Drexel University Information Technology provides university-wide instructional, administrative, and research services using its robust computing and communications infrastructure. It is comprised of three main departments, an Information Security team, and a Business Office managed by Stanley Chen, Executive Director of Business Operations.
Higher Education is more than just classrooms. Long before students arrive, they must be recruited, admitted, and registered for classes. Financial aid, annual bills, and payroll need to be processed, endowments need to be managed, and gifts need to be accepted to keep the university operating.
Core Enterprise Systems manages the systems that make Drexel work behind the scenes. Kathryn Matuch is the Associate Vice President for CES. This group is charged with the maintenance, enhancement, integrity, and security of all centralized, mission critical business applications required to manage the University's assets including finance, human resources, and students. The group must work closely with the owners of the various information systems to provide required support as well as extend and enhance functionality.
The role of the AVP is to provide supervision, management and technical expertise in order to create an environment where transactions can be easily and efficiently processed with resultant management and decision support information provided for departmental and senior University officers. The AVP is also responsible to ensure that cross system integration processes are in place and that technical problems associated with applications are quickly resolved.
Kenneth S. Blackney is the Associate Vice President for Core Technology Infrastructure (CTI).
This group maintains a stable level of service and also provides a consultative role to integrate the myriad technology components within the University. The result is greater economies of scale and steady, controlled progress in the areas of server support and networking.
The AVP's primary focus is on the planning and coordination of strategic projects involving network communications and server support. Duties include providing the leadership to integrate any technologies proposed by departmental and research groups into the overall campus computing and telecommunications architecture. Administrative duties include oversight of the daily operation of the group as well as pursuing externally funded projects.
ITS supports traditional classroom, distance education, and hybrid courses with a set of tools designed to exploit the power of the Internet and collaborative tools to engage learners and improve the quality of education. Its main offices are located in the Korman Center on the University City campus.
Tools add little value without training, so ITS also runs the Instructional Technology Center to make these new technologies more approachable to faculty and more appropriate for students. A help desk, located in the Creese Student Center, provides general assistance to students, faculty and professional staff. Web self-help rounds out the service offerings by giving answers 24/7.
The department's focus is primarily on the support of "Teaching" side (including faculty and student support services) of the "Teaching and Learning" paradigm. William T. Mooney, Associate Vice President (AVP) and Deputy CIO, leads the Instructional Technology Support group, which emphasizes Drexel's key mission of technology-focused education.
Responsibilities of the AVP / Deputy CIO focus on the maintenance of close contact with the academic community, serving as the "computing and technology" representative on various University and faculty committees, initiating and supporting collaborative teaching and learning initiatives among faculty, departments, and colleges as well as the library. Other duties include serving as Drexel's representative to external bodies especially in relation to academic computing (e.g., EDUCAUSE) and other external constituencies which the institution has (or should have) "instructional computing centered" relationships (e.g., the Philadelphia School District, international programs, satellite campuses, etc.).
The AVP / Deputy CIO's responsibilities also include initiating and sustaining programs with external agencies such as use of computing facilities by outside agencies, the provision of commercial training, technical support contracts as well as the aggressive pursuit of grants from foundations and government agencies.
The Clinical Applications Team is a division of the Information Technology Department under the direction of Tom DeChiaro, VP and CIO. The Team is led by Greg Johnson, Asst. VP of Clinical System Support. Primary responsibilities of the Team are to supply clinical IT expertise to Drexel Medicine Clinical practices, Drexel Medicine Lab and Clinical Research. Often projects for Drexel Medicine require input from other Departments within Information Technology. In these situations, the CAAD Team will coordinate efforts with departments such as Information Security, CES (Core Enterprise Systems), CTI (Core Technology Infrastructure) and ITS (Instructional Technology Support).
The CAAD Team is sub-divided to supply specialized services for our clients. These areas include:
- Clinical Applications:
- A Team of electronic medical record (EMR) analysts working with Physicians, Faculty and Staff to deploy and support clinical applications for use in patient care and clinical research. In addition to system analyst roles, the Team often acts in a project management capacity to deliver the solutions.
- Clinical Application Development:
- CAAD's application development group (ADG) develops bespoke applications and supports several systems including the Researchers Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) application, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server and Dynamics 365 (cloud). ADG also participates in server migrations from NCB to Korman or the Microsoft cloud (SharePoint Online & Dynamics 365). Bespoke development primarily services the needs of the college of medicine, including clinical practices. REDCap and SharePoint Online services are provided throughout the university. Dynamics focus is for the college of medicine and STEM degrees (e.g., CoE). The Drexel Application Development Group has managed project development from outside consulting firms as well as participated in special projects (e.g., COEUS implementation).
The Information Security team protects the people, the information, and the systems of Drexel University.
Pablo Molina serves as Drexel's Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), charged with planning and implementing cybersecurity policy across the university. In addition to his expertise in cybersecurity methodology, he has an extensive background in ethics of technology and information management. Molina is the founder and executive director of the International Applied Ethics and Technology Association and on the board of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. He regularly comments on stories about privacy, ethics of tech companies, and laws related to technology and information management — including net neutrality, websites and tech companies protecting user data during investigations, and the ethics of the president’s election commission requesting state voter data.