Campus, News

CSULB still searching for first-ever CIO

As of this semester, California State University, Long Beach officially made history by becoming the only campus of the 23 CSU colleges to remain without a chief information officer.

In its history, CSULB has never had a chief information officer. There have been numerous occasions on which CSULB has attempted to fill the executive position dating back as far as February 2013.

Some of the key responsibilities of a CIO typically include developing new strategies to further enhance services, security and management of technology and technological staff or resources, while also representing the university as a leader to faculty and the community to achieve necessary goals.

“Right now some of the responsibilities are not being filled, but many are filled by Information Technology Services,” Dowell said. “And I will say that they have done a good job of keeping the basic system running well without much down time.”

Issues brought on by lack of resources have delayed the hiring of the school’s first-ever potential CIO, according to David Dowell, interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at CSULB.

“There was debate about the cost in the university budget committee,” Dowell said. “Some thought it too expensive and were uncertain of the need. The search just started again this fall, but has been planned for over a year.”


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CSULB began its initial search for a CIO almost three years ago, when CSU San Bernardino and Fresno were also still looking for a suitable candidate.

But with both schools hiring their CIO’s last summer, CSULB, which was technologically behind the times three years ago, is even more so today. Despite being the largest in terms of overall size and student enrollment, Long Beach does not have a clear leader.

CSULB recently retained Witt/Kieffer, an executive search firm specializing in healthcare, education and nonprofit organizations, to assist with the hiring process.

The CIO would work closely with President Jane Close Conoley and provide critical leadership to the decentralized divisions of Information Technology Services and Academic Technology Services on campus.

CSU Fullerton has had its current CIO since 2008, while CSU Northridge has had one since 2006 and CSU Los Angeles since 2003, according to their respective school websites.

“I wasn’t aware that we didn’t have a CIO, but I definitely think that it’s important to have one especially in the times we live in now,” junior business major Joclyn Fiero said. “There’s a reason why all of the other campuses already have their positions filled. It’s an important job that needs attention.”

Dowell acknowledges that without a CIO, CSULB limits its ability to get funding and keep up with the constantly shifting technological landscape.

“The CIO will help us extract data from our big data systems to create what is known as a ‘business intelligence’ data warehouse that will help us to make better decisions,” Dowell said. “The CIO will also enhance support for mobile computing and that is what students are most likely to notice quickly.”

Steve La, director of network, telecom and security for information technology services, revealed that in 2005 the campus had approximately 300 Wireless Access Points that served up to 7,000 mobile devices per day.

“Today, we have approximately 1,800 Wireless Access Points on campus serving over 46,000 unique mobile devices in a day,” La said.

The number of mobile devices using the school network is more than five times what it was 10 years ago. Recent technologies, such as newly WiFi enabled smart watches, seem to only be adding to the potential for more connected devices, as reported by Business Insider.

Dowell said, “I think ITS has done a good job of keeping our basic infrastructure running, but we have not been able to move to more cutting edge technology with data warehouses and mobile computing.”

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