University looks for computer executive

Web posted September 11, 1999

By Joan Stroer
Morris News Service

ATHENS, Ga. -- The University of Georgia is looking for one good geek.

Like many schools across the country, the flagship university wants a top computer executive to manage its mushrooming information resources.

The University of Georgia now spends an estimated $55 million a year on computer equipment, operating expenses and related personnel, said Virginia Sorrow of the university's Budget Office.

The new position has not been announced yet, but campus technology experts say university Provost Karen Holbrook is set to charge a committee with finding a corporate-style technology officer to ensure the efficiency of computer upgrades and expenditures on the flagship campus.

The new leader, officials say, must be someone who can move from the computer lab to the president's Cabinet with ease, showing enough administrative savvy to work with deans in developing on-line eduction, yet bringing enough knowledge of information technology to oversee resources across 43,000 acres and about 100 units.

``We have to put in place an organizational environment that allows the most effective utilization of resources,'' said Walter McRae, head of University Computer and Networking Services on the university's main campus.

Judging from the flood of trade-journal want ads for information technology experts, it might not be easy to recruit the new official.

But at least one academic said the university is ready for the upgrade in its hierarchy.

``The whole idea is to bring coherence to information technology,'' said Patrick McKeown, head of the new department of Management Information Systems at the school's Terry College of Business. ``Any time you have only one place to go with a question, it can only help.''