CIO Updates: 2022

CIO Update: Dec. 16, 2022

Colleagues,

We are less than a week away from our winter curtailment, a much-needed break for us all - woohoo! This will be my last update of the year, and what a year it has been. I am getting this out at the last minute because, like many of you, I am trying to get it all done before break!

I just returned from the Fall Collation for Networked Information (CNI) Conference. CNI is “dedicated to supporting the transformative promise of digital information technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity.” Our One IT colleague and Technology Leadership Council member, Salwa Ismail, presented Towards an Artificial Intelligence-Aware Academic Library that highlighted a multicampus working group focus on developing a framework to support the use of emerging technologies in libraries. I am honored to be on the CNI steering committee and love that the work connects so closely to the research mission of higher education! 

Yesterday, we had the last bIT All Staff of 2022 where Stephanie Dunn, executive assistant in Business Operations, provided a move update. We had a short breakout session asking everyone to talk about what they are binge-watching or reading - this info might be useful during the upcoming holidays! After the breakout, we paused for a little retrospect on where we have been and all we have done. A year ago, we launched our new Berkeley IT organization; since then, we have grown exponentially and accomplished so much together. I’m particularly proud of seeing that we have been able to make great progress on our IT priorities while 1) using data to inform our decisions, 2) moving from being reactive to more proactive, and 3) focusing on service management and people. ICYMI, here are the materials: slide deck | Zoom recording

It was also fun yesterday morning to be in our old stomping grounds at Earl Warren Hall, where several colleagues joined me for an in-person Java with Jenn. Spending time together in our old building reminded me of just how far we’ve come as a department in such a short time. Thanks to everyone who came out to make yesterday special. Add your name to the sign-up sheet if you’d like to join me at a future Java session; here are the dates:

• In-person: Thursday, Jan. 19, 10-11 a.m. on the 6th Floor of 2850 Telegraph

• Virtual: Tuesday, Feb. 7, 9-10 a.m.

• In-person: Thursday, Feb. 23, 10-11 a.m. on the 6th Floor of 2850 Telegraph

UC-Wide Strike Update

Starting next Friday: University holidays and winter curtailment

Last day to volunteer for UC Tech 2023

Save the Date: Feb. 23, UC Town Hall

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcome aboard Adia Dawson, Javier Puyol, and Shannon Roddy! Adia and Javier are our new IT Desktop Support for CITE ITCS, and Shannon Roddy is our new Systems Administrator for CalNet in ISO. 

We bid farewell to Jessica Longhurst (CAD-SIS) and our retirees in December, Darrell Alder (CITE-ITCS) and Saskia Etling (ISO). Wishing you all the best in your next life adventures! 

Job Openings

The following positions will be posted soon:

• Digital Content Accessibility Specialist - CITE/PCS 

• Network Engineer - CITI/Network and Data Center Services

• Security Video Engineer - CITI/Network and Data Center Services

Please share these and allbIT job openings plus otherUC Berkeley IT jobs with your professional networks to potentially tap the Employee Referral Program. Many of our jobs are eligible for cash awards for referrals of great talent!

What I’m reading and watching

Great ideas on what to read and watch came up since we talked about this during our breakout session at the all staff.  Someone mentioned reading a book about ChatGPT and it seems like lots of people are hooked on watching Wednesday, a comedy-horror series you can stream on Netflix. If you’re looking for recommendations, connect on our Slack channels #social-reading for book ideas and #social-bingewatch for things to watch.

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

Wishing you and yours a relaxing and peaceful end of the year. See you in 2023! 

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: Dec. 8, 2022

Colleagues,

We are rounding out this week responding to a major issue with Apple Devices connecting to Wi-Fi that is impacting enterprise. This issue is an Apple OS issue impacting many Apple devices. We are working with Apple engineers and expect a fix to the issue in their next OS updates. However, until Apple provides a permanent solution, we are providing the campus community with these instructions on how to work around this issue. A campus-wide message has been sent with this information but please help share out these troubleshooting tips as we move into finals week and you hear any reports of Apple devices having connectivity issues.

Wi-Fi was one of several One IT priority spotlights discussed yesterday at the CIO Open Forum. We covered IT Governance and presented data on Campus IT Spend, here’s a snapshot of high-level numbers. Watch the video for more details!

Also during the forum,Director of Student Technologies Cristóbal Olivares discussed the One IT Student Leadership Program that SAIT is launching and Senior Manager of Network Services, Isaac Orr, gave us an update on progress being made on Network User Experience projects. Sean Schluntz, Principal Network Engineer, joined Isaac and talked about some new Wi-Fi options coming to campus in January: Berkeley- IoT (Internet of Things) and Berkeley-Visitor! View the slide deck | Watch the Zoom recording

Give back opportunity: Volunteer at the Food Pantry during finals

The photos shown above are what I captured during my shift at the Food Pantry on Monday - a highlight of my week! I had such a great experience that I plan to sign up to volunteer regularly. The pantry is an emergency relief program that is designed to meet the short-term food security needs of the UC Berkeley community: which includes all UC Berkeley students (undergraduate and graduate), staff, visiting scholars, student researchers, postdocs, and faculty who need food. They are 90% volunteer-run, almost entirely by students and serve thousands of visitors every month! The Food Pantry is just one of several services offered by The Basic Needs Center. Volunteer or contribute to the Food Pantry | Learn more about the Basic Needs Center

Campus compliance with cybersecurity training

Earlier this week I presented to Cabinet with my colleagues Sharon Inkelas, Associate Vice Provost in the Office of Faculty Equity & Welfare and Jan Crosbie-Taylor, Change Facilitator-Organizational Consultant in People & Culture. We discussed the campuses cybersecurity training compliance. We are working on commincating about how important this training is and considering ways to improve faculty compliane in particular. Our current compliance rate is 69% for all employees across campus which is much lower than where we want to be.

Announcing the 2023 cohort for MLP

The MOR Leaders Program (formerly ITLP, now MLP) is a multi-track leadership program, based on bringing small cohorts of leaders together across multiple institutions for intensive workshops over a ten-month period. The 2023 MOR Leaders Program Cohort includes:

• William Bacon, Chief Information Officer, SSALLEX

• Casey Hennig, One IT Program Manager, Berkeley IT

• Wes Johnson, Executive Director, Campus IT Experience, Berkeley IT

• Kelly Mann, Business Systems Analyst, Office of the Registrar

• Erfan Mojaddem, Director of DevOps and Learning Spaces, Research, Teaching and Learning

• Nili Ovaici, Service Manager, SIS, Berkeley IT

• Faye Snowden, Manager, Technology Program Office, Berkeley IT

• Padma Vemula, Enterprise People Systems Manager, Campus Applications and Data, Berkeley IT

Podcast on the evolving role of tech leaders

LIVE cuppa jo opportunity next Thursday in our old digs at Warren Hall

Join us for the final bIT All Staff of the year on Dec. 15

Celebrate 2023 with bIT: RSVP by Monday

Volunteer for UC Tech 2023!

Watch the bIT DEIB Speaker Series event with Dr. Figueroa

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcome aboard Sundeep Punukollu! Sundeep is our new Data Engineer joining the bIT CAD Data Solutions Team. He started this week on Monday, Dec. 5. 

Job Openings

We are hoping to welcome several new team members to our organization in the comings weeks so stay tuned! Remember you can always view open and in progress recruitments here, please be sure to share open positions through your networks. The Center for Teaching and Learning is hiring three new positions:

• Universal Design for Learning Consultant

• Active Learning Consultant

• Equitable Assessment Consultant

What I’m reading and watching

Over the past few years, it’s become a tradition to hear from the Chancellor about all we’ve accomplished and what we have to look forward to in the year ahead. If you missed it, like I did; don’t fret! Watch the recording here

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

See you next Thursday, Dec. 15, at the last bIT All Staff of 2022! 

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: Dec. 2, 2022

Colleagues, As we close out 2022, I encourage you to find “moments of awe” for day-to-day well-being. This month’s happiness calendar from the Greater Good Science Center is focused on helping us find “moments of awe” in our everyday lives. For example, today’s advice is to call a friend. Yesterday’s advice was to watch the sunrise or sunset. This calendar is a snippet from Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life by Dacher Keltner. Each day is full of great advice to help you find the joy and “awe” in your day. View the December Calendar, and subscribe here to receive each month’s happiness calendar. 

In the work world, I had a moment of awe yesterday during our IT Strategy Committee meeting, where the committee voted to keep Qualtrics and Adobe Creative Cloud in the Productivity Suite Assessment! It still needs to go to the finance committee later in the spring for final approval, but seeing our governance work in action was AWESOME! It was also wonderful to see the use of data gathered by our service teams used to help leadership make this decision. View the ITSC slide deck | What is the ITSC?

Earlier this month, I participated in a panel discussion about women working in technology in higher education as part of the Conversations with Extraordinary Leaders series. This event was co-sponsored by Stanford Women in Technology (WIT) and Harvard Women in Technology + Allies. Read a summary of the event | View the recording here

UC-Wide Strike Update

Celebrating the contributions of Gerald Lawson

Free Tickets to Watch Cal Women’s Basketball Tomorrow 

Announcing: bIT DEIB Speaker Series

Join us at the One IT CIO Forum next Thursday

Celebrate 2023 with bIT: RSVP by Dec. 12

Join the year-end Campus Conversation on Tuesday, featuring Chancellor Carol Christ

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcome aboard, Hugo Melara! Hugo is our new Systems Administrator who joined Mark Stuhr in CITE Intercollegiate Athletics on Dec. 1. 

Job Openings

Many of you have been attending the presentations being held for our top candidates for the Digital Accessibility Program Manager position, an important role that will be leading our collaborative efforts across campus to ensure all university websites and digital content are able to be accessed and interacted with by everyone in our community. 

Several hiring managers are working hard to interview candidates for all our open positions listed here, with some at the final stages of preparing to extend offers. We are still accepting applications for several opportunities listed, so please share them through your networks.

What I’m reading and watching

I am reading Counterfeit: A Novel by Kristin Chen. The book is a fun novel that tackles the questions about cultural differences, what is fake, and what is friendship, all wrapped up in a designer handbag! And I am listening to our very own Lucy Greco talk about how Medical bills remain inaccessible for many visually impaired Americans on NPR! 

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

See you next Thursday at the CIO Open Forum!

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: Nov. 18, 2022

Colleagues, Yesterday was a very heartwarming day for bIT, it was great to see lots of people in the office at 2850 Telegraph! I kicked off the day with an in-person Java with Jenn and had several people stop in for coffee, tea, or a treat. We had some great conversations; thank you to everyone who attended. Several bIT units had team meetings, including Information Security and Business Operations so there was a buzz in the air all day, conversations in the hallways, in the breakroom, etc. - soooo fun to see! 

Seeing many of you virtually at our monthly bIT All Staff was also wonderful. We welcomed new staff to our community and held a breakout session asking, “What are you thankful for?” The answers always vary, but most of us can agree that health and having loved ones in our life (including furrriends) are often at the top of the gratitude list. Terence Phuong introduced us to his Business Operations unit.We could see his team members all gathered and waving hello from the 4th floor in Telegraph! Terence provided an insightful opening to his presentation with a story he shared about how his team was built during COVID and his experience seeing his team in person (some long-time colleagues and some totally new) for the first time back in July (check it out in the Zoom recording at 29:30). If you couldn’t make it, you can access the materials here: slide deck |  Zoom RecordingIn December, we’ll celebrate the one-year anniversary of launching our new bIT organization comprised of seven units. This past year we have been using the monthly all-staff to meet each team. Mark your calendars for Dec. 15 at 2 p.m. for our next all-staff meeting. 

