Introducing the UIC IT Strategic Plan

Dear UIC students, faculty and staff,

It is with great pleasure that I introduce UIC’s new IT Strategy and accompanying Initiatives that solidify our purpose: to deliver innovative solutions to advance learning and discovery.

Developed over the past several months by the CIO leadership team, with input from a variety of university stakeholders, this strategy outlines UIC IT’s support of the university’s mission as we embrace the future of academia, including an expansive plan to modernize physical infrastructure, drive IT community collaboration, support technology-driven projects and more.

Recognizing the increasingly important role that IT services and support play in making possible an environment of success, at the core of our plan is empowering our community of students, faculty and staff through innovation.

This new IT Strategy focuses on putting students first, enabling positive impact and delivering high-quality technology infrastructure and services, and is developed around four core values:

Deliver Value
Empower People
Promote Equity and Inclusion
Be Creative

In line with our values and to support the IT Strategy, we have launched seven initiatives which will bring significant improvements in IT at UIC:

• Forward: Modernize infrastructure to support learning environments, research facilitation and business operations, and foster collaboration with other institutions in support of shared data centers and high-performance computing.
• Operate with Excellence: Focus Technology Solutions and campus partners on efficiency and clarity in IT service provision and supported, modern technologies, and empower leaders to redeploy resources and drive innovation.
• Engage: Drive collaboration in the campus IT community at UIC by serving as a model of clear, transparent communication and providing leadership on initiatives at various levels.
• Student Experience: Directly support UIC’s priorities on student success and student experience.
• Data: Lead campus initiatives on data around student support, research and business tools, and support technology-driven projects with modern software interfaces and tools.
• Inspire Learning: Lead the modernization and sustainability of UIC’s digital learning infrastructure, and foster a culture of scholarly teaching by promoting inquiry-driven and data-informed changes to instructional practices. 
• Innovate: Build and strengthen industry and cross-institutional connections to establish mutually beneficial partnerships, providing platforms and services designed to provide security and scale for heterogeneous research data.

We are committed to transparency, diversity and innovation. UIC’s new IT Strategy and accompanying Initiatives will shape our IT projects, small and large, over the coming years; learn more about them.

You can also review my reflections on the future of IT at UIC in this news story: CIO Matt Riley talks about technology innovation at UIC in 2022.

As these initiatives are iterative and evolving, we welcome ideas and feedback from community members. For questions about the UIC IT Strategy or Initiatives, please contact Technology Solutions or reach out to me directly at mlriley@uic.edu.

Regards,

Matt Riley
Associate Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Chief Information Officer