visual of these groups to see how they fit together.
This governance structure ensures the right representation to offer the best support. Take a closer look at the groups:
- Technology Governance Executive Committee – This group provides high-level guidance and oversight for Illinois’ overarching technology strategy and priorities. Made up of executive-level institution leaders such as college deans, vice provosts, vice chancellors, etc., this group helps ensure that tech decisions support the broader mission of the university.
- Teaching and Learning Subcommittee – The first of six planned governance subcommittees is focused on helping guide decisions about technologies that impact instruction and the student experience. Made up of key stakeholders, this subcommittee reviews needs, evaluates opportunities and gives recommendations that help guide the campus tech strategy for teaching and learning.
- Teaching and Learning Technology Leadership Table – This is a collaborative group of technology leaders in units that provide core and common instructional technology services. This group escalates needs from across campus and provides insights to inform the subcommittee decision-making. The Leadership Table also receives recommendations from the subcommittee for implementation.
Why this new governance model matters
Technology governance is designed to strengthen the university’s community, better align decisions to stakeholder needs and provide transparency into technology services and decisions. By creating clear channels for collaborative decision making, we aim to strengthen our technology decisions by keeping the needs of faculty, staff and students at the very center.
This kind of collaboration also helps reduce fragmentation across campus. Instead of units making technology decisions on their own, technology governance enables more consistent decision making while making sure the faculty and staff closest to the action have a voice in shaping the tools that support their work.
To learn more about Boldly IT priorities and how technology governance supports the university’s mission, visit the Boldly IT website.