UC-Wide Strike Update

ICYMI: A book reading with Author Faye Snowden

Next week: optional curtailment and university holiday

Join the year-end Campus Conversation on Dec. 6 featuring Chancellor Carol Christ

Hellos & Goodbyes

We’d like to extend a big bIT welcome to:

• Miguel Quinonez-Skinner, Information Security Developer in ISO started on Nov. 16. 

• Rose Huynh, Lead Recharge Analyst in Business Operations-Finance started Nov. 19.

• Allison Layton, PPC Strategist in People, Performance, and Culture will start on Monday, Nov. 21. 

Job Openings

Clarissa Fermin on our People, Performance, and Culture team is a rockstar with posting all our job openings and processing all our new hires reports that nothing new was posted this week. But…there has been some great progress made with recruiting for the 13 positions we currently have open. More news in the weeks to come!

What I’m reading and watching

Today, I invite you to take a happiness break with 5 minutes of gratitude. You can even subscribe to regularly tap into this Greater Good Science Center podcast that covers topics like Making Space for You; Restore Through Silence; and How to Awaken Joy. 

As mentioned at the all staff yesterday, I’ve been watching several great shows. Our opening poll covered lots of shows recently released or will be in the coming months: House of Dragons, Succession, Yellowstone, West World, Rings of Power, Ted Lasso, and more! Share out what you’re watching on our Slack channel: #social-bingewatch 

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

Wishing you a safe and restful curtailment week and holiday. I am grateful for all you do!  

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: Nov. 10, 2022

Colleagues,

I’m sending my update out today since tomorrow is a holiday! Each year on Nov. 11, we celebrate Veterans Day, a time for us to honor those who have served in the United States Armed Forces. We are grateful for the contributions of the veterans in our community, and for the diverse perspectives, experiences, and leadership they bring to UC Berkeley.

I hope you’ll join me in finding meaningful ways to thank veterans (such as donating, volunteering, and using veteran-owned businesses) today, tomorrow, and every day, for their service to our country.

It was great to see many of you at this month’s One IT CIO Forum held earlier today. Many thanks to Casey Hennig for providing updates on One IT events, Shawna Dark for her EDUCAUSE updates. Getting a fall semester retrospective from Wes Johnson and Erfan Mojaddam was really insightful. Our front-line teams have much to be proud of in supporting the campus community this semester. View the slide deck here, the Zoom recording will be available here on Monday.

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You may have seen the campus message come through on Wednesday regarding the strike notice for Nov. 14. ICYMI, I’m providing the content of the message here: 

“The United Auto Workers (UAW) union that represents Postdoctoral Scholars, Academic Researchers, Academic Student Employees (teaching assistants/readers/tutors), and Graduate Student Researchers has informed the University of California Office of the President of their intent to strike on all UC campuses starting on Monday, Nov. 14, at 8 a.m, if they are unable to reach an agreement with the University. 

Campus leaders have been providing guidance to deans, chairs, instructors, and researchers to help ensure continuity of instruction and research in the event of a strike. A strike website, accessible with CalNet authentication, contains guidance and associated FAQs that will be updated periodically as the situation evolves and more information becomes available to us.   

Please stay tuned for more communication and information, which we will send via CalMessages on Sunday. For information about the union’s negotiation with UC officials, view the UCOP FAQ page.”

I encourage you and your teams to consider how the services you provide to campus may be impacted by the strike.  

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Join us Nov. 15 at noon for a book reading with Author Faye Snowden

Let’s have a cuppa joe…or tea…on Nov. 17 at 9 a.m.

bIT All Staff next week on Nov. 17 at 2 p.m.

What I’m reading and watching

In honor of our veterans, a few items to read and watch:

• Watch Chancellor Carol Christ’s Veterans Day message

• Read about Matthew Linzer, US Navy Veteran and Information Security Manager for UCOP ITS Systemwide Information Security Office.

• Learn about how student veterans groups created a special night with fellow veteran and ceramicist, Ehren Tool. Tools artwork is also the focus of this NY Times article: The Price of This Artist’s Work? A Conversation About the Horrors of War

• Listen to the Veterans Roundtable podcast with Ynez Hicks, James Seddon and Paul Krueger who work in IT Services at UC San Diego.

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

I hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable long weekend! 

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: Nov. 4, 2022

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CIO Update: July 15, 2022

Colleagues,  

I am still processing all the positive vibes and the experience of seeing many of you in person yesterday at the One IT Celebration Picnic! Please take a look at the message I sent earlier today to the community that includes a summary of the day’s events, photos, a video of the program and more!

Some great news came through this week: I am thrilled to announce that the Instructional Resilience and Enhancement Fee (IREF) will go into effect this fall. This fee will provide ongoing funding to a number of important instruction and student-facing services plus software, including the Student Help Desk, the Student Technology Equity Program (STEP), bCourses, classroom technology, Adobe, and Microsoft, to name a few! If you want more information about the fee, see the IREF FAQ. This was announced to students earlier this week.

All Adobe users need to request a license starting Aug. 1

Speaking of Adobe, there are some important changes coming for those who use the Creative Cloud suite of tools across campus. Please take a moment to read this message that was sent to One IT yesterday from John Valmores. Here’s an excerpt: Starting Aug. 1, 2022, anyone who wishes to use Adobe Creative Cloud will need to request a new license, valid for one year. On Aug. 14, 2022, the access period will end for all licenses that were generated before Aug. 1, 2022. In order to best support instruction and the daily work of our campus community, Berkeley IT is assessing Adobe software usage to understand the demand for Adobe Creative Cloud better.

• Aug. 1 - Faculty, students, and staff can begin requesting an Adobe license for use this academic year by filling out the license request form that will be posted on the Adobe Software webpage

• Aug. 14 - All licenses requested after Aug. 1 will be assigned and the access period will end for any licenses assigned before Aug. 1.

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcome aboard to several new hires who started this week!

• Deep Gill, UCPATH/API Developer on the CAD - Admin Applications team.

• Andrew Sherman, Wi-Fi Engineer with CITI - Network Services.

• Luqi Jia, Project Manager for the bIT Business Operations - Technology Program Office (TPO).

And a big welcome back to Saundra Alexander! Saundra is returning part-time to help out Gladys Oddoye and her team within bIT Campus IT Infrastructure. 

What I’m reading and watching

For those of you who follow some of our more famous faculty members, this falls under both reading AND watching! The times has a great article, Taking a Trip With Michael Pollan, about the new series How to Change Your Mind | Netflix Official Site

 Job Openings

There were three new positions posted this week: 

• Lead Recharge Analyst, Business Operations Job #38867

• Sr BI Engineer, CAD Data Solutions Job #39049

• Data Engineer (Cloud), CAD Data Solutions Job #39059

Check the status of all bIT open recruitments here. Don’t forget to share job postings with your professional networks to potentially tap the Employee Referral Program as many of our jobs are eligible for cash awards for referrals of great talent! 

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: July 8, 2022

Colleagues,  

A lot has happened in the past two weeks since my last update. I hope you all had a relaxing and fun 4th of July holiday weekend!

We had another virtual Java with Jenn session yesterday. It’s always so great to meet new colleagues and visit with those who I’ve known for years! The next opportunity for live java on the 2nd Floor Patio at 2850 Telegraph will be Thursday, July 28, 9:30-10:30 a.m. Please sign up here. Later that day at 2 p.m. we will have our next bIT All Staff where Terence Phuong, Executive Director of Business Operations will introduce his team.

Several announcements have been coming through regarding leadership positions being filled across campus. Here’s a snapshot:

• First, I am thrilled to let you know that after a competitive national search, David Turner started his new role as Executive Director of Campus Applications and Data (CAD) on July 1. A big shoutout to Rana Silver for her amazing work as co-interim Executive Director of the Campus Applications and Data team these past several months as we conducted the search.

• Oliver O’Reilly has been named as our new Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. This is very good news for the campus and for IT. Oliver has been a strong champion of our work and is currently championing the Comprehensive Curriculum Management (CCMS) Project that Rana and her team have been working on. 

• Ben Hermalin, who was announced as the new Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost at the start of the year, also began his new role on July 1.

• Victoria Plaut has been appointed to the role of Vice Provost for the Faculty, effective Aug. 15. Vicky is currently the Claire Sanders Clements Dean's Professor of Law in the School of Law at UC Berkeley and the chair of the Academic Senate's Budget and Interdepartmental Relations Committee

UC Tech Program Now Available

Hellos & Goodbyes

Hello…again…to Rosalind Nevels who started her new role as our Cellular Services Coordinator on July 5. Farewell and happy retirement to Margaret Chester, Joslyn Broussard, Kyaw Win, and Jerry Yerardi! We thank you for your many contributions to UC Berkeley and wish you all the best as you embark on this next chapter of your life. I hope to see you and celebrate together at the One IT picnic next Thursday!

What I’m reading and watching

I hope you saw the message I sent out earlier this week about our reading group forInterior Chinatown by Charles Yu! It is this yearsOn the Same Page book. A book is chosen every year to welcome our new students into Berkeley's intellectual community and we are all encouraged to read it and connect. If you are interested in joining us, email me, and we will add you to our list: bit-onthesamepage@lists.berkeley.edu, and our slack channel: #social-interior chinatown

Rob Silva is leading this effort (thanks, Rob!), and he has connected with Aileen Liu, the Director of Curriculum Engagement Initiatives in the College of Letters and Science. She will help guide our group. We will all commit to reading the book by Aug. 12 and then meet at least once to discuss it. We can also engage in discussion on slack as we go. 

• If you want to know more about the book before you decide, I suggest reading this review: February's Book Club Pick: A Devastating (and Darkly Hilarious) New Novel From the 'Westworld' Writer Charles Yu

• And this interview with the author: How Charles Yu fights anti-Asian hate and Hollywood stereotypes in his award-winning novel

• Save the date: the On The Same Page program is hosting an event with the author on Friday, Aug. 26: Interior Chinatown: An Evening with Charles Yu and Philip Kan Gotanda

Job Openings

Several new positions are in the process of getting posted so keep your eyes peeled for new opportunities on our bIT job page and I will share them in my update next week.  

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

I can’t wait to see the 250+ folks from our community come together at the One IT Celebration picnic next Thursday at 11 a.m. - our first in-person event since Oct. 2019. We will celebrate retirees, play games, and have F-U-N! 

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: June 23, 2022

Colleagues,  

Hard to believe this is my last update for June. There will not be an update next week since many people (including me!) are making it a long weekend for the 4th! I hope that many of you are taking some well-deserved time off. 

I am sure that many of you are having very emotional reactions to today’s Supreme Court Decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. I know that the first thing I did this morning was to reach out to my daughters and mom. I want to encourage everyone to read Chancellor Christ’s message sent this morning “Today, a major setback for women.” In it, she shares her personal thoughts and experiences. She also confirms the university's commitment to inclusive reproductive care for our patients.  

If you need to take space today, please work with your supervisor. I know I needed a long walk. We are working to schedule a time next week for people who would like to come together to hear from each other and support one another. 

What I’m reading and watching

Rather than tell you what I am currently reading, I want to encourage you to consider reading or rereadingThe Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. It was published the year after I graduated from high school and I remember reading it when it came out thinking “this future was unimaginable.” 

I also went back and watched Theresa Davis - What to Do When a Politician Tries to Fall into Your Vagina Feet First. I watched it first when it went viral several years ago. Caution the video contains language and references that might make people uncomfortable.  

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A big thank you to everyone who has made time to attend the presentations and other sessions for the Executive Director of Campus Applications and Data search. I know that it can be challenging to prioritize attendance and feedback, but hiring is one of the most impactful and important things we do as an organization and your feedback is important! Please fill out the Feedback Form ASAP. I would love your feedback by the end of today and I need it no later than Monday 9am. 

EDUCAUSE highlighted a poll from last year that I wanted to share with all of you EDUCAUSE QuickPoll Results: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. These results show that higher ed has a long way to go in addressing issues. We are very lucky to have our own Charron Andrus as a leader of the EDUCAUSE Diversity in IT Community Group who led this work!!  

