The Divisions of Academic Affairs and Instructional & Information Technology (I&IT) have jointly determined that offering a specific set of technical support functions centrally allows the university to provide consistent levels of service, to achieve economies of scale and to improve customer satisfaction. By placing similar work into a common management structure, Academic Affairs and I&IT both expect to achieve a more cost-effective position for the difficult budget years ahead, standardize and improve the information technology services provided, and allow each division to focus on core functions.

Based on a successful pilot conducted in 2009-10 with two colleges, the currently distributed work of server configuration and support, workstation (desktop and laptop) configuration and support, technology classroom support, and instructional and general computer laboratory configuration and support will be transitioned to I&IT during 2010-11.

Support will remain in Academic Affairs for local database programming, specialized web application development and daily web site support. Direct instructional and specialized application support, working with students in laboratories and classrooms, will remain the responsibility of Academic Affairs departments and colleges.

Reassignment of work will be conducted in stages and will be facilitated by the reassignment of personnel currently performing that work. The stage beginning now will be the transfer of support for the College of Environmental Design, the College of Science, the University Library and the various central offices of Academic Affairs. The final stage will be the transfer of support for the College of Agriculture, the College of Business Administration, the College of Engineering, and the College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences. Personnel to be transferred in the current stage will be notified in the near future. Personnel involved in the final stage will be notified as that transition time approaches.