John Lawson, vice provost for information technology, presents at technology summit

John Lawson, Western Washington University's vice provost for information technology and Western's chief information officer, gave an invited talk at the 2011 Campus Technology Summit in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on April 5.

The Campus Technology Summit is a private, invitation-only event developed specifically for senior administrators who are responsible for overseeing the information technology strategy at the nation’s leading colleges and universities. The summit was developed with the goal of enabling higher education CIOs to share best practices for supporting the academic mission and meeting the demands of their IT organizations.

Lawson presented on "Disaster Preparedness and Response: Have We Lost the Initiative?" In 2005 the higher education community took notice of the responses to Hurricane Katrina. The lessons learned were widely circulated and discussed. In 2007, the higher education community watched in horror at the tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech. Again, the lessons learned were circulated and discussed. In 2008, we watched as the University of Iowa dealt with major flooding that challenged their ability to function. Again, we learned.

Lawson’s session asked the question, "Have we lost the initiative for preparation and collaborative responses to disasters?" He reviewed some of the lessons learned, looked at what our K-12 colleagues are doing then ended by discussing higher education collaborative initiatives and presenting ideas for further work together.