Thank you to everyone who attended the CIO Open Forum yesterday where we shared out the FY23 One IT Strategic Plan and looked back over our successes this past year! ICYMI: View FY23 Strategic Plan| slide deck | Zoom recording. Our next forum will be on Aug. 11, we will not have a forum in July since we are hosting our celebration picnic on July 14. Don’t forget to RSVP by July 1

Job Openings

Just a reminder you can view progress on bIT job postings here. Please share this and all of our bIT job openings and other UC Berkeley IT jobs with your networks.

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: June 17, 2022

Colleagues, 

We find ourselves midway through pride month with plenty of time to use these beautiful Zoom backgrounds and email signature options…now…and into the future! It is awesome to see so many people using them! 

We are also embarking on a holiday weekend celebrating Juneteenth on Sunday! This website has great ideas for how to celebrate Juneteenth in the workplace and at home. The City of Berkeley will host its 35th Annual Juneteenth Festival on Sunday, June 19, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The event is the longest-standing Bay Area Juneteenth festival. If you don’t live nearby, a short search will let you know what events are happening in your area!

I am very excited to announce that starting June 21, bIT People Performance & Culture will sponsor and Student Affairs IT will host two high school interns from the Bakar Achieve Scholars program for five weeks. The interns will be working on projects with the SAIT Staff Helpdesk and the Communications & Network Support teams. 

A few other announcements related to HR topics:

• Yesterday, our AVC of People & Culture, Eugene Whitlock sent a message about the improvedCatastrophic Leave Sharing Program. The policy has been updated and there is a newly established Catastrophic Leave Donation Bank which will help increase access to the bank for all employees and protect employee privacy.

• Earlier this week, Rana Silver raised the fact that there is a new (as of May 10) required Foundational Skills course. Pleasecheck this course link to see if you have completed the 'new' version, which is required for campus access.

• UCOP is circulating an abuse policy draft:Proposed Policy Changes for Systemwide Review: Abusive Conduct in the Workplace | UCnet Please review and provide any feedback to rebecca.woolston@ucop.edu and abigail.norris@ucop.edu

I had a great in-person Java with Jenn yesterday – I really love these opportunities to connect with you all! Over 15 colleagues joined me on the 2nd Floor patio at Telegraph to talk about whatever was on the minds of those present. My next virtual java will be on July 7, 9-10 a.m. please sign up here

Now available: FY23 One IT Strategic Plan

Who wants a bIT shirt?

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcome aboard, Saundra Busch! Today is Saundra’s first day as the Email and Chat Communications Service Lead in Productivity and Collaboration Services. She joins Jon Hays’ Communication and Collaboration Services team in bIT Campus IT Experience.

What I’m reading and watching

I’ve started reading The Lincoln Highway: A Novel by Amor Towles. It is a book with multiple entertaining narrators! So well written! I’ve been watching too many videos of my grandchildren, but I’ve had time to catch up on season 2 of Russian Doll. So darkly funny.

Job Openings

Just a reminder to please try to attend the upcoming presentations happening next week with the finalists for our Executive Director of Campus Applications and Data! You should see these events on bCal as holds. After each presentation, you will be asked to provide feedback regarding each candidate to help us as we move toward selecting the final candidate! 

New positions posted this week: 

• Endpoint Operations Systems Administrator CITI-DPS #37545

• Database Administrator CITI-DPS #37734

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

I hope you have a lovely, relaxing, long holiday weekend (starting at 3 p.m. today). I look forward to seeing you at the CIO Open Forum next Thursday!

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: June 10, 2022

Colleagues, 

Happy Staff Appreciation Week! This week is a time dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating all your hard work, contributions, and commitment to UC Berkeley which is vital to our campus community. I hope you all have been able to enjoy some of the staff events that were happening throughout the week. 

I was at UCLA this week with the rest of the UC CIOs for our first in-person meeting since COVID! We did some team-building activities and heard about the progress of system collaborative efforts from our UC-wide committees on accessibility, procurement, education technology, security, and research technology. I’m proud to say that two of the committee chairs are from UC Berkeley. David Wilson leads the procurement group (IT Sourcing) and Lucy Greco leads the committee on accessibility. 

I know many of you attended and/or presented at the NOW Conference yesterday. I’ve heard great feedback that it was a really wonderful experience this year. If you haven’t tapped into much and you live nearby, make your way to campus to take part in the Staff Carnival happening today from 2 to 5 p.m. - some of the activities look like a ton of fun! The Bungee Run is calling my name ;-)  

Pride Summit 2022 - Lesbians Who Tech & Alliesalso has been happening this week. I’d be interested to hear if any of you attended and what some of the highlights were, I know they always have amazing speakers!

I want your input! You will see that holds have been placed on your calendars next week and the following week for the finalist presentation for our Executive Director of Campus Applications and Data. I would encourage you to attend and provide feedback.  

Today is the deadline for bIT Managers to complete the BPM Grow Today Series & Certificate and for all bIT employees to complete their Foundational Skills training. I’m incredibly happy to say that we have reached100% completion for all required training! Thank you all for your efforts and your time expended in getting this done. 

Java with Jenn in June

FY23 Strategic Plan: Coming Soon!

What I’m reading and watching

I am reading The Lincoln Highway and it is AWESOME!!! Highly recommend. I’ve been taking a TV break lately and doing more walking and spending time with my new grandson Valentino David Escobedo who was born on April 2! 

Job Openings

Managers and our awesome People, Performance, and Culture team are continuing to do a great job with bIT recruitments, view the status of open positions herePlease share this and all of our bIT job openings and other UC Berkeley IT jobs with your networks.

New positions posted this week: 

• Building Manager (5198U), Business Operations #36667

• Administrative Support (4722C), Business Operations #37026

• Systems Administrator (7304U), CITE-SAIT #36316

• Systems Administrator (0520U), CITE-SAIT #34845

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

I’ll close by expressing, again, my deep appreciation for each and every one of you, for being part of what makes bIT a great place to be!

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: June 3, 2022

Colleagues,  

Hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend, but…coming back Tuesday, it felt like the whole week flew by and the month of May with it; just like that, it’s June! Speaking of University holidays, there are several more coming up this summer. We have many new people in our bIT organization, so here is the holiday schedule

June brings so many things to celebrate:

• Pride Month - I encourage you to take time this month to learn more about LGBTQ+ history, communities, and events. You can find resources and information on the GenEq, Multicultural Community Center, and Division of Equity & Inclusion websites.

• June 8 | 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. - Living authentically: A conversation on supporting LGBTQIA+ communities in higher education

• Oct. 14-16 | Annual UC-wide BLAQOUT! Conference

• Juneteenth - Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of ending slavery in the United States. This is a time to genuinely reflect on what you can do to move the country toward its stated ideals for a humane, just, and equal America. This website offers some great resources to support your journey, along with recommended books, films, events, and more.

This week we welcomed Britt McClintock to Berkeley IT! Britt is our new Lead for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging on the bIT People, Performance, and Culture team. I am so excited she is here and she has already sent a wonderful message out to all of you and has plans to connect with the community each week. Britt (she/they) has done extensive work as a diversity, equity, and inclusion educator and consultant and an Ethnic Studies high school educator. Over the years, Britt has helped create curriculums and training surrounding BIPOC and LGBTQIA2+ inclusion and equity in collegiate student life programming. In 2015, she created a short documentary on the negative impacts of gender (binary) socialization called Genderations - A Documentary

On Wednesday, just over 30 staff from across bIT came together for a brown bag Open Conversation organized by Robert Rainey and the bIT Action Team and moderated by Michelle Davis, Director of People, Performance, and Culture. We will continue to share out opportunities for these important conversations.

Conference Registration & Travel

Kudos to the UC Moves One IT Team

Electricity demand reduction days this summer/fall

June java with Jenn

Names for the falcon chicks

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcome aboard! 

• Britt McClintock, DEIB Lead in People, Performance and Culture

• Erica Ching, IT Security Analyst, Assessments Team in the Information Security Office. 

• Jorge Solorio and Chris Chew - new Desktop Support in IT Client Services

• Sina Carroll, new Docusign Service Lead in Productivity & Collaboration Services

What I’m reading and watching

I am super excited that we will be starting a bIT reading club for the On the Same Page program, Interior Chinatown by 

Charles Yu A HUGE thank you to Rob Silva, who has agreed to coordinate it. Stay tuned for more information about how to participate. I’m definitely in! You can always follow the #social-reading slack channel. While many of you are probably watching Stranger Things, I have been rewatching Mad Men. It is even better the second time around. 

Job Openings

Several new jobs are in the process of getting posted. I will share them in next week’s update or you can always view progress on bIT job postings here

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

I know many of you will be attending next week’s NOW Conferenceon June 9. I am so proud to see 13 of our bIT colleagues will be presenting and sharing their wisdom with conference participants. Enjoy!

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: May 27, 2022

Colleagues, 

As we head into the Memorial Day weekend, observing and mourning the loss of military personnel who have died while serving in the US armed forces, we are collectively mourning so much more as Americans and as humans with the multiple acts of hatred and violence that have occurred this month. I expect that many of you are sad and tired and outraged. I’ve been personally struggling as a leader to find a way to lead intentionally with empathy and with hope. I will continue to look for hope in the dedication of our faculty and students, the commitment and amazing work of the One IT community to support UC Berkeley and the hope I have when I hold my grandchildren. I encourage you all to look for hope in your work and in your lives. 

Thank you to all who attended the all-staff meeting yesterday and shared a moment of silence for all the victims. Robert Rainey spoke about his own connection to these events being from Buffalo, NY, having a wife who is an elementary school teacher, and having kids in school. Robert, with Irma Donaldson, both chair our bIT Action Team and, with the support of Michelle Davis our Director of People, Performance, and Culture, they have put together a brown bag Open Conversation that will be held next Wednesday, June 1 at noon. This will be a virtual open conversation, a safe space to talk. Say what is on your mind, ask questions, listen, and talk to your colleagues. There is no formal agenda, just the honest question "How are you doing?" I hope you can join us, please sign up here 

A big thank you to Wes Johnson for introducing his Campus IT Experience (CITE) team. They truly are the face of our bIT organization, as Wes mentioned and I think everyone liked his reference comparing CITE to being the “watchers of the wall” (for all you Game of Thrones fans). If you were unable to attend the All Staff meeting, the materials are here: view slide deck | watch Zoom recordingWe will not have an all-staff meeting in June; the next one is on July 28.

We want your input: FY 23 One IT Strategic Plan

bIT Leadership Retreat

On Monday, our bIT Leadership Team (Directors and ExLT) got together for our first retreat. Our goals for the day were to create a shared mental model of goals and outcomes for our individual departments and for Berkeley IT as a whole; to identify bIT leadership two-year goals; and to begin the development of success metrics to measure progress against our ODP goals (Build an agile central IT organization that serves as a strategic partner with the UC Berkeley community to efficiently deliver campus IT services. Create a structure and culture that is inclusive, actively embraces diversity and equity, where IT professionals can do their best work). More info to come about retreat outcomes and next steps!

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcome aboard, Oscar Ruiz, Scott Nemes, and Temitope Aladesanmi! Oscar started on May 16 and he is our new Desktop Support in IT Client Services. Scott is our new ITSM Manager in Campus Application and Data / Administrative Applications who started on May 23. Temitope is our new Network Engineer who joined the Campus IT Infrastructure / Network and Data Center Services Team on May 23.  

What I’m reading and watching

I attended the Internet2 meeting in Denver this week. Internet2 is the organization that runs a national high-speed network for research institutions and others. They also provide many of the tools that we use on campus like eduroam and Shibboleth. Why is this under reading and watching? Because I went down a rabbit hole to learn more about Quantum computing and found this: A beginner's guide to quantum computing | Shohini Ghose. I’m not sure I get it yet, but I’m starting to!

