Lawson participates in national panel on IT issues

John Lawson, Western Washington University's chief information officer and vice provost for information technology, was named to the 2012-13 Educause IT Issues Panel.

Educause is the professional society for higher education technology. The IT Issues Panel each year produces a "Top-Ten IT Issues" that is widely disseminated and discussed in the higher education community.

This year’s article in the Educause Review was published Monday, June 3, and is titled “Welcome to the Connected Age.” This year’s issues reflect the increasing interconnections among external forces, institutional strategic priorities and information technology in higher education.

Lawson was interviewed about the amount of change occurring in higher education technology and whether IT is having an identity crisis. Those results were published in Educause Review Online:

“Interviewed members of the IT Issues Panel believe that higher education IT organizations are going through a period of great change and may even be in the throes of an identity crisis. Are higher education IT departments utilities, or are they service organizations that provide leadership? Taking a proactive stance and remaining adaptable are two ways to deal with ongoing transformations.”