Information Technology: Strategic Plan

The Framework of the Committee Reports

Curriculum Review Committee Reports
[These reports are not yet available]

The Finance and Fund Raising Report

Although Notre Dame finds itself in many ways in an enviable financial position, during the decade covered by the strategic plan, the University will not be able to count on large new sources of funds. Tuition and fees will not be able to be increased quickly, and will continue to cover only a portion of the University's expenditures, an amount roughly equivalent to the budget for salaries and benefits. The rest of the University's budget will have to be made up from other sources. Two other important sources of income, the endowment and charitable giving, will likely be diminished compared to the unusually high rates of the last decade.

The Finance and Fund Raising Report points to technology as one of the areas that is likely to increase without much chance for the University to limit it in the initial years. The OIT plan addresses this reality by including plans to keep the infrastructure and University functions as cost-efficient as possible, and to work cooperatively with Colleges and other units to divide up centralized and distributed support services appropriately.

The budget projections in the Report lead to this conclusion: "Going forward, the University will have to enhance operating revenues with fund-raising efforts to achieve its aspirations. The Report suggests increasing the information technology that facilitates fundraising, and OIT will fully support efforts in that area.

The Future in Higher Education Report

This committee report, one of the authors of which is the University's Chief information Officer, identifies trends that have either already transformed society and the higher education environment or are likely to do so during the coming decade.

We need to collectively recognize that "Computers undertake a wide range of activities ranging from processing simple mathematical functions to positioning a hiker on a forest path. Computers have added processing and computational powers to the initial functions of storage, indexing and retrieval of information. Computers have replaced paper, pencils and calculators as the dominant technology, providing vastly improved tools for the pursuit of learning, teaching and research." As we do that, the key questions articulated in this report that the University must continue to ask itself as it moves forward are:

• In what ways can technology be most effective in supporting the aspirations of the university and that of its constituent programs?
• In what ways can technology be utilized to enhance the traditional residential experience for students?
• In what ways can technology be used to enhance traditional liberal arts programs?
• In what ways can technology enhance faculty effectiveness in all disciplines?
• How will the university react to the changing technological sophistication and increased expectations of its students?
• What technological capabilities are critical to achieving the university's goals?
• What level of investment is necessary to achieve those capabilities?
• What lies ahead for intellectual property law and how will this affect faculty, students and the University?

Research Issues Report

The Research Issues Report makes the case that excellence in research is the route to enhanced academic reputation, and that academic reputation in turn is the most influential factor affecting college choice. The OIT strategic plan is strongly committed to creating an information technology environment that will help attract strong researchers to the University and put no limits on the success of their research programs when they are here. The plan outlined in these pages envisions OIT cooperating closely with the academic departments and professional schools to identify the elements that are crucial to research universities of national reputation and to make them a reality at Notre Dame.

For example, it is clear that the policy of focusing on the "hiring of mid-career faculty with outstanding records of accomplishment ('Blue-Chip strategy'), and with necessary physical and staff support," implies the availability of rock-solid, powerful technology. Anything less will diminish the individual departments' ability to compete in hiring and retention of the best researchers.

The planning units are asked in the Research Issues Report to undertake these tasks, among their primary charges:

• Soliciting proposals to advance the University's research capabilities in important new areas of scholarship, especially in the life sciences and information technologies
• Identifying the physical, staff, and academic infrastructure necessary to support the research goals.

Methodology and Process for Developing The OIT Strategic Plan