I also began reading Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu and I am looking forward to creating a summer reading group around the book! More about that soon. 

Job Openings

We are still trucking along in filling our open positions, you can view progress on bIT job postings hereA new position we want to highlight this week: Cellular Services Coordinator (7565U) #36172 

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

I hope you have a relaxing long weekend spending time with loved ones.

In partnership and with hope,

Jenn

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CIO Update: May 12, 2022

Colleagues,  

Kudos to you all as we close out another academic year! I just want to express my sincere gratitude to each of you for your hard work these past few years. Hard work on top of hard times, I would say…to echo Chancellor Christ’s opening statement during Tuesday’s Campus Conversation that we’ve endured "hard times, not just in institutional challenges, but also in your personal lives." Your dedication and resilience have been inspiring and appreciated. It’s gratifying to know we are coming out of this time together, perhaps a little worse for wear and still transitioning, but there is light! Fiat lux! 

During the Chancellor’s talk, she was joined by outgoing Interim Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Cathy Koshland. They discussed major issues and events of the ending academic year and offered a preview of plans and priorities for the fall semester. As we close out this spring semester, they mentioned how UC Berkeley is seeing a record number of attendees at graduation ceremonies. Indeed a historical time for our university in so many ways. ICYMI you can watch the recording here. 

Thanks for joining me at the One IT CIO Forum yesterday, you can access materials here: view slide deck | watch Zoom recording. Casey Hennig provided an update on the strategic planning timeline for FY23. We had great spotlights on two projects. Shane Knapp from EECS Research Engineering shared their (MIS)Adventures with Salesforce. Luis Hernández Muñiz and Sarah Bailey joined us from our bIT Campus IT Experience team in Productivity and Collaboration Services to provide an update on the Cost Containment for Box and Google priority. Thank you to all our presenters! Next month’s forum will be held on June 9. 

Save the Date: One IT Celebration on July 14

UC Tech Award Nomination Deadline is May 30

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcome aboard Manohar Rana! Manohar joined us on May 9 as the Data Integrations Lead in Data Solutions. He is part of Aswan Movva’s Data & Analytics team in bIT Campus Applications & Data. Congratulations to Irma Donaldson who started a new role on May 9 as our Communications & Network Consultant. Her new position is still working with Gladys Oddoye and her team in bIT Campus IT Infrastructure.  

We bid farewell to Kong Chou who has spent 12 years with the Finance Team working primarily on recharge. One of Kong’s biggest contributions has been his latest work on the Campus Network Model. Kong is turning his focus to his growing family and he will be staying busy taking care of his new little ones. His last day is on May 16, please join me in thanking Kong for his 12 years of service and sending well wishes to him and his family. 

What I’m reading and watching

I’m looking forward to reading this year’s recommended book from the On the Same Page program, Interior Chinatown by 

Charles YuAs you may know, this program is UC Berkeley’s way of welcoming our new students into the intellectual community. They do this by choosing a book, theme, or other work of art to provide the focus of a range of events, courses, and activities that bring our new students into contact with each other and our faculty.

Job Openings

There are currently 13 open recruitments in bIT, we are excited to share new positions being filled and will continue to keep you all updated on progress each week. As a reminder, here are the links to see what other opportunities exist: Browse all campus IT job postings | Search all UC Berkeley Jobs 

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

You still have time to join our new bIT FUN Committee, please let Margarita Zeglin (mzeglin@berkeley.edu) know if you would like to participate by May 31. The group will develop 4-6 optional (fun!) social events for bIT staff to engage in throughout the year (with options offered for both virtual and in-person). This is an opportunity to let your creativity and innovation shine while providing FUN opportunities with your colleagues.

Next week we have several strategic planning events happening so I will not send an update but I look forward to sharing some outcomes on May 27. 

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: May 6, 2022

Colleagues,  

It is May and this month we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage. Did you know that the AAPI community consists of over 50 different ethnic groups? Check out the Diversity website for some great resources and events being hosted on campus including a celebration on May 23 sponsored by the Library. 

Thank you to those who attended my Java with Jenn on the 2nd Floor patio at 2850 Telegraph yesterday. It was great to have our One IT colleagues from Facilities IT join us! You can join me virtually on Thursday, May 19 from 9 to 10 a.m. See all future dates and sign up here. 

I hope you all saw the message come through from the Chancellor and Cathy Koshland on Wednesday regarding the campus’s response to the recent shelter-in-place on April 21. The message includes a commitment to applying lessons learned from that event, plus information on emergency protocols and resources.

I saw a great presentation at the open Academic Senate meeting this week on the Clean Energy Campus initiative that aims to “decarbonize” our campus energy use. Berkeley is working to do its part for the environment by retiring our aging natural gas power plant. There is state funding available that we hope the legislature will award to this project. Here is more information about how you can be an advocate for this project to the state legislature. Finally, here is a cool article and video UC Berkeley drills 400-foot borehole to explore geothermal heating on campus. 

UC Women in Technology Open Letter to IT Leadership

Join the FUN Committee

bIT Colleagues Presenting at the NOW Conference

UC Tech Proposal Deadline is Sunday

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcome aboard Emily Gladstone Cole! Emily has joined ISO as the new IT Security Analyst on the Security Operations Team, her first day was Monday, May 2.

What I’m reading and watching

Thank you to Charron Andrus, our Associate CISO for sharing this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education on How to Make Your Campus a Better Place to Build a Career. It offers 7 great pieces of advice for managers including creating a culture of documentation.

“One of the best things you can do to make turnover less painful — and to help your employees feel like their world is less chaotic — is to create a culture that values writing things down.”

I also plan on delving into this suggested reading list for AAPI Heritage Month. Finally, I stayed up waaaay too late this week to finish 1883. You have to love anything with Sam Elliot in it playing a cowboy ;-)

Job Openings

Our bIT People, Performance, and Culture team in collaboration with several hiring managers have been hard at work with all the recruitments currently in progress. Here are all the recently filled positions and new team members we can look forward to meeting in the weeks to come:

• DEIB Lead (4258U), People, Performance & Culture #30823 

• ITSM Lead / Manager (0532U) #28390

• Desktop Support (7359C), IT Client Services #31037

• Communications & Network Consultant (7566U), Network & Data Center Services #32916

• Network Engineer (7566U), Network & Data Center Services #30897

• Assessments Security Analyst (7338U), Information Security Office #32618 (one of two positions filled)

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

Looking forward to seeing you at 2 p.m. next Thursday for our monthly CIO Open Forum! Please send me any questions you would like me to address by filling out this short form.

 In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: April 29, 2022

Colleagues,  

Like spring flowers…April didn’t seem to last very long! The good thing is it was filled with both rain and sun in the bay area! As we close out this month and move toward the end of the semester, I have lots to share this week. 

First, thank you to the 240+ members of our community that attended yesterday’s bIT All Staff. A big thanks to presenters Michelle Davis and Terence Phuong for providing important updates on HR deadlines that are coming up (see dates section below) and a progress report on the budget process. Our CISO Allison Henry also joined us to introduce her Information Security Office team and provide an overview of all the critical work they do to protect our university data. Here are the materials from the meeting: slide deck|Zoom recording. Next month, our all staff will be held on May 26. Wes Johnson, Executive Director of the IT Campus Experience team will join us to introduce his team as we continue to meet all the new units within our bIT organization.

Strategic Planning Now in Progress

Distinguished Teaching Award Recipients

See you next week for Java with Jenn

UC Tech Proposal Deadline Extended to May 8

Hellos & Goodbyes

We bid farewell to Michael Baldwin who has been part of our ServiceNow Team for the past seven years. Thank you for all your contributions especially as the lead developer for the new HR ServiceHub implementation last fall. Best wishes to you in your new role at the UC Office of the President leading the ServiceNow team.  

What I’m reading and watching

The #social-reading slack channel had a great discussion of the Berkeley Summer Reading list. While it is “for new UC Berkeley students” it has some GREAT titles. The theme this year is “illuminating communities.” One of my faves on the list is Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. It is a book filled with magical doors that allow refugees to flee to other parts of the world. I read it earlier this year, but it has so much meaning for our current world events. The coolest thing is that you can borrow many of these titles through the UC Berkeley library! They have a number of different e-Book options too. The PBS NewsHour highlighted some amazing work being done by, Quinn Dombrowski, a former One IT colleague of ours, to preserve Ukrainian digital heritage. Preserving Ukraine's cultural treasures with digital tools.

Job Openings

There are currently 12 open positions in our bIT organization and a brand new position that just opened this week:

One IT Program Manager (0566U), Berkeley IT - #34763. Check the status of all bIT open recruitments here. Don’t forget to share job postings with your professional networks to potentially tap the Employee Referral Program as many of our jobs are eligible for cash awards for referrals of great talent!

 Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

Wow! May is jam-packed with activity, but let’s ride out the end of this semester together. Kudos to everyone supporting students, faculty, and staff as we close out another academic year. I know it is an exceptionally busy time for everyone so thank you for your continued dedication and diligence!

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: April 22, 2022

Colleagues, 

I want to thank everyone yesterday who had to shelter in place on campus and to those managers and staff members who quickly documented where people were on campus out to ensure that everyone was accounted for. I hope that all of you are taking some time to decompress. I wanted to echo the Chancellor’s words in her message to campus last night. “Our sense of safety and security was threatened; our academic and research pursuits were interrupted; and, for some, past experiences with violence may have resurfaced.” TheEmployee Assistance Programoffers no-cost confidential counseling. 

I hope you can all make the bIT All Staff is next week on Thursday, April 28. Chief Information Officer, Allison Henry, and her team will join us as we continue to have each bIT unit share with all a little more about what they do.

We had a great managers' meeting this week that provided additional insights into how the campus is handling the budget this year. We also got updates on a number of “people” activities including the Achieve Together process that is happening now and a reminder to everyone needs to complete your required training Foundational Skills and people managers must complete BPM Part 1: Grow Today. June 10th is the deadline for non-represented staff members to complete the training in order to receive a salary increase.

ICYMI: UC Cyber Security Summit Recap

Correction: UC Tech Proposals & Award Nominations due May 1

What I’m reading and watching

The 2022 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report, Teaching and Learning Edition is out!!! I would highly encourage you to spend some time with the report. This year's report envisions a number of scenarios, growth; constraint; collapse; transformation; for the future of teaching and learning. 

Job Openings

The search for the Executive Director for Campus Applications and Data (0669U) #32133 is moving forward and the search committee kicked off today! I want to thank Eric Fraser who has graciously agreed to chair the committee. The Executive Director of Campus Applications and Data Search Committee has representation from many of our campus partners. 

• Identity and Access Management Developer (0652U), ISO #34408

• Network Operations and Service Delivery Manager (0660U), CITI #34607

• Network Engineering and Specialized Services Manager (0660U), CITI #34546

• Network Service Delivery Coordinator (7584U), CITI #34552

View status of all bIT job postings | UC Berkeley IT jobs

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

Spring is definitely here and I am very grateful for the rain that we continue to receive including just this morning. This weekend is supposed to be lovely and sunny and I hope that you get some time out in nature! I will leave you with a classic rain poem by Emily Dickenson Summer Shower

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: April 15, 2022

Colleagues,  

We find ourselves in mid-April, and tax day! Well, traditionally taxes have been due today, April 15, but if you’re still working on getting yours filed you still have the weekend since this year the deadline for taxes is Monday. Whew! And now…let’s move on to more exciting topics! 

I missed seeing you all yesterday at the One IT CIO Open Forum but heard it went really well! Big shoutout to our CISO, Allison Henry for leading the forum and to our presenters Carolyn Knight and Bill Allison, with Casey Hennig facilitating those great One IT Spotlights. If you weren’t able to make it, please access the materials here: slide deck | Zoom recording. Our next forum will be on Thursday, May 12.

