July 31, 2014
UC Merced
UC Merced CIO Ann Kovalchick invited me to join the Merced leadership in a briefing at Cisco to discuss developing a strategic direction for technology to align with UCM’s 2020 long-range plan. All UCM vice chancellors and deans participated, brainstorming for an entire day about the future of technology for the campus, as well as technology’s role in the residential higher education experience: How does data analytics help measure student success? How can technology support the expected increase in graduate students? How do we build the infrastructure to support the growth of the research enterprise? Cisco provided expert speakers and demonstrated several collaboration-based technologies being used in different work settings. Some of their cool new products include touchscreen video phones (replacing old handsets on the desk) and web conferencing equipment that moves, pans, and zooms the camera around the conference room, based on whoever is speaking. In the photo, Mark Aldenderfer, Dean of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities appears on the right, along with personnel from Cisco, while using their video presence equipment.