How does your institution measure intention? In the September installment of Tambellini Group’s Top of Mind podcast series, Sharon Pitt, CIO and Vice President of Information Technology at the University of Delaware (UD), joins the conversation to offer listeners a glimpse into the intentions behind UD’s growing digital transformation strategy. Sharon highlights UD’s innovative shared services efforts and the importance of collaboration and communication with stakeholders to reach the epitome of effectiveness. 

How does your institution define digital trust? In the August installment of Tambellini Group’s Top of Mind podcast series, Dr. Donna Kidwell, CISO and Chief Digital Trust Officer at Arizona State University (ASU), joins the conversation to offer listeners a glimpse into what digital trust looks like on ASU’s campus. Outside of simply defining the concept, Dr. Kidwell explains the power behind having intentional conversations with stakeholders, faculty & staff, and most importantly, students.

For this month’s episode, Kathy Lueckeman joins the Top of Mind family. A tech leader within her own right, Kathy most recently served as chief strategy officer at Olivet Nazarene University (ONU). After completely transforming ONU into a modern campus, Kathy is here to give an inside scoop about the cultivation and success of that project, the relationship between digital transformation, enrollment, and retention, and how ONU’s tuition-free program is allowing its student to feel the utmost comfortability. 

What does a Chief Transformation Officer do? This leadership position can take on many forms depending on the institution, but one thing is for sure: it is never strictly about “technology.” In this Top of Mind episode, Kristophyre McCall, chief transformation officer for University of Maryland Global Campus, sits down with us to talk about his experience during his rookie year as UMGC’s first leader in this role. Tune in to hear all about what makes a chief transformation officer successful, and why more colleges and universities are creating this position to drive results aligned with their missions and goals. 

Blockchain technology (blockchain) has a growing influence on higher ed. An institution that is well on its way to becoming the first blockchain university and knows this better than any other is Maryville University. In part two of this Top of Mind episode, Dr. Feng Hou, chief digital evangelist for Maryville University and visionary leader and advocate for the adoption of blockchain, completely immerses listeners in its possibilities by giving them an inside scoop into his intuitions blockchain journey. 

Blockchain technology (blockchain) has a growing influence on higher education. An institution that is well on its way to becoming the first blockchain university and knows this better than any other is Maryville University. In this Top of Mind episode, Dr. Feng Hou, chief digital evangelist for Maryville University and visionary leader and advocate for the adoption of blockchain, completely immerses listeners in its possibilities by giving them an inside scoop into his intuitions blockchain journey. 

Is a transcript the best way to truly reflect a student's academic learning experience? Temple University’s registrar Bhavesh Bambhrolia believes that while the traditional transcript is safe and secure, it is limiting in communicating a student's growth and development from a cumulative experience. In this Top of Mind episode, Bambhrolia gives listeners a glimpse into an emerging generational tool for tracking the student experience—the Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR).  

Vicki Tambellini, President and CEO of Tambellini Group kicks off this year’s Top of Mind podcast series. The current state of higher education, although hard to generalize, is very much institution-dependent. However, one universal fact that rings true is that institutions are working on a smarter, not faster, approach. Listen in as Vicki shares what she expects in the coming year and evaluates which predictions came true and evolved last year.

Jazz musician and CIO for the Georgia Tech Foundation, Dwight Dozier, joins the Top of Mind podcast family this month to discuss creativity in leadership. Describing his role as more relational than transactional, Dwight, whose focus is on donor and alumni engagement, emphasizes relationships, staying connected with students beyond graduation, and recognizing that the philanthropic efforts of alumni are the preliminary steps to a particular recruitment cycle. Making relevant parallels to his career in music and hitting on topics such as mass personalization and trends emerging in AI and machine learning to data interconnectedness and a frictionless experience, listen in as Dwight shares gems to put CIOs and institutions on a path toward innovation. “Like music,” he shares, “technology is constantly changing and evolving.” 

"Whether it's at NASA or a university system level job, a CIO wants to be able to expand the scope of our technology and systems to impact the largest number of people." In this month's Top of Mind Podcast, host Elizabeth Farrell is joined by the Vice President of Information Technology Services and Chief Information Officer at Washington State University, Dr. Sasi Pillay, to discuss how he views the role of a CIO. Starting at NASA, Dr. Pillay moved to higher education because working with young students was exciting and it allowed him to continue to work in a learning environment. In regards to IT, there are more similarities than differences between higher education and science, according to Dr. Pillay. The most critical one is keeping the constituents' needs at the forefront. Listen in as Dr. Pillay explains his strategy of enhancing the student experience via administrative system deployments and degree planning programming that's accessible to both current students and alum.