Campus celebrates Earth Week

Sign up for web application security testing

New dates: Java with Jenn

Help name UC Berkeley falcon’s new mate

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcome aboard, Patrick Pender! Patrick is our new OSS (Operating Systems Support) Manager who has joined Walter Stokes on his bIT CITI Data & Platform Services team - today is his first day!  

What I’m reading and watching

Despite being on vacation last week, Faye Snowden shared this gem for National Poetry Month in our Slack channel: Available from YouTube, listen to50 Classic Poems Read By 12 Celebrities: Morgan Freeman, Jodie Foster, Gary Sinise & more. As a reminder, you can join the conversation and share what you’re reading (#social-reading) and watching(#social-bingewatch) too! 

I also found this article, How Strong Is Your Sense of Purpose in Life?, from the Greater Good Science Center intriguing. They share results from their Purpose in Life quiz revealing how people of different ages, races, and political orientations pursue meaningful goals. There are a lot of questions raised and resources shared leading the reader to reflect on their own sense of purpose. 

Job Openings

Managers have been doing a fantastic job of recruiting new team members and filling open positions in bIT and there are still more to come. Here are a few newly posted positions:

• Solutions Architect for Accessibility Remediation Job #34113

• Web Developer for Accessibility Remediation Job #34131

• UCPATH/API Developer Job #32533

Most of these jobs are also eligible for the Employee Referral Program (potential for cash just by referring top talent). Research, Teaching, and Learning (RTL) also posted a great opportunity as they search for a new Executive Director, Center for Teaching and Learning. They invite candidates to join a creative, talented, and entrepreneurial team. Please continue to help us recruit excellent people to fill all of these important roles by sharing with your networks. So many opportunities! 

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

See you at the UC Cyber Security Summit on Wednesday, over 800 people are signed up to attend! Hope you can tap into Earth Day events happening next week on campus or find events near you on earthday.org. Another way to get out and celebrate nature is to take part in National Park Week which kicks off tomorrow with a fee-free day at all national parks. 

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: April 8, 2022

Colleagues,  

It has been a very productive week! Two important topics went to the IT Strategy Committee for discussions and advancement to the finance committee: 1) The Productivity Suite Assessment, and 2) the Campus Network Model. These two proposals will have an impact on our ability to support campus and we will be following the progress closely through the budget cycle.   

Interested in what is happening on our Cloud Strategy and the fate of our Warren Hall Data Center??? I encourage you to attend this month’s CIO Open Forum happening next Thursday! Bill Allison, Chief Technology Officer in bIT Strategy & Partnerships will be joining to provide progress on the Data Center & Cloud Services Strategy Roadmap ProjectCarolyn Knight, Director of IT Facility Services will also be sharing the latest status on IT priorities in her department. Allison Henry, Chief Information Security Officer, will be the guest emcee for the meeting.  

This week’s update will focus on sharing some of the big events coming up in the next several months. It is officially conference season with lots of opportunities for professional development, networking, career exploration, and various venues for presenting. We realize as we are coming through the pandemic, that many staff will be using this summer to take a break, maybe taking a real vacation so we will not be planning our annual One IT Summit again this year with a hope of returning in full force the summer of 2023. With so many options for other conferences to attend, I hope you will participate in several! 

But first, I’d like to say kudos to all of our COSA recipients! The Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Award (COSA) is presented on an annual basis to individual staff members and teams who demonstrate exceptional initiative to create a significant positive impact on the UC Berkeley campus community. I sent this announcement out yesterday but wanted to call out all our bIT, SAIT, and RTL winners here too:

Please RSVP if you’d like to view the livestream broadcast of the award ceremony where recipients will be recognized by Chancellor Christ on Wednesday, April 13, 2-3 p.m. The Chancellor's Staff Advisory Committee (CSAC) established and administers this award program. bIT has great representation on CSAC with Casey Hennig, Outreach and Engagement Coordinator in the Information Security Office and Colette Jackson, Information Systems Analyst both serving on the committee.

Register for UC Cyber Security Summit by April 13

Join the NOW Conference Lottery by April 14

EDUCAUSE Proposals due May 3

UC Tech Proposals & Award Nominations due May 30

Register to attend Lesbians Who Tech June 6-10

Hellos & Goodbyes

This is the first week in a very long time that we don’t have any new members to welcome to our bIT community! We do want to bid a fond farewell to Karl Otto, CTO for University Development and Alumni Relations whose last day was April 1. Karl is the new Associate VP in the Systems and Operations group at BWF. We wish Karl all the best and thank him for his many contributions to our One IT and campus community!

What I’m reading and watching

A great 45-minute listen this week. I found the conversation about creating an IT army fascinating!: How Ukraine Is Fighting On The Digital Battlefield: Fresh Air: NPR

Time's Vera Bergengruen says Ukraine's citizen IT force, led by a 31-year-old minister of digital transformation, is blunting Russian disinformation and galvanizing international support. The Ukrainian government has enlisted as many as 300,000 citizens to volunteer for the so-called IT army. 

Job Openings

Managers are doing a great job of recruiting some wonderful new team members to bIT and there are still more to come. A reminder you can view progress on bIT job postings here 

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

The next live-in-person Java with Jenn is coming up on April 28. We will gather again on the 2nd Floor patio at 2850 Telegraph - sign up here!

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: April 1, 2022

Colleagues, 

Spring is in the air as we plunge into April! I’ve never been a big fan of the April Fool’s prankster tradition for this date but I know some people who do really enjoy pulling off practical jokes with loved ones. Whichever camp you’re in, hope you are having a great Friday! 

Yesterday was the birthday of César Chávez, a farmworker and labor leader who became one of the most important civil rights activists in our state and country. Born in Yuma, Arizona on March 31, 1927, he devoted his life to gaining better conditions for workers, like himself, who labored on farms for low wages and under severe conditions. His work is still so relevant today as these past few years workers toiled through drought, extreme heat, wildfire smoke, and the pandemic to continue to feed America. 

Chávez taught us that every person in every job deserves respect, security, and the chance to thrive for themselves and future generations. That approach to work is something we strive for in our bIT Core Values:

• We champion diversity. We believe that differences in experience, perspective, and identity enliven and enrich our work, strengthen our solutions and services, and uphold our commitment to access and opportunity for all. We treat each other with respect and actively recognize each other for contributions toward creating a positive, inclusive work environment.

• We act with integrity. We are honest, open, and transparent. We strive to do what is right for each other and the communities we serve. Our actions reflect a high ethical standard and commitment to equity.

Learn more about the history and legacy of Cesar Chávez

Campus Master Plan

Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) 

Hellos & Goodbyes

Hello and welcome to bIT: Robyn Stotomas and Angela Wong! Both joined Isaac Orr’s Network Services Team in Campus IT Infrastructure / Network & Data Center Services on March 28. Robyn is a Security Video Network Engineer and Angela is a Network Services Support Analyst joining us from Athletics IT! 

What I’m reading and watching

This week I was reading A Guide to Getting Rid of Almost Everythingand was inspired to take some of those tips into action as I do my own version of spring cleaning to refresh our home. On that same topic, Organize the World: Design Your Life to Spark Joy is a great video of Marie Kondo speaking at SXSW several years ago. Kondo developed a revolutionary method of organizing known as the KonMari Method, which consists of gathering together everything you own, one category at a time, and then keeping only those things that "spark joy" – as well as choosing a dedicated place to store them. Many of you know I’m a big fan of hers and her belief that the way you organize and how you treat your belongings will greatly affect your way of thinking – in a positive way!

Job Openings

Just a reminder that our searches for the following important roles are still open:

• Executive Director for Campus Applications and Data (0669U) #32133

• DEIB Lead (4258U), People, Performance & Culture #30823

Please share these positions through your networks to help us continue to grow strong leadership throughout bIT! View status of all bIT job openings | Browse all UC Berkley IT jobs

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

My next Java with Jenn is scheduled for next Thursday at 9 a.m. Sign up here for this virtual option to connect with me informally over your beverage of choice.  

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: March 18, 2022

Colleagues,  

What a great day! I got to spend part of my morning having coffee LIVE in person with a great group of ~20 staff on the 2nd floor of Telegraph. Here are a couple photos I snapped, thank you to Anna Gazdowicz for bringing her sweet babies Fair Claire and Great Scott! So fun to meet them and see everyone today!

More dates have been added for both in-person and virtual Java with Jenn, see the dates in the upcoming events section below or sign up here. A big thanks to Margarita Zeglin for putting these together! 

bIT All Staff Recap

It was also nice to see so many of you virtually in our monthly bIT All Staff. A big thanks to Michelle Davis and Isaac Orr for joining us and providing important updates on the Achieve process and the latest progress being made on improving Wi-Fi on campus. Here’s the slide deck and the Zoom recording will be up on the bIT Events page on Monday. Going forward, please note that you’ll need to sign into Zoom with your @ berkeley account to join all bIT All Staff and One IT CIO Open Forums. 

Campus mask mandate ends April 4 

• Staff mask guidance - this page answers questions from staff on what to do, and what not to do. See also: instructor guidance

• Mask distribution: Faculty/staff | Students

• For more information, see the updated masks page on the campus coronavirus website.

Professional Development Opportunities

Last week I shared our Professional Development page which is chock full of resources you can tap into, but this week I’d like to highlight a few of the programs we have available:

• IT Leaders Program (ITLP) - Targeted for senior managers and directors, ITLP is one of several leadership programs we offer through a partnership with MOR. This multi-track program is based on bringing small cohorts of leaders together across multiple institutions for intensive workshops over a ten-month period. The 2022 ITLP Cohort includes: Adrianne Mann; Charron Andrus; Cristobal Olivares; David Turner; Lois Wareham; Patricia Juarez; Ross Stivison; and Tyler Crooks

• UC IT Leadership Academy - Negotiation and conflict resolution, setting strategic priorities, time management, and culture change. These are among the real-world skills and concepts that UC IT staff learn during six intensive days of leadership training at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. The program prepares emerging IT leaders from across the UC system to become stronger, more effective leaders and agents of change. This year's participants: Carolyn Knight; Karl Otto; and Luis Hernández Muñiz.

We want to be sure that everyone in our bIT community knows that you have support and lots of resources as you think about and plan your career path. 

bIT Slack icon now updated and on brand!

• #social-listening-party - Mondays at noon tune in for the lunchtime listening hour.

• #shoutouts - did a teammate make your day? Give them a shoutout! You can also Pay IT Forward

• #social-furiends - is your dog or cat basically your office assistant these days? Post a photo of them in action (or, likely inaction, our furiends sure like their sleep).

• #social-garden-party - do you have a green thumb or just love seeing beautiful flowers, plants, veggies, and fruits? Join the garden party.

• #social-reading - share what you are reading, something inspiring, murder mystery, a news article, whatever!

• #social-bingewatch - tell us what you are streaming or join to learn about what others are watching.

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcome aboard Jeané Blunt! Jeané is our new Communications Specialist who joined our bIT Communications team on March 21. She comes to us from the UC President’s Office where she worked in IT Communications and managed the FCC licenses for UC since 2018. 

What I’m reading and watching

As we continue to celebrate Women’s History month, I was touched by this article where Dania Matos, Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion, shares her experiences in What my grandma taught me about leadershipThe story was originally posted Oct. 2021 but this example of how wisdom is passed between generations, particularly from woman to woman is beautiful and timely.

Job Openings

There are several positions currently open in our department: See new bIT job postings | Browse all UC Berkeley IT jobs

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

I hope you have a relaxing and fun three-day weekend! 

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: March 18, 2022

Colleagues,  

I would love to see you in person on the 2nd-floor patio at 2850 Telegraph next week for Java with Jenn on March 24, 10-11 a.m. There are still a few spots left so please sign up so we get enough treats for all. 

