{"id":30299,"date":"2026-07-29T16:39:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T20:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/?p=30299&preview=true&preview_id=30299"},"modified":"2026-07-29T16:42:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T20:42:34","slug":"message-from-the-vpit-cio-65","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/29\/message-from-the-vpit-cio-65\/","title":{"rendered":"Message from the VPIT-CIO"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Ravi
Ravi Pendse, vice president for IT and chief information officer (Joel Iverson, ITS Communications)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Greetings everyone,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope you are enjoying these final days of July and finding time to appreciate summer in Michigan, even despite the occasional wildfire smoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across Ann Arbor, Dearborn, Flint, and Michigan Medicine, the pace is beginning to shift as we prepare to welcome students for a new academic year. Much of that preparation happens quietly. Systems are tested, classrooms are readied, services are improved, risks are addressed, and countless details are resolved before most people ever notice them. Thank you for the expertise and attention you bring to this work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this summer, the Marsal Family School of Education and ITS co-hosted a K-12 Emerging Technology Summit<\/a> for Michigan superintendents and technology professionals. The gathering focused on two issues affecting schools across our state: cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. Participants explored responsible uses of AI, discussed the growing challenges facing educational institutions, and worked through exercises designed to strengthen preparedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One message from the summit has stayed with me: trust is fundamental to both cybersecurity and AI. Technology can expand access to knowledge, improve services, and help people address complex problems, but its value depends on sound human judgment, responsible practices, and honest conversations about risk. I am grateful to everyone who contributed to the event and to the K-12 leaders who shared their experiences. When Michigan opens its doors and exchanges knowledge with partners across the state, everyone learns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same spirit is reflected in the theme for the upcoming \u201cMTech Connect 2026: Innovation for the Public Good.\u201d<\/a> On October 20, colleagues from across U-M will come together to share ideas about AI, cybersecurity, accessibility, data, infrastructure, digital services, and other areas shaping higher education and health care. I encourage you to save the date and consider how your own work advances the university\u2019s public mission. Some of the most useful lessons come from people willing to share not only what succeeded, but what they tried, what they learned, and how their approach improved the experience of those they serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As fall approaches, I ask for your help protecting students from fake job offers and football ticket scams<\/a>. These schemes often take advantage of excitement, urgency, or financial need. A well-timed conversation, a shared Safe Computing resource, or an invitation to pause before clicking can prevent real harm. Security is a shared responsibility, and it is strongest when vigilance is paired with empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for bringing your knowledge, curiosity, and humanity to our shared purpose. Please continue to make time for rest as summer winds down and check in with those around you. If you have ideas for strengthening the Michigan Technology Community, I welcome you to write to me at rpendse@umich.edu<\/a>. I always value hearing from you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With gratitude, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ravi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ravi Pendse PhD
Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer
University of Michigan
rpendse@umich.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hope you are enjoying these final days of July and finding time to appreciate summer in Michigan, even despite the occasional wildfire smoke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":29255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_umich_oidc_access":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[16,73],"class_list":["post-30299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-cio","tag-leadership-message"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ravi_Stadium_101918_9226_8x5.jpg",600,375,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ravi_Stadium_101918_9226_8x5-400x266.jpg",400,266,true],"medium":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ravi_Stadium_101918_9226_8x5-300x188.jpg",300,188,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ravi_Stadium_101918_9226_8x5.jpg",600,375,false],"large":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ravi_Stadium_101918_9226_8x5.jpg",600,375,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ravi_Stadium_101918_9226_8x5.jpg",600,375,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ravi_Stadium_101918_9226_8x5.jpg",600,375,false],"excerpt-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ravi_Stadium_101918_9226_8x5-200x140.jpg",200,140,true],"themonic-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ravi_Stadium_101918_9226_8x5-60x42.jpg",60,42,true],"ioslider-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ravi_Stadium_101918_9226_8x5-600x300.jpg",600,300,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ravi_Stadium_101918_9226_8x5.jpg",600,375,false],"400x250-crop":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ravi_Stadium_101918_9226_8x5-400x250.jpg",400,250,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ravi Pendse","author_link":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/author\/rpendse\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"I hope you are enjoying these final days of July and finding time to appreciate summer in Michigan, even despite the occasional wildfire smoke.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30300,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30299\/revisions\/30300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}