OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
“ I enjoy working in high-speed environments and , in my mind , higher ed did not meet this criteria ,” says Ballinger . “ I thought by working in higher ed I would get bored easily , but I realised that overseeing a university is more like overseeing a city , with different businesses inside it . When I knew that , I was in .”
Ballinger : The technology leader with a vast area of interest One could be forgiven for thinking Ballinger ’ s role extends only as far as IT in support of the administration and instruction of an educational institution , but this couldn ’ t be further from the truth . As she tells us , the internal businesses of a university extend much further .
“ At OSU , we provide the technology for our police department , a student health organisation , a veterinary medical hospital , our internal public works department that supports a community of more than 20,000 people , advanced research programmes – including research ships – and internal banking services – and we have to bring that all together across our IT services and infrastructure ,” she says .
“ Not only do we have internal technological responsibilities , but as a land-grant institution , we are charged by the state to promote the health of communities in all 36 counties in Oregon .
“ When you have a presence with that much reach , the problems you have to solve are not just localised to OSU , but issues the world is trying to solve .”
Of course , to meet the scale her role demands , Ballinger must oversee not just one , but multiple teams that work in conjunction with a full enterprise architecture in separate domains .
“ IT ’ S SO IMPORTANT TO FIRST HAVE A DELIBERATE , SHARED VISION AT THE CORE OF A DIGITAL ENABLEMENT PROCESS ”
ANDREA BALLINGER VICE PROVOST & CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER , OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
184 April 2024