Earlier this week we received great news on the ongoing topic of enrollment for the 2022-23 academic year: 

“California lawmakers on Monday voted unanimously to pass legislation that overturns court decisions that required UC Berkeley to freeze student enrollment to 2020-21 levels. The bill was then signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, restoring at least 3,050 undergraduate admissions slots at Berkeley for prospective students to fill.” read the full article 

The past few days I was in Providence, RI attending the NERCOMP conference. The conference was a more intimate version of EDUCAUSE. It was great to attend sessions and just see and talk to colleagues again! One of the most interesting sessions I attended highlighted research study results around how “fake news” is treated by faculty and librarians in the classroom: Convergences and Divergences: Faculty and Librarian Perceptions on Misinformation in the Classroom 

However, the main reason I attended was to kick-off the inaugural cohort of the Next Leaders Fellowship. It is a yearlong leadership program to support BIPOC IT professionals. I’m so thrilled that Wes Johnson and Faye Snowden from UC Berkeley are a part of the first cohort of NLF fellows!  

Celebrating Women who Rock IT 

As you know, March is Women’s History month and I wanted to give a big shout-out to Elysia Liaw. Elysia is featured in this UC IT Blog article published yesterday for her work in helping to advance diversity and inclusion in her department. She is a Media Specialist on the Academic Design, Innovation & Technology team at UC Berkeley Extension. Last month we had put out a call for nominations for Women who Rock IT and we were pleased to receive 14 nominations! Kudos to Elysia and, to the incredible contributions of women in tech across One IT and the UC system! 

Thank you for your support during Big Give

The results are in from Big Give which took place on March 10. The KALX-Radio Fund raised $19,389 from 143 donors and a total of $2,320 was raised from 17 donors for our new STEP Fund which helps connect students to tech equipment to support their academic success! Thank you for your support and participation. Remember, these funds continue to accept gifts throughout the year.  

Hellos & Goodbyes

Hello and welcome to Cosmo Martinez, our new Applications Programmer who started on March 16! Cosmo joins us from UC Santa Cruz and is now part of Gennady Minevich's team in Campus Applications & Data /Administrative Applications.  

What I’m reading and watching

I’m getting a lot of great book reads from our Slack channel #social-reading and am reading I'm in Seattle, Where Are You? A Memoir a powerful story by Mortada Gzar an Iraqi novelist, journalist, and visual artist about how the search for a lost love brought him to America…his stories are haunting. On a rewatch note, I spent some time with Ted Lasso, another favorite show on#social-bingewatch. The episodes are even better on second viewing!! 

Job Openings & Professional Development

Check the latest status of open bIT jobs or browse all UC Berkley IT jobs. Don’t forget to check out all the professional development opportunities available here at UC Berkeley. 

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

Next week is spring break and some of you may be venturing out on a vacation of sorts for the first time in a long while. If that’s the case have a fantastic time! 

If you’ll be around next week, I’ll see you at 2 p.m. on Thursday for this month’s bIT All Staff! 

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: March 10, 2022

Colleagues,  

Thank you to those of you who joined us yesterday at the One IT CIO Forum. We got about halfway through the meeting before we were Zoom bombed, which is reportedly happening more frequently these days. Be sure to review the message I sent out earlier today to follow up on what we learned about yesterday’s incident and recommendations on how we can all avoid this from happening in the future. Here is the slide deck and Zoom recording (edited). Our next CIO Forum will be on Thursday, April 14. I really appreciate all of the personal emails of support that I received from many of you.

 International Women’s Day March 8

People’s Park Partnership

Save the date: UC Tech at UCSD Aug. 15-17

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcome back to Kerry Hays! Kerry is returning on a part-time basis to work with bIT through June 30, 2022. He will be helping the Communication & Collaboration Services team transition the licensing consortia for MatLab, SPSS, Mathematica & Qualtrics over to our Software Licensing Lead, John Valmores.

What I’m reading and watching

I’m starting to binge-watch Raised by Wolves! If you are a lover of Sci-Fi and Ridley Scott this is for you! The second season is getting lots of great press. 

bIT Job Openings: Back by popular demand

During our Organizational Design Project (ODP) work, we had a webpage that included current job openings in bIT and the status of recruitments that were underway. We heard from many of you that the page was very helpful so we brought it back! See new bIT job postings | Browse all UC Berkley IT jobs 

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

So many events happening in March! Join me in person on the 2nd-floor patio at 2850 Telegraph, March 24, from 10 to 11 a.m. for Java with Jenn, sign up here so we order enough goodies - only 7 spaces left!  

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: March 4, 2022 

Colleagues, 

And…just like that, it’s March! I’m not sure if you have heard the saying about March weather, especially in more wintry parts of the country: March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. I sure hope this is true for the latest world events and news too. 

I encourage you to read Dania Matos’ message to Ukrainian students sent earlier this week and please share the Resources & Support for Trauma, Tragedies, and Loss with others who have been impacted by these troubling times. To quote VC Matos, “We all need networks of people taking care of us, especially in moments like this.”

Disappointing court ruling on enrollment

Yesterday we heard the disheartening news on the court ruling that leaves the student enrollment freeze intact. As I mentioned last week, we’ve had a record number of students apply to UC Berkeley and this ruling impacts access to ~2,500 who will not be able to join us on campus this fall. Check your inboxes for the email from the Chancellor yesterday on this ruling and the plan to implement enrollment strategies that include online options and delayed enrollment.Read the campus statement here. I can assure you that the campus is working very hard to explore all options to address this issue and provide as many students as possible access to a Berkeley education next year. 

Java with Jenn on March 24, 10-11 a.m. - LIVE in person

I would love, for those of you who feel comfortable, to join me at our offices at 2850 Telegraph for coffee and treats at the end of the month on Thursday, March 24, 10-11 a.m. We have a wonderful outdoor patio on the second floor where we held the event last time. You can also take a spin around our new digs to check out all that great art and fun spaces we shared during the All Staff last week. Please Sign Up so we get enough treats for all.

Posted: Executive Director for CAD

The Executive Director for Campus Applications and Data (0669U) #32133 position is now live! Please help share this opportunity through your networks. As you know, Rana Silver and David Turner have been serving as co-interim executive directors for CAD since Jody Couch left UC Berkeley in December. 

 Women’s History Month

Big Give is March 10

Next Thursday is Big Give, an opportunity for everyone in our great, big Cal community — alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff, and friends like you all over the world — to show support for our extraordinary university. Throughout the day there are contests and lots of different funds you can support. But, giving to our new Student Technology Equity Program (STEP) Gift Fund is a way that actually allows you to see directly where your money goes: connecting tech equipment like laptops, hotspots, and noise-canceling headphones to students in need. No need to wait until next week, you can give today!

Hellos & Goodbyes

Hello, and welcome to bIT, Max and Andres! Max DiBlasi, our new Digital Communications Specialist joined our Strategy & Partnerships Communications Team on Feb. 28. Andres Carrasco is a new Project Manager with Campus IT Infrastructure on the Design & Build Team who started on March 1.

 What I’m reading and watching

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

 Just a reminder about mask mandate changes on campus that take effect Monday, March 7. See you next Thursday at our monthly CIO Open Forum!

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: Feb. 25, 2022 

Colleagues, 

With all the uncertainty in the world around us as the devastating news of Ukraine, hit us this week, I wanted to take a moment to share the message from VC for Equity & Inclusion Dania Matos: Support for Ukrainian students and scholars. I know that we are all concerned for our fellow humans in Ukraine and are sending our heartfelt support and hope for peace. 

We are awaiting the outcome of the university’s appeal of the court decision that could reduce 2022-23 academic year enrollment by ~3,000 students. Critical as a Record number of students apply to UC Berkeley. “More than 128,100 students applied for acceptance to the fall 2022 freshman class, a 13% increase over last year’s record-breaking number.”

ICYMI: All Staff slide deck | zoom recording | Next All Staff is March 24

Java with Jenn

As mentioned yesterday, we are bringing back Java with Jenn - in person! Our first date is Thursday, March 24, 10-11 a.m. on the 2nd Floor patio at 2850 Telegraph. This is an opportunity to join me for informal conversation and your favorite beverage of choice (doesn’t have to be coffee). The sign-up sheet and more dates will be posted to the bIT Events page soon. We will also continue a virtual option as well!

Hellos & Goodbyes

We bid farewell and best wishes to Naresh Meda, a Data Architect on the bIT - Campus Applications & Data whose last day was Feb. 11. And also to Marlita Kahn, DocuSign Service Lead for bIT - Productivity & Collaboration Services who is retiring, her last day is March 1.

What I’m reading and watching

At the Action Team meeting yesterday in honor of Black History Month, our check-in question asked us to name a person who had impacted us. Being a poetry fan I have been spending time with Sonia Sanchez | Academy of American Poets. She is a prolific poet, author, and activist. She often writes Haiku and 14 haiku was written in memory of Emmett Louis Till.

I am also currently reading Jennifer Egan's 'Visit From the Goon Squad'. It is a wonderfully creative novel of interlinking stories. She explores different perspectives, different writing techniques and actually includes an entire short story titled Great Rock and Roll Pauses written in Powerpoint! It includes slides and music.

Help share our Lead for DEIB posting

Please help spread the word about our Lead for DEIB in bIT (04258) #30823 position by sharing the link through your networks, on LinkedIn, etc. This is an exciting opportunity to lead the development and implementation of strategic and proactive initiatives that promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging for bIT. IT jobs at UC Berkeley

Upcoming Important Dates & Events 

As Black History month comes to the end, you can continue to tap these great resources plus, you still have time to register for the UC Tech Assembly: Black Leaders Panel happening on Monday at 11 a.m. Charron Andrus our very own Associate Chief Information Security Officer is one of the panelists. I will see you there!

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: Feb 11, 2022 

Colleagues, 

I wanted to begin this week's update with a reflection on an article that Rana Silver shared with the directors this week We Need Time to Rehabilitate from the Trauma of the Pandemic. As the campus continues to grapple with how best to respond to the latest recommendations around masking and boosters, it is important to remember that we all need time to process the changes that are happening and to recover from the pandemic. As an organization, we need to provide space for people to begin to “rehabilitate” and balance that “rehab” with our responsibility to serve the campus mission. I don’t think there are simple answers, but I can tell you that this will continue to be a focus of bIT at every level as we work to have the right conversations to support our staff while also supporting the campus.

We had some wonderful presenters yesterday at our monthly CIO Forum. We heard IT Strategic Plan updates from Mark Stuhr, Director of IT in Intercollegiate Athletics; Gabe Gonzalez,CIO and Assistant Dean, along with Dino Johnson, Manager of Instructional Technology from Berkeley Law IITS. Here are the materials from the forum: slide deck | zoom recording

STEP Gift Fund: An opportunity to directly impact students

I’m very excited to announce that the STEP Gift Fund is now available and accepting contributions! STEP was launched at the beginning of the pandemic to help students obtain free, long-term loans of critical technologies when classes shifted to remote learning. Since March 2020, STEP has provided over 5,000 students with essential hardware such as laptops, Wi-Fi hotspots, noise-canceling headphones, microphones, webcams and drawing tablets to ensure their successful academic engagement. 

Hellos & Goodbyes

Hello and welcome to new team members in SAIT: Jaqueline Chang and Ricky To! Jaqueline is a Project Policy Analyst on the SAIT Student Technologies team who joined us on Jan. 14. Ricky joined the SAIT DevOps team on Jan. 20 as an Information Systems Analyst. More new team members will be welcomed to bIT in the weeks to come!

DEIB Lead position has been posted!

