University of Washington

Welcome A t UW Information Technology, our work is not about technology—it's about people. It's about leveraging the power of technology to make people within the UW more productive and effective. As the stories in this report show, we are working with partners across the UW on initiatives that advance breakthrough research, move teaching and learning into the 21st century, improve the student experience, transform the way we do business, and retain and advance the UW's capacity for outstanding research and teaching. A special focus this year is on improving the student experience. Students come to campus with high expectations. They are being asked to contribute more toward their education. Students need and deserve technology that enriches their learning experience and makes their academic lives easier. Our strategy is to provide a richer experience for students today, while building tomorrow's infrastructure. Toward that end, we are engaging with faculty and students on key initiatives: evaluating next-generation learning management systems, developing MyPlan for online academic planning, exploring eTextbooks, and piloting a cloud-based lecture capture tool. We recently launched ViDA, an online virtual desktop that gives students 24/7 access to a growing list of software applications. Other key priorities focus on major infrastructure upgrades that foster collaboration and increase productivity and efficiency—significant upgrades to wired and wireless networks, enhanced mobile offerings, and initiatives to modernize aging administrative systems and deliver better information for decision making. We are working with the eScience Institute and strategic external partners to support researchers with advanced networking, computing, and data storage and analysis capabilities. To arrive at these priorities we listened to people across the UW community. We worked with the Graduate School, Undergraduate Academic Affairs, UW Libraries, academic computing directors, and undergraduate and graduate students to identify an information technology strategy for students. We conducted a Customer Satisfaction Survey to measure how we are doing and how we can better serve the UW community. With Classroom Support Services, we conducted a teaching and learning technology survey to gain insight into student and faculty needs, and we are launching initiatives that directly address the most pressing problems. We are lowering costs by negotiating better vendor contracts, using cloud computing and virtualization, and implementing internal business process improvements to make our organization more efficient. Transformational changes in information technology offer the University great opportunity— and challenge. UW-IT's role is to serve as a catalyst—to engage with partners across the UW and national peers to make the right technology choices at the right time, and to find solutions that further the ability of everyone across the University to achieve their goals and engage in work that matters. With your help, these transformational changes are already underway. Kelli Trosvig INTERIM VICE PRESIDENT AND VICE PROVOST UW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

• Cover