Greetings, everyone!
This August, I began my second year at this amazing institution. Time flies when one is having fun! I have loved each day and learned a lot in the process. This past year has been fast-paced and transformational. I am grateful for the advice, care, and concern that you have shown to me, from offering survival tips as winter approached, to just being exceptional colleagues. I continue to learn from all of you, and your feedback keeps me aware of the issues that are top of mind for you and the community we support—so please continue to reach out!
I am proud of the relationships and trust we have built across our campuses this past year, and the collaboration that continues to take place. Many of our success stories are the result of strong collaboration among organizations. The cross-campus teamwork that led to our roll out of two-factor authentication was exceptional. We were able to do this because of so many of you and your amazing efforts. WiFi on the Diag and the overall WiFi Upgrade Project are other examples of projects that relied on strong, collaborative partnerships and a laser focus on great customer service. Likewise, our shared work to enhance research computing services and make them more intuitive is being noticed, and our faculty colleagues are very excited about the possibilities.
ITS’s work with data-informed decision making is providing incredible partnership opportunities with the Ross School of Business, Rackham Graduate School, Student Life, Registrar’s Office, and the Office of Enrollment Management, and many others. The wisdom and knowledge we can derive when disparate data sources are connected is incredible, prompting one dean to comment that “this will be a significant difference maker for our campus, as we currently are swimming in data and starving for insights.”
As a Michigan IT community, we’ve worked hard to build and maintain connections, learn new skills, and find new ways to innovate. We held and actively participated in our fifth annual Michigan IT Symposium, organized our best-attended Hacks with Friends event ever, gathered with peers in 24 communities of practice to share insights and best practices, contributed to and produced this regular newsletter, participated in the Michigan IT mentor program to work on professional development goals, and re-shaped several of our IT governance groups. This was all possible thanks to your commitment of time, energy, and ideas—and I look forward to what is to come over the next year.
Working as one Michigan IT community, we have accomplished a lot during the past year, and I know our best is yet to come. With your help, we will be the technology leader among our peers and in the world. I consider myself very lucky to be able to work for each one of you. I am looking forward to an exciting year ahead!
Best regards,
Ravi
Ravi Pendse PhD
Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer
University of Michigan
rpendse@umich.edu