Another exciting announcement for this week is the DEIB Lead position has been posted: Lead for DEIB in bIT (0562U) #30823. Reporting to Michelle Marquez, Director of People, Performance and Culture, the person in this position will lead the development and implementation of strategic and proactive initiatives that promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging for bIT, with a focus on creating a strong and inclusive culture, improving the employee experience for underrepresented and historically marginalized staff, and support UC Berkeley as a place people want to work. Please share this posting through your networks. View all open IT jobs here

What I’m reading and watching

Given that it was recently Data Privacy Week and next week is Love Data week I thought I’d share an article from the Atlantic, published just yesterday, that illuminates the scary side of AI algorithms and how a small group of active users can have a huge impact on what everyone sees Facebook Has a Superuser-Supremacy Problem

I’ve also recently become interested in “digital poetry” and went down a rabbit hole of looking up articles on this form of electronic literature. I think this article does a good job of providing an overview  Beauty in code – 5 ways digital poetry combines human and computer languages. I also still love my more traditional poem of the day in my inbox every morning!

Upcoming Important Dates & Events

• Feb. 14-18 | UC Love Data Week

• Feb. 21 | University Holiday: Presidents’ Day

• Feb. 24 | bIT All Staff

• Feb. 28 | UC Tech Assembly: Black Leaders PanelFeaturing our Associate CISO Charron Andrus

• March 4 | Student IT Jobs Fair

• March 7-9 | Women in Data Science

• March 10 | CIO Open Forum

For those of you who celebrate: Happy Valentine’s Day! Hope you will join some events for Love Data Week!

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: Feb 4, 2022 

Colleagues, 

I hope you have had a good week. I want to give a big shoutout to everyone who has been on campus helping as we transitioned back to in-person instruction this week. A special acknowledgment to our RTL classroom team colleagues who handled a MacOS issue that could have disrupted instruction. Their quick work really saved the day!  

I think many of you saw the announcement that Cathy Koshland is retiring from UC Berkeley after serving the campus with her heart, mind, and spirit for 38 years! Cathy is a leader who understands the value that data and technology bring to the campus mission and she has been a fierce advocate for the work we do. She will be missed when she leaves in June, but I know she will be enjoying her time with her children and grandchildren.

It is Black History month and the Division of Equity and Inclusion has a page Celebrating Black History Month that is worth spending some time on. I also encourage you to register for the UC Tech Assembly: Black Leaders Panel, on Feb. 28, 11 a.m. to noon. Charron Andrus our very own Associate Chief Information Security Officer is one of the panelists! It’s on my calendar.

bIT Resources

I wanted to be sure you are all aware of these resources we initially shared in December:

• Transition Checklist - this is the list of items for everyone to review and take action, as needed.

• Org Chart- you can also find this under the “About” menu on the bIT website. To see a mapping of old department naming vs new, this spreadsheet provides a comparison for teams who have services in the IT Catalog

• Email Contact List - login with your @berkeley.edu to view this doc. Includes all the new lists for bIT groups, kudos to Stephanie Dunn who has worked tirelessly on getting these put together. It hasn’t been easy! You can also find this under the “IT Staff” menu on the bIT website

• Brand Guide - all brand-related info about our new org, our mission, core values, our wordmark, graphics, and a communications toolkit with branded templates for bIT, One IT, and UC Berkeley.

• bIT Handbook - provides more detail on how we work together and is a great resource for all staff to use as an ongoing reference. This was just updated today!

Excited to see you at 2850 Telegraph

I have to say I love working out of our office at 2850 Telegraph. I’ve been spending Tuesdays and Thursdays on campus and decided to take some photos as the art arrived this week! Some bIT branded items we ordered were also delivered so it is wonderful to see everything coming together in our new space with our new organization! It will be even more fun to see more of you in person!

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcome to bIT Jenny Chen and Andrew Fitzgerald! Jenny and Andrew both started on Tuesday, Feb. 1. Jenny Chen is the new Business Systems Analyst, joining Phil Stilson’s SIS team in Campus Applications and Data. Andrew Fitzgerald is our new Cloud Engineer joining Robert Amos’ Cloud Operations Team in Campus IT Infrastructure / Data & Platform Services.

Clarissa Fermin continues to rock the recruitment tide that has been occurring the past year or more. She reports that we have filled 13 positions since launching our bIT organization in mid-December. Most of these new hires will be starting this month so stay tuned as we welcome more great members to our bIT family. View open IT jobs here

What I’m reading and watching

OK I admit it. I am hooked on Wordle. I play every morning and exchange scores with my mom and my two daughters. The Atlantic had an interesting article that outlined what makes wordle so special and why everyone is playing it - How a Crossword Editor Plays Wordle. He suggests that one key factor is that players play the same single game on the same day and you can only play it once e.g. no multiple plays and no binging! It is a shared experience but it is also a personal one. His final thought really resonated with me “I play Wordle first thing in the morning or just before bed, as do most people I know—like a collective daily prayer ritual.”

Upcoming Important Dates & Events

• Feb. 10 |CIO Open Forum

• Feb. 21 | University Holiday: Presidents’ Day

• Feb. 24 | bIT All Staff

• Feb. 28 | UC Tech Assembly: Black Leaders PanelFeaturing our Associate CISO Charron Andrus

See you next Thursday at our monthly CIO Open Forum!

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: Jan. 28, 2022 

Colleagues, 

That first two weeks of the semester flew by! In-person instruction begins Monday and we will be watching the impact of this change carefully in all of our services including desktop support, service desk, and the Wi-Fi network.  

A huge shout out to the teams in bIT and UHS who have been working hard on changing the badge to support tracking boosters as part of the vaccination requirement! And a reminder to be sure to update your record in eTang with your booster information. 

Also, a reminder that face coverings are required in-doors on campus and they are available for all our staff at the following locations:"'

• 2850 Telegraph, each copy room

• Warren, 330D & DataCenter breakroom

• Evans Basement, B1 lounge area

• 4th St., room #127

• Dwinelle, room #117

We are closing out Data Privacy Week, there is a great event at noon today featuring our CISO Allison Henry discussing the movie “The Social Dilemma” I plan to virtually be there! 

For those of you who joined the Virtual Game Show last week, here is a sampling of the amazing art we did as part of the game!  

If only we could have captured video footage of us lip-syncing to Wham! We are also exploring new virtual events in the future to mix things up and make our events more accessible! 

What I’m reading and watching

With all of the news about omicron and how it is impacting our feelings about work 5 COVID Pandemic Effects You're Feeling At Work Right Now, I have made it a point to also infuse my screen reads with positive news as well. I have been spending time on Reasons to be Cheerful. It is a not-for-profit founded by artist and musician David Byrne and its mission is “Through stories of hope, rooted in evidence, Reasons to be Cheerful aims to inspire us all to be curious about how the world can be better, and to ask ourselves how we can be part of that change.” The latest article that caught my eye was a local one from California called Putting Diversity in the Pilot's Seat.

Job Openings

View open positions in IT. Right now there are 13 IT jobs open across the campus! 

Upcoming Important Dates & Events

• Jan. 31 | Moving to fully in-person instruction 

• Feb. 2 | Boosters due

• Feb. 10 | CIO Open Forum

• Feb. 21 | University Holiday

• Feb. 24 | bIT All Staff

In a number of meetings that I have attended we have asked: “what are you looking forward to with the return to instruction?” The responses have focused on the inspiration that the presence of students brings to our work! I know that even with all of the real concerns about returning to campus, I am looking forward to resuming my Tues/Thu on-campus schedule!

In partnership,

Jenn

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CIO Update: Jan. 21, 2022 

Colleagues, 

I hope that those of you who joined our virtual game show had as much fun as I did -- even though my team lost! It was so much fun. Not sure about the rest of you, but I thought the best part was the lip-sync. Our team picked … Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go ;-)

As you may have seen in yesterday’s Calmessage, next week is Data Privacy week, with a number of events planned. In particular, I wanted to call out the Film Screening and Round Table Discussion of the movie The Social Dilemma, which is a sobering look at the privacy implications of technology and social media. See below for information on how to register. I watched the movie when it came out and would highly recommend it! It is an interesting mix of documentary and drama that give personas to the drivers behind the addictive and often destructive nature of social media. Our own CISO Allison Henry will be a part of the round table discussion. 

Film Screening and Round Table Discussion: The Social Dilemma

Register to watch The Social Dilemma (prior to the panel discussion)

Register for the “Social Dilemma” Panel Discussion

Our panel of UC data and privacy experts will be discussing the film, The Social Dilemma, the future of data, what UC’s role should be (if any) in solving the social dilemma, and how viewers can take active steps to better control their data and the data entrusted to them by the UC Community.

Everything you want to know about masks

At yesterday’s abbreviated staff meeting, we had a great presentation by Patrick Goff, Executive Director of Environment, Health & Safety, who joined us to answer questions about masks. The zoom recording and deck are shared below, along with some of the resources Pat shared and resources staff shared in the chat.

All Staff: watch video | view slide deck

• Counterfeit Respirators 

• How to Knot and Tuck Your Mask to Improve Fit

• Project N95

• Children's Masks

• SoftSeal Masks: Styles | Sizes

• Your Guide to Masks | CDC

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcome aboard Tony Venuto, Application Administrator on the Productivity & Collaboration Services team, and Michelle Marquez our Director for our new People, Performance & Culture unit! And goodbye to one of our longest-standing Berkeley colleagues, Greg Snow, our Calnet manager, who retired at the beginning of January. Greg joined RSSP-IT in 1985 and stayed with Student Affairs IT and then the SIS project before becoming full-time Calnet manager in 2018.  Greg has been a valued employee who will be missed.  We wish him all the best in this next chapter of his life.

Job Openings

As mentioned last week, with the completion of the Organizational Design project, we are no longer maintaining a specific ODP jobs page. However, I will continue to include this link to all open UC Berkeley IT jobs in my weekly communication. 

What I’m reading and watching

OK.. I admit I’m hooked on Yellowstone. Enough said. I also continue to enjoy a daily dose of poetry through Poem of the Day | Poetry Foundation. A reminder that we have set up two new social channels on Slack for you to share (or tap as a resource) great books and shows: #social-reading | #social-bingewatch

Upcoming Events

• Jan. 24 - 28 | Data Privacy Week

• Jan. 26 | How to break down barriers to Privacy careers for underrepresented populations

• Jan. 27 | Cloud Computing Meetup

• Jan. 31 | Moving to fully in-person instruction 

• Feb. 10 | CIO Open Forum

Instruction has begun and the students are returning. It has been a very full “short week.” I hope that you all take a real break this weekend!

In partnership,

Jenn

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Reminder: Please check your tech for Virtual Game Show tomorrow! Jan 19, 2022

Hello everyone,

Just a reminder to join in tomorrow for a short all-staff meeting at 2 p.m. followed by our Virtual Game Show! During our Q&A session last week, several questions came up around masks, such as: What type of face-covering meets the requirement? How frequently should you replace a mask (e.g. after how long how many days hours)? What about the KF94, or cotton masks that don’t let light pass through? To answer all these questions and more, I invited Patrick Goff, Executive Director of Environment, Health & Safety to join us at 2 p.m.

At 2:25 p.m. we will leave our Zoom meeting and head into our Virtual Game Show. You might play trivia, pictionary, or have a lip sync battle. Each game room will be hosted by a different bIT Executive Leader, so you’ll have a chance to meet them (and check out their game face). Please be sure to check your tech now so you are ready to play!

Check your Tech

• Test this Weve game link. This is the link you’ll need to access the game (no software download required).

• Be sure you have the following tech requirements ready for the game:

• Headphones (Strongly recommended! Earbuds or AirPods are fine).

• A laptop or desktop with web camera (Phones are not supported).

• A good internet connection.

• Use the Chrome, Firefox, or Edge web browser.

• VPN can be incompatible with the event. Plan accordingly.

• Here are some troubleshooting tips if you have any technical issues:

• Refresh your browser window.

