In order to move toward a more united vision, Iowa State is seeking to fill the new chief information officer position to coordinate the six existing information technology units on campus.

Iowa State is looking to improve computer services and research resources by hiring the new administrator to coordinate IT on campus, said Alicia Carriquiry, associate provost.

Currently, three units cooperate to provide network service: Academic Information Technologies, Administrative Technology Services and Telecommunications. Other services are provided by the Center for Teaching Excellence, Instructional Technology Center and Library Services, Carriquiry said.

For the last few years, these units have kept in contact through an IT steering committee. As an advisory committee to ISU President Gregory Geoffroy, the steering committee has set priorities and made decisions about new initiatives, Carriquiry said.

Most other public universities in the Midwest have chief information officers, she said.

Geoffroy made the decision to reopen the search for a chief information officer this August, Carriquiry said. There was a consensus about the need for a chief information officer when the position was created in 2002, but the search was delayed by budget constraints, she said.

Iowa State hopes to announce the new chief information officer by the end of the semester, Carriquiry said.

“The very short list of applicants that we’re considering at this time are highly qualified,” she said.

The candidates for the position will visit Iowa State in October, Carriquiry said.

The chief information officer will be a member of the president’s cabinet, which includes the president’s staff and high level administrators. The chief information officer will report to Ben Allen, provost and vice president for academic affairs.

The IT units that keep the campus technologically connected now report to a number of people, Carriquiry said.

AIT and the library dean report to Allen, and Administrative Technology Services and Telecommunications report to Vice President for Business and Finance Warren Madden. The Instructional Technology Center and the Center for Teaching Excellence report to Vice Provost for Undergraduate Programs Howard Shapiro.

Without a chief information officer, communication between the three primary providers, AIT, Administrative Technology Services and Telecommunications, has been a must.

“The three directors work extraordinarily well together,” Carriquiry said.

The chief information officer will spend six months to a year working with the IT directors and others to determine the best way to structure technology services at Iowa State, Carriquiry said.

“It’s quite possible that the [chief information officer] would come in and move some pieces around,” said Jim Davis, interim director for AIT. “Or they might leave it the way it is. It’s really up to them.”

“It really is a huge, huge job,” he said.

Narrowing the number of applicants is also a huge job. Led by Labh Hira, dean of the College of Business, the 23-member search committee includes faculty, administrators, and graduate and undergraduate students.

The search committee received nearly 500 applications, from people with a wide range of backgrounds, Carriquiry said.

Applications came from people employed in industry, academia and government, as well as from self-employed consultants.

The position may have attracted so many applications because of turmoil in the IT industry, but it is also a particularly attractive position because it is a new position at Iowa State, Carriquiry said.

“The person that comes in as CIO has the opportunity of defining their vision,” she said.