From Rise 2030 and new projects to generative AI and app prototypes , the Technology Services Building was buzzing with excitement on November 8. ITS teams participated in a town hall meeting along with welcoming various guests and campus partners to our annual open house.  

Each semester ITS holds a town hall to update ITS staff on what is going on in our department. Jonathan Fozard, chief information officer, gave an update on his current Rise 2030 initiative and all the ways we have begun to work toward key goals in research and instruction, innovation and modernization, security and compliance and engagement and student success. We also discussed the strategic goals set for ITS this year and how they build into the overall strategic goals for ITS. We ended the morning with updates on new projects ITS will be working on this spring and a live Q&A with Jonathan.  

For this year’s open house, ITS set out to make the event larger and more interactive than last year. Visitors were invited to interact with hands-on technology demos and activities planned by various ITS teams. 

Did you ask AI to put our CIO into a Toy Story scene? Did you answer the podcast question for your five seconds of fame? Play a round of ITAPP Jeopardy? Go on a digital scavenger hunt? Check your password strength? There were a number of activities to check out, all contributing to an energizing and exciting event. 

 

" It's always great when you get to meet people and show them all the work we do everyday. It's not just fun for our guest but also staff who gets to see what other areas are doing and reconnect with co-workers they may not always get to see."

Crowd favorites were the network demo and life-size enterprise solutions puzzle. Another highlight of the event was Intern Alley, where 40 students presented their semester work and talked about their experiences as ITS interns.  

The open house was an opportunity to welcome campus partners, students and vendors to see the amazing ITS facility and show off some of the work that many people may not know we do. 

“We put this together to showcase everything we have going on in our department, highlight our student interns and share a little bit about what we do in each area,” explained Fozard.  

Thank you to the more than 100 campus partners and students who attended the event and helped make the day a success.