Updates: Celebrations, Transitions & Teams

August 8, 2017

ITS Family,

As another Fall semester quickly approaches, I’m struck by the fact that this will be our last opening as a one-campus institution. Many of us have experienced the excitement of our children in the past week as they prepared to return to school. We’ve seen them flow through a range of emotions from nervous to excited to relieved as they approached a new school year, were met with new surroundings and challenges, and were rewarded for their tenacity by embracing new friends and new adventures.

Our own experience is similar in many ways and I’m excited about the possibilities for our institution. As we move forward into the implementation phase of consolidation, we will begin to encounter opportunities for growth and innovation that we’ve never experienced before. I can’t imagine anyone else I’d want to make this journey with and I’m consistently impressed by the work you’re doing. Here are a few updates since my last post:

Recommendation Culmination Celebration

It was a great experience to bring together all of the Georgia Southern and Armstrong IT staff who have worked so diligently over the past several months and to celebrate their hard work in completing the approximately 100 recommendations they were charged with. The group met on the Savannah campus for a picnic, games, and even a little “electric slide.” While the rain may have forced the party inside, it was a great celebration–complete with disco lights!

Events like this are important to establishing a culture of collaboration and camaraderie within our organization. While consolidation has shifted our focus away from breakfast and picnic events of late, I look forward to making these events a priority for our division. I’m happy to announce that ITS was able to procure a tailgating spot for the upcoming football season, so we will definitely have plenty of opportunities to celebrate together. We’ll send out more information about this soon.

CIC Meeting Monday

The CIC Meeting held on Monday marked the final approval needed for our final recommendations. We will now move forward with the implementation phase of consolidation, moving recommendations to reality.

Career Transition for Pam Deal

Congratulations to Pam Deal on her new position.

As our university adapts to consolidation, change management becomes an increasingly important focus for our organization and our institution. When Pam Deal shared with me her plans to retire in 2018 to focus on her family and personal goals, I began to think about her 30+ years working in higher education technology, a field that is ever-evolving not only in industry trends but in the way it organizes itself. In recognition of this experience and in anticipation of her approaching retirement, Pam will transition into a new role effective January 2018. 

In her new position, Pam will lean on her wealth of knowledge, coupled with her enthusiasm for Georgia Southern, assisting me directly as we organize ourselves to face the changes that will present themselves as we become a service organization focused on three campuses. In my conversations with Pam she has said multiple times that she is excited for the future of this great University as we merge with Armstrong. She knows that together we will be even better and that we in IT are leaders who will rise to the challenges presented and continue to do what is best to ensure the success of our students.  I hope that you will join me in congratulating Pam on both her new role and her anticipated retirement.

ITS Executive Leadership Team Announced

I’m excited to let you know that my Executive Leadership Team is close to being complete. You can view this team on the “Our Team” section of the ITS Consolidation page. As you look at the direct reports who have been named, you’ll notice that one position remains vacant. The Executive Director of Service & Delivery position will be advertised according to the University’s Recruitment plan, which is outlined on the University’s consolidation page.

With these team members in place, we’re in a great place to begin moving forward in planning our organizational structure. I met with this group late last week and charged them with establishing the teams that will make up our organization in the new, consolidated University. I hope that you will join with me in congratulating this team on their appointments.

Thank you all for the excellent work that you do.

–Ron