I want to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Cole Camplese, and I am the new Vice President for Technology and CIO at The University of Texas at Austin. I am tremendously excited to be here. I have spent most of my career dedicated to higher education and in the last 10 years, I have been the CIO at Stony Brook University, the University of Chicago, and Northeastern University. Before that, I spent 16 years at The Pennsylvania State University where I served in multiple roles from instructional designer to institute director, co-lead for the Center for Online Innovations in Learning, and Senior Director of Teaching and Learning with Technology. I have taught courses in disruptive innovations and the information sciences. I have done quite a bit of work with many of the companies we are all familiar with, such as Dell, Microsoft, and Apple, among others.

Even though I have yet to meet you all, I am overwhelmed by the welcome I have received from so many of you. Each one brings a smile to my face. I have also been thrilled to hear many of my new colleagues outside of IT, particularly in the administrative ranks, praise the efforts of this team. Many of them have singled out individuals who make their lives easier and their offices run smoothly. A theme that has emerged is that our leadership is beyond appreciative of the work this team does and fully understands the challenges and opportunities laid before us. They see that technology is a driver of our strategic direction as an institution.

“What Starts Here Changes the World” isn’t just a slogan to me at this point. Before I landed in Austin, I thought it might just be another catchy phrase to attach to a campaign. But what I have learned in my first week is that it is much deeper than that; it is a rallying call for us all. I am struck by the enormous opportunity we have to help invent the future for this incredible University, the State of Texas, the nation, and the world. The work we do is often the underpinning of the great discoveries that advance society; it challenges the status quo and opens doors to new questions that we never thought to ask. I like to think of this team as the thread that weaves together the fabric of progress President Hartzell is asking us to create.

Through all the hype, emergent technologies are moving our existence into some very unfamiliar territory. But with that said, we have seen moments like this before in our own lifetime–the dawn of the personal computer, the emergence of the internet, the radical cultural shifts powered by web 2.0 and social media, and today, the rise of contextual artificial intelligence. We have lived through these digital revolutions and have always stepped up to the challenges of preparing our faculty to use new tools in their classrooms, to transform the way they conduct research, to help students build digital literacy skills, to shape the efficiencies of our operations, and most recently, power us all through a global pandemic. We are the stewards of the future of our institution, and I am both humbled and thrilled to be a part of it. What is most exciting to me, however, is that we get to tackle these enormous changes together.

In the coming days, weeks, and months, we will work as a team to embark on another journey: to put a new organization to work in ways that will rise to not only meet these challenges, but to prepare for what lies around the corner. I have heard many of the reasons why we may not be able to do it: technical debt, funding challenges, redundancy, staffing levels, etc. What I have not heard anyone mention is a lack of talent and expertise in our organization. That tells me something very important: we have the power to take control and convert it into action. And that is what we are going to do, together.

All of this will not be easy, but I am convinced with your help, insights, and passion we can be the national standard for higher education technology leadership. Our university aspires to be the best in the world, and we have the opportunity to power that climb. Our work will power researchers in their quest for the next Nobel Prize, will help prepare our students for whatever world awaits them, and will empower our faculty and staff to smoothly do their jobs every day supporting this great institution. There is a lot of work to be done, both in running the trains on time right now and building many new tracks for the future. We are empowered right now to organize and take chances to reinvent the things we think about, the way we support our customers, what services we offer, and most importantly, how we rise to meet the incredible challenges we collectively face. I am bullish on our future, and I believe we can make a dent in the universe, together.