IT Offices To Consolidate

Two of the University’s largest information technology offices will be merged in an effort to eliminate redundant functions—a move that officials say will improve and standardize a variety of computing processes for students, including e-mail and printing.

Faculty of Arts and Sciences Senior Client Technology Advisor Noah S. Selsby ’94 said that the consolidation is a long-term process and is expected to improve administrative efficiency. But he added that there are no concrete plans to merge all of the IT offices across Harvard’s various schools.

The consolidation process was accelerated last semester when the Chief Information Officer positions at both University and FAS IT were vacated. The two positions will now be merged into a single CIO—a symbolic and functional change that will help coordinate IT work across campus.

Selsby said that candidates for that top position have been selected, although the process is ongoing.

“Every Harvard school has had its own IT organization, which is not the most efficient model,” said FAS Associate Dean Robert G. Doyle, who heads FAS Media and Technology Services. “Now, the two biggest units will be coordinating their efforts to improve services.”

Selsby said that while the reforms might cut costs, the move was not motivated by financial reasons alone.

“The objective is not cut, cut, cut,” Selsby said. “It’s about providing really good service.”

Even though the University CIO position has not yet been filled, FAS IT and University IT have already begun to collaborate. Harvard’s internet networks were recently placed under the control of a single University office.

Since last fall, three top IT positions at Harvard have been vacated, leaving FAS and University IT without leadership but also with unprecedented administrative flexibility.

In September, FAS CIO Lawrence M. Levine left Harvard to direct IT operations at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and in February, the FAS IT executive director stepped down as well. In October, University CIO Daniel D. Moriarty stepped down without explanation.

Following the departures of the CIOs, FAS Dean Michael D. Smith and University Executive Vice President Katie Lapp began to search for a CIO to oversee both organizations, according to FAS spokesperson Jeff Neal.

Smith said in an interview earlier this month that the search for a centralized IT leader is moving forward, motivated by the “extreme pressures” to constantly manage and update IT services. But he added that FAS will wait until the University CIO is selected to initiate more significant consolidation plans.

“We have slowed down on any further changes until we have had the opportunity to hire the new CIO so that they can be involved in the big picture from the get-go,” Selsby wrote in an e-mailed statement. In the meantime, FAS IT has begun to search for an interim Technical Manager, he added.

Selsby said that FAS IT is continuing to move forward with its planned projects despite the lack of official leadership.

“I might not say that it is ‘business as usual,’” Selsby wrote. “I would definitely say that we have hardly slowed down because of these openings.”

Selsby said that @College e-mail accounts—which have already been successfully extended to the current freshman class and select volunteers—will be issued in April to the incoming freshman class. FAS IT will also continue revamping faculty and staff e-mail servers, a process that has been termed the Iris Project, he added.

—Staff writer Noah S. Rayman can be reached at nrayman@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Elyssa A.L. Spitzer can be reached spitzer@fas.harvard.edu.