Introducing the UC Tech Engagement Committee 

Several members of the UC Tech Engagement Committee discussing their plans going forward with members of the UC Tech community during the UC Tech 2023 conference

August 1, 2023All Articles, , , , , , , ,

By Mojgan Amini. The CIO Council (formerly the IT Leadership Council), established a new working group in April 2023, called the UC Tech Engagement Committee. The purpose of the committee, with representation from different UC locations, is to help guide systemwide initiatives that engage – connect, strengthen, and grow – the broad tech and tech-adjacent community across UC. We’re calling this the “UC Tech community.” 

Inclusivity is the goal, and the UC Tech community is broadly defined as people across the University of California who work in central or distributed IT organizations, who serve as technology specialists in other functional units, or who have roles that support the technology function.

The UC Tech Engagement committee is co-chaired by me, Mojgan Amini, from UC San Diego; and Yvonne Tevis and Kristin Cordova, respectively the former and current chief of staffs of Information Technology Services at UCOP. The committee has spent the last number of months developing a charter, expanding membership (approved by each location’s CIO), and working on several initiatives that will hopefully create a good foundation for encouraging our community’s deep involvement in and contributions to systemwide initiatives. 

Birds of a feather

The committee introduced ourselves to the community through a Birds of a Feather session at the recent UC Tech Conference. Beyond describing our goals, membership, and initiatives, we wanted to use the session as a first step toward meeting community members and encouraging their input into the kinds of systemwide initiatives they’d like to see developed and/or promoted. 

The committee is interested in working closely with other systemwide groups to publicize those groups’ events and initiatives, and welcomes participation from community members, whether as the formally appointed location representative to the committee, or through participation on subcommittees.

Subcommittees

Currently, there are four subcommittees working on the following initiatives: 

  1. UC Tech Information Sharing Blueprint: A guide for promoting UC Tech community events, opportunities and initiatives across the UC system. 
  2. Systemwide UC Tech Bulletin Board: An online platform to help collect information about activities at the UC locations that are available to the entire UC Tech community.
  3. UC Tech Webinar or Town Hall: A systemwide webinar series, with topics suggested by the community, and as a means to connect with leadership. 
  4. UC Tech Conference Quick Start Guide: A checklist for UC Tech Conference coordination, intended to help jumpstart the coordinating team’s planning.

Get involved

Anyone who is interested in participating with the committee may reach out to the co-chairs: Mojgan Amini at mojgan@ucsd.edu, Yvonne Tevis at yvonne.tevis@ucop.edu, or Kristin Cordova at kristin.cordova@ucop.edu. It’s your chance to help shape your community!

Current membership

Committee chairs

  • UC San Diego – Mojgan Amini (co-chair), sr. director, Process Management & Continuous Improvement, IT Services
  • UC Office of the President – Yvonne Tevis (co-chair, outgoing); Kristin Cordova (co-chair, incoming), chief of staff, Information Technology Services

Committee members

  • UC Berkeley – Casey Hennig, One IT program manager
  • UCLA – Matthew Geddert (incoming), manager, Design and User Experience, UCLA Student Affairs IT; Anna Ahearn (outgoing), lead user experience designer, IT Services
  • UCLA Health – Yael Berkovich, director, Enterprise Information Architecture
  • UC Merced – Christy Snyder, deputy chief information officer
  • UC Riverside – Alexandra Chrystal, manager for communications and training for IT Solutions
  • UC San Diego – Mojgan Amini, sr. director, Process Management & Continuous Improvement, IT Services
  • UC San Diego Health – Melinda Battenberg, communication lead
  • UC Santa Cruz – Lisa Bono, communications & marketing lead, Information Technology Services
  • UC Office of the President – Yvonne Tevis, consultant; Laurel Skurko, marketing and communications specialist, Information Technology Services

Cover image caption / #alttext: Several members of the UC Tech Engagement Committee discussing their plans going forward with members of the UC Tech community during the UC Tech 2023 conference.

About the author

Mojgan Amini Headshot

Mojgan Amini
IT Director
UC San Diego