Western’s CIO John Lawson to retire at the end of the school year; search to begin immediately

After almost 10 years at Western, Vice Provost for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer John Lawson will retire at the end of the 2015-16 school year; his last day in the office will be June 30 and a search for his replacement will begin this fall.

“John Lawson has served Western extremely well as Vice Provost for Information Technology and CIO.  His thorough and careful engagement with issues related to security and his operational expertise have helped protect our systems and to provide reliable technology services across campus,” said Brent Carbajal, Western’s provost. “I am very appreciative of John’s leadership and the technology support that he has fostered for faculty, staff, and students.  I look forward to working with him during the upcoming academic year and wish him nothing but the best in his retirement.”

Lawson came to Western from Tulane University immediately in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“Katrina was bad. People forget that most of the folks who evacuated went west to Houston and were hit right afterward by Hurricane Rita, too. My wife Sue Ann told me, ‘We’ve had to evacuate five times in the last four years, and I don’t want to do it again.’ I couldn’t really blame her,” Lawson said, laughing. “So I started to look for jobs.”

Lawson said he narrowed down his opportunities to two finalists: Western and the University of Missouri system.

“I’m positive that I made the right choice,” he said. “When I came here to interview, I just really got the sense that the people who I talked to were all invested in this place, and were proud to work here. That was very attractive to me. Plus, I was born and raised in Oregon, so it felt like coming home.”

Upon his arrival in Bellingham, Lawson said that he set out to change the culture within the various IT areas he supervised to improve communication between these areas and the campus partners they served.

“There was some polarization, and we knew that working together needed to be a priority,” he said.

Lawson also said that in looking back at his tenure, he is most proud of his staff and their willingness to serve.  During the economic downturn and budget cuts that followed it they consistently maintained levels of service. Those were very tough years but he said they responded with dedication.

He also said he particularly enjoyed collaborating with students on the Student Tech Fee projects.

“Getting to where we have a regular replacement schedule of the lab computers through the use of that fee was huge,” he said.

The CIO oversees many technology areas and three main technology groups, and he highlighted the following success in those areas:

• “The establishment of an office for Information Security and the implementation of the Banner Data Defense product has increased our security posture and while much more needs to be done, these were important steps supported by the President," he said.
• For the Enterprise Infrastructure group, he said he was proud of the many seamless network upgrades, the support in the Office 365 conversion, the recent improvements to our storage and compute infrastructure, and our work on converting to a new phone system (Skype for Business).
• In ATUS, the significant web redesign and upgrade was a highlight along with the conversions to the Canvas learning management system and Office 365 for campus collaboration. Another highlight was the formation of the Teaching, Learning, and Technology group and the synergy that has occurred for faculty support. ATUS also made significant improvement in the help desk, desktop support, and classroom support areas.
• "In ADMCS one of the best things has simply been the stability of our core administrative systems. Many significant upgrades to Banner have occurred and all without a major hitch. They have also supported the many implementations by the BFA Banner Initiatives without any increase in resources. Their dedication is top notch,” he said.

Lawson said he will miss the relationships he has with his co-workers, and the ability to use technology to shape and enact positive change on campus – but he is looking forward to retirement.

Lawson said he and his wife will remain in the area, working on the property at their Ferndale house and traveling. He said they have a route planned to take their trailer to all the national parks west of the Rockies, and they will spend time fishing and relaxing on their family property on the Moyie River in Idaho.

He said he sees the CIO job at Western as an attractive one that will continue to evolve in interesting ways.

“As more of us Baby Boomers retire and ‘Millennials’ become a larger part of our faculty and staff, Western is going to be an even more exciting place to be, because with these folks and more ‘iGeneration’ (or ‘Digitarians’) students attending Western, it will bring in creative ideas and new ways of thinking and using technology,” he said. “It will be interesting to watch it all unfold and I will miss being a part of it.”