• Use Chrome if you aren't already.

• Close all other applications & tabs.

• Try an incognito browser window.

• Disconnect from VPN. 

• Reboot your computer.

• For more help, see the troubleshooting guide.

Please send accommodation requests to Stephanie Dunn (ssorensen@berkeley.edu). We are aware that this platform has accessibility challenges and we are working to find more accessible options for our next online activity! 

I’ll see you tomorrow!

Jenn

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CIO Update: Jan. 14, 2022 

Colleagues, 

As we start the new year, I want to reflect on and appreciate all of our accomplishments in 2021.  This page highlights just a portion of the incredible work performed across our organization over the last year. I am incredibly proud of what our bIT team has done and continues to do, in spite of the significant challenges we face with the ongoing pandemic. Huge kudos and appreciation to all of you for this last year’s work! 

Last evening we sent a CalMessage to all campus faculty and staff announcing our name and organizational structure. Same services, new name!

On Tuesday we had a virtual Q&A to discuss the rapidly evolving public health guidance about the Omicron surge, and how this will impact our academic and other plans. This was followed on Thursday with a CIO Forum that announced the official launch of our new bIT organization, and had a deeper dive into some of the exciting work that is happening within our IT governance initiative and campus spend analysis. Here are the materials from this week’s events:

• Spring Semester Q&A Session: watch video | view slide deck

• CIO Open Forum: zoom recording | slide deck

ODP Transition

In case you missed it, I wanted to make sure you are aware that, with Jody Couch’s departure for Canada at the end of last year, Rana Silver and David Turner have graciously agreed to serve as co-interim executive directors for CAD.  

What I’m reading and watching

I just watched this video, My Ancestors' Home—with Corrina Gould, that shares the history of the West Berkeley Shellmound. It was shared at our Action Team meeting and highlights that one of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in America by the National Trust for Historic Preservation is right in our own backyard.

I just started reading The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels. It is the perfect historical romance with strong female characters, wry wit, and a huge dose of fun! It was a 2021 New York Times Notable Book.

Job Openings

With the completion of the Organizational Design project, we are no longer maintaining a specific ODP jobs page. However, I will continue to include this link to all open UC Berkeley IT jobs in my weekly communication. 

Upcoming Events

• Jan. 17 | University Holiday: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

• Jan. 18 | Instruction Begins

• Jan. 19 | Project Management Community of Practice (PM-COP) 

• Jan. 20 | All Staff Update & Virtual Game Show

• Jan. 24 - 28 | Data Privacy Week

• Feb. 10 | CIO Open Forum

Meet the ExLT at next week’s All Staff & Virtual Game Show (instructions below)

Our next all staff is on Thursday, Jan. 20 at 2 p.m., you should see the invite in your bCal. Here’s the agenda:

• 2-2:25 p.m. All Staff Meeting

• 2:25-3:30 p.m. Take part in a Virtual Game Show with the Executive Leadership Team (ExLT)

A few bIT colleagues shared their thoughts on participating in the Virtual Game Show in the past:

• “I loved it! I joined hesitantly thinking ‘I'm too busy!' but had a great time. The best part was lip-syncing to 80’s hair bands with impromptu dancing.” ~ Faye S.

• "I was feeling crummy and Zoom-meeting fatigued but decided to log into the game anyway...and I'm SO GLAD I did. The game host really made the whole experience feel like a game show. I was happy to be teamed up with people I don't know or don't normally interact with and the format made it so it was quick and easy to let my guard down and just have fun." ~ Edgar O.

• “Taking some time out of the day to relax and have fun playing games with colleagues was a wonderful break.” ~ Vivian S. in ITCS

Looking forward to seeing you there next Thursday! 

In partnership,

Jenn

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Virtual Game Show Instructions

Please test the event link and check your tech today so you’re ready to play!

• Test this Weve game link. This is the link you’ll need to access the game (no software download required).

• Be sure you have the following tech requirements ready for the game:

• Headphones (Strongly recommended! Earbuds or AirPods are fine).

• A laptop or desktop with web camera (Phones are not supported).

• A good internet connection.

• Use the Chrome, Firefox, or Edge web browser.

• VPN can be incompatible with the event. Plan accordingly.

• Here are some troubleshooting tips if you have any technical issues:

• Refresh your browser window.

• Use Chrome if you aren't already.

• Close all other applications & tabs.

• Try an incognito browser window.

• Disconnect from VPN. 

• Reboot your computer.

• For more help, see the troubleshooting guide.

• Show up at 2 p.m. for a short all-staff meeting. 

• At 2:25 p.m. we will all head into the Weve Virtual Game Show (we’ll provide the game link again in the Zoom chat). Please arrive 5 minutes early so we can start on time.

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CIO Update: Jan. 7, 2022

Colleagues, 

I hope your 2022 is off to a great start. I’m feeling very energized and excited because I became a Grandma! Juniper Jean Haywood was born on New Year’s Day and I’m totally in love. 

Many of you are closing out this bIT curtailment week and others decided to return to work Monday. Either way, I hope you had a restful winter break, feeling rejuvenated and ready to start the spring semester!

As you know, the omicron variant continues to keep our spring semester plans fluid. There is a lot of important information in the message below and additional updates from leadership about campus startup and instruction are expected to be shared soon. I appreciate all your hard work as we gear up for another semester with so much in flux. Your commitment to campus and supporting the mission is inspiring! I know that this continues to be a difficult time for many and I encourage us all to show empathy and compassion to everyone in our community.

I know that we had hoped and planned for a more “normal” semester start, but the reality with COVID from the beginning is that we continue to respond to evolving public health guidance as it becomes available about variants, peaks in cases, mask mandates, and more. 

Hot topics for spring start

• Booster shots are required by Jan. 18 - there is a clinic open today! I highly encourage you to get a booster from UHS at one of their booster clinics, make your appointment on eTang.

• Friday, Jan. 7 

• Wednesday, Jan. 12 

• Thursday, Jan. 13

• Friday, Jan. 14

• Friday, Jan. 21 (appointments coming soon)

• Friday, Jan. 28 (appointments coming soon)

Under UC policy you are required to obtain a booster shot as soon as you are eligible. Our campus expects all faculty, staff and students who are eligible to get their booster no later than the start of instruction on Jan. 18 (or by the first day you are on campus if you will be on campus before Jan. 18, enforcement will begin on Jan. 31). Please review the instructions for how to update your vaccination record in eTang with your booster information.

• Get your free COVID test next week before students return to campus. Book an appointment on eTang. See the return to campus testing Q&A for some of the most common questions around COVID testing. For clarity, there are COVID tests you can do at home or at oher locations to meet the “get tested before returning to campus” request. However, only tests administered by UHS will turn your campus access badge green and meet the campus surveillance test requirement which is good for 90 days.

• Join me on Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 11 a.m. for a spring semester Q&A session. You should see this event appearing on your bCal (contact Stephanie Dunn if it is not on your calendar). Please send any questions you have by noon on Monday for me to address during the meeting.

• New OSHA guidelines require that employees use specific kinds of face coverings. Cloth face coverings through which light can pass are not permitted beginning January 16th. Campus will make the requisite face coverings (N95, KN95 and single-use surgical masks) available to employees and to students (with an emphasis to those living in congregate housing). More soon on how to get a face covering if you don’t have one.

• Continue to work remotely, if possible for your position. As mentioned in my message earlier this week, we want to remain flexible and recommend those who can continue to work remotely do so during the expected omicron surge. We also recognize and appreciate that much of our work requires an on-campus presence to be accomplished, particularly as students and faculty are expected to return to campus for the start of the semester. All work arrangements continue to be an agreement between you and your manager or supervisor.

What I’m reading and watching

Earlier this week I read this New York Times editorial about research conducted by faculty members from Yale, Stanford and UC Berkeley that provides some good guidance on wearing a mask and the best type of masks to use. An excerpt, “The bottom line is masks work, and higher quality masks most likely work better at preventing Covid-19. If you have the ability to choose between a cloth and a surgical mask, go with surgical. But the best mask is one that a person will actually wear and wear correctly.” This is inline with the new OSHA guidance.

I also did some book reading with Juniper. Captured in this photo, the book is The Stuff of Stars by author Marion Dane Bauer with illustrations by Ekua Holmes. One of my latest favorite picture books!

I’ve been sharing what I’m reading and watching for a while now, but I’d like to know what recommendations you have. To help gather suggestions from our bIT community, we have set up two new social channels on Slack for you to share (or tap as a resource) great books and shows: #social-reading | #social-bingewatch

Job Openings

We are continuing to post new job opportunities each week to fill positions that will help build out our bIT family. Here is the latest list of openings, you can also check the jobs page for status of pending positions:

• Communications Specialist 3 (7477U) - #29351 - NEW THIS WEEK!

• Operating Systems Support Manager (0517U) #28391

• ITSM Lead / Manager (0532U) #28390

• IT Service Manager (0531) #28385

• Security Video Network Engineer (7565U) #28245

Upcoming Events

• Jan. 13 | CIO Open Forum

• Jan. 17 | University Holiday: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

• Jan. 18 | Instruction Begins

• Jan. 19 | Project Management Community of Practice (PM-COP) 

• Jan. 20 | All Staff Update

• Jan. 31 | Berkeley IT Celebration - POSTPONED

I look forward to seeing you all again next week!

In partnership,

Jenn

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Spring Semester Update & bIT New Year Q&A with CIO: Jan. 4, 2022

Happy 2022 Colleagues!

With the launch of this new year, we also look to the start of a new semester with some important information regarding return to campus testing and vaccination protocols, plus a new bIT staff event planned for next week. 

Get your free COVID test on campus this week or next

You may have seen the message from the Chancellor yesterday that covered several topics on the return to campus. One of the main items is to check your campus access badge compliance which may have expired since the last time you were on campus. If it has been more than 90 days since your last campus surveillance test you are required to get tested again through University Health Services (UHS). If your surveillance testing status has expired or is set to expire within two weeks, getting tested on campus is a great way to fulfill the campus surveillance testing requirement and meet the expectation that you get tested prior to returning to work on campus. Top things to know: 

• If you already work on campus or are planning to work on campus at all in the coming weeks, you will need to get tested prior to the start of the semester.

• Tests are administered by appointment only but there are lots of appointments available and the process at UHS is streamlined and quick. 

• This is a free test and getting it at UHS is the only way to turn your badge green for campus access (90 days). 

• This week or next is a great time to get tested before students return to campus. Book an appointment now on eTang. More testing info:

• Location: The large field house at RSF

• Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

• A UHS COVID test is the only way to meet campus access badge requirements.

You’re invited: bIT New Year Q&A with CIO

With the fluidity of information coming through, we put together a short Q&A session next week to answer any questions you may have about returning to campus and more. Check your bCal for an invite coming through soon for Jan. 11 at 11 a.m. See the return to campus testing Q&A for some of the most common questions on the topic of COVID testing or submit other questions you have prior to next week for me to address during the meeting.

Continue to work remotely, if possible for your position

With much still in flux, we want to remain flexible and recommend those who can continue to work remotely do so during the expected omicron surge. We also recognize and appreciate that some work requires an on-campus presence to be accomplished, particularly as students and faculty are expected to return to campus for the start of the semester. All work arrangements continue to be an agreement between you and your manager or supervisor.

bIT Celebration on Jan. 31 postponed

With the omicron variant expected to peak at the end of January into early February, we will not be holding any large in-person events during this timeframe as we had hoped. We are very excited about the idea of us all getting together again and celebrating our new bIT organization in person, and we will still plan something in the future, when it is safe to do so. 

More information to come

Campus leadership continues to monitor the situation closely and are meeting regularly to make changes as needed. The campus coronavirus site continues to be updated with the latest information and pertinent updates will be shared by email. 

I hope to see you at the Q&A session on Jan. 11!

In partnership,

Jenn