CISOA Tech Awards, Conference Wrap Up

Last Updated on Monday, 01 April 2013 Written by Deborah Ludford and Lee Krichmar Wednesday, 27 March 2013, TechEDge

 

The 2013 Chief Information Systems Officers Association (CISOA) Awards were presented at the annual CISOA conference, held March 10-12 in Monterey, California. Four IT professionals from the California Community Colleges system were recognized with this award for technology excellence.

2013 CISOA Technology Excellence Award Recipients

Gregg Tilles, Programmer Analyst, Santa Rosa Junior College

Gregg Tilles worked with Financial Aid, Academic Affairs, A&R and Scheduling to create the programming needed to populate SRJC's websites with required gainful employment information. Gregg did this by coordinating the project team to define what was needed, where the data was located, what data needed to be aggregated and how to aggregate it. He then created the programs to pull the identified data and populate the websites. His work was reviewed by the team to insure accuracy and compliance. Gregg completed all of his work on deadline, and also shared his code with other CCC districts.

Mario Morales, Senior Electronic Systems Technician, Cerritos College

Mario Morales was instrumental in the planning, design, implementation and support of the new Corning plug & play anyLAN fiber infrastructure at Cerritos College. AnyLAN is Corning's product line that allows you to order specific fiber distribution cables and components that are pre-engineered and pre-measured. This system provided a very cost-effective solution for deploying optical fiber in both outside and inside plant environments at speeds significantly faster than traditional field installations.

Plug & Play AnyLAN Systems utilize standard optical fiber cables with splice points, called "tether attachment points (TAPs)" that are pre-designed and pre-installed at customer-specified locations along the length of the distribution trunk cable. The cable and tether attachment points are tested and shipped as a complete system, thus minimizing field splicing.

This fiber system has been installed in several of our buildings at Cerritos College, and the effort is expected to greatly reduce the need to field terminate fiber. Cerritos College has had excellent results with the new system and its staff members plan to use this type of infrastructure into the future. Mario selected this technology, lead the design and implementation, and provided outstanding leadership for this project.

Chien Shih, Director of Information Systems & Operations, Foothill-De Anza Community College

Chien Shih is recognized for his extraordinary leadership in the implementation of the Banner ERP at Foothill-De Anza. Implementing such an extensive information system is the most complex project an IT leader can undertake. An ERP system touches virtually every corner of a campus or district and nearly every member of the educational community regardless of their role. From the classroom to the board room, all district stakeholders are challenged by an ERP implementation. They are asked to question their tried and true business processes and daily habits in reengineering their world to make the best use of a new information system. For a few this is a welcome challenge, but most, very naturally, are uncomfortable with change and resist the call to participate in such an institutional overhaul. Subsequently, timelines can be derailed, budgets are often overrun, and the outcomes of the project may ultimately fall short of the aspirations of the district leadership.

However, in the case of the Foothill-De Anza’s Banner ERP implementation, none of the pitfalls described above materialized. Under Chien’s effective, thoughtful, and compassionate leadership the district was successful in implementing the full range of products in the Banner ERP suite on schedule (a mere twenty-four months) and under budget. Chien worked tirelessly with colleagues from both campuses and the district’s central services organization to reengineer business processes to streamline operations and maximize the district’s return on investment in the Banner system. His guidance to his colleagues has resulted in a reliable and comprehensive information system with remarkably few modifications made to accommodate local procedures. The exceptional quality of the Foothill-De Anza Banner implementation is already serving as a model for other colleges and districts even after just two and a half years in production.

Lee Johnston, Director, Management Information Services, Santa Monica College

Lee developed a paperless International student application portal (iApp). It was a highly challenging project to enable the International Admissions Office to accept F1 student applications and process all required documents and communications, as well as meeting all SEVIS requirements. Lee's iApp project completely eliminated manual communication and paper process. The iApp electronically enabled and fully integrated the entire application acceptable, document imaging work flow, SEVIS updates, and the final College ERP admission process.

iApp project was presented at the NAFSA regional conference and received large volume of other regional universities/colleges and even vendor's inquiries regarding acquiring iApp. The entry was selected as one of the "best of region" sessions and was forwarded to NAFSA National conference.
iApp project was presented at the NAFSA regional conference and received large volume of other regional universities/colleges and even vendor's inquiries regarding acquiring iApp. The entry was selected as one of the "best of region" sessions and was forwarded to NAFSA National conference.
Expanded descriptions of each 2013 Technology Excellence Awards are available from the CISOA website.

In addition, at the conference CISOA honored years of service for those who have served as a CISO in the system for 5+, 10+ and 20+ years. Service pins were presented based on years of service by James Temple, Award Program Chair.

The conference theme this year was "Technology Leadership for Student Success." The event included speakers such as Eden Dahlstrom, Senior Research Analyst from Educause; Leslie Fiering, Vice President from Gartner Research; and Erik Skinner, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Patrick Perry, Vice Chancellor from the California Community College Chancellor's Office. To add a bit of fun Don McMillan, from Technically Funny, provided a humorous look at the IT profession.

Also, at the conference the 2013-14 Board of CISOA was elected as follows:

• President: Deborah Ludford
• President Elect: Gary Moser
• Immediate Past President: Gary Moser
• VP North: Michelle Kozlowski
• VP South: Adrian Agundez
• Secretary: John Wagstaff
• Treasurer: Tim Hollabaugh
• Program Chair: Michelle Kozlowski
• Conference Chair: Gary Moser
• North Region Representative: Sharon Luciw
• North Region Representative: Jeannine Methe
• North Region Representative: Mike Midkiff
• South Region Represenatative: Jim Temple
• South Region Represenatative: Jeremy Sims
• South Region Represenatative: Frank Smith

The conference also kicked off the inaugural offering of the "CISOA Certification Program" with 25 potential CISO's assembling at the conference for the first session of a year-long training program designed to train future CISOs. Under the leadership of former CISOA President, Fred Sherman, the training class got off to a great start.

The CISOA board wishes to express thanks to all who made this year a very successful conference. Presentation materials will be posted on the CISOA website.<>

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Deborah Ludford is the President of CISOA and the District Director of Information Services for North Orange County Community College District. Lee Krichmar is a CISOA member and the Director of Information Technology for Cerritos College.