Panel

CIO Panel

kaylal — Wed, 21 May 2025 01:28:28 +0000

CIO Panel kaylal Tue, 05/20/2025 - 18:28

Matthew Gunkel

Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer at UC Riverside

As Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer for UC Riverside, Matthew Gunkel is charged with enabling the support of strategic priorities and collaborative partnerships, as well as strengthening ITS through improvements to IT services that directly support teaching, learning, research, and working at the university. Before arriving to UCR, he was at the University of Missouri, where he served as Chief Online Learning and Technology Officer. There, he led the digital vision, educational technology, learning analytics, and online roadmap for the four campuses that comprise the public university system for the state of Missouri. Under his leadership, the university combined over 300 academic programs into a cohesive online presence, complete with an enhanced technology platform.

Josh Bright

Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer at UC Santa Barbara

Josh Bright is UC Santa Barbara’s third Associate Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Chief Information Oﬃcer (AVC/CIO). In this role, Josh provides oversight for all IT activities that contribute to planning, creating, and implementing UCSB's IT vision, and for the integration of those activities into the campus' strategic plan. Josh joined UCSB in August 2022 after almost 20 years at UC Riverside, where he served as the Interim Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Oﬃcer, responsible for the strategic leadership of UCR’s central campus Information Technology Solutions (ITS) organization.

Prior to this role, he served as Associate Director/Senior Program Manager of UCR ITS Demand & Premium Services, designing and implementing key IT services for the campus, and as UCPath Campus Program Manager, leading UC Riverside through its successful transformation and implementation of PeopleSoft Human Capital Management.

Josh received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from UC Riverside, an M.A. in Philosophy from Northern Illinois University, and a B.A. in Philosophy and Theological Studies from Wheaton College. He holds certificates in IT Service Management, Digital & IT Strategy, and Lean IT, and has completed the UC IT Leadership program at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Aisha Jackson

Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer at UC Santa Cruz

Dr. Aisha Jackson joined UC Santa Cruz in August 2022 as Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and CIO, bringing over 15 years of higher education technology leadership experience. She leads the Information Technology Services division with a focus on delivering exceptional, modern, accessible, and secure services. Dr. Jackson is recognized for her exceptional ability to stabilize organizations during periods of transition, providing steady leadership and clear direction amid a rapidly changing technology landscape, challenging financial environments, and shifting federal and state government priorities. She previously served as Assistant Vice Provost at the University of Colorado Boulder for 12 years, where she oversaw academic technology, student success, and web initiatives. Dr. Jackson holds a doctorate from the University of Colorado Denver and began her career at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago.

Session Format

Panel

Session Status

Accepted

June 26, 2025 @ 10:45 am - June 26, 2025 @ 11:30 am

RC A

Our Hybrid Cloud Migration and Modernization Journey

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 21:14:20 +0000

Our Hybrid Cloud Migration and Modernization Journey Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/27/2025 - 14:14 In this session, we will discuss (1) Workload Selection: how do we identify the workloads to migrate to the cloud; (2) Workload Migration: how do we acquire specialized tools and develop the skills to migrate and manage workloads across multiple environments; (3) Cloud-native Technology: how to utilize GKE for cloud-native apps including APIs, containers, and microservices to enhance agility and scalability. (4) Network Connectivity & Security: Secure, Reliable and high-speed network connectivity is crucial for seamless integration of on-premises infrastructure and public cloud environments, and our approach to secure the data and applications in this hybrid cloud environment; (5) Disaster Recovery: Leverage cloud resources to backup on-premises data and applications, to ensure business continuity in case of outages or disasters. (6) Cost Optimization: Continuously monitor and optimize resource allocation to ensure efficient use of cloud resources and minimize costs.

Steven Cheng

Cloud Architect at UC Riverside

Steven Cheng is a solution engineer and architect with over 20 years industry experiences in information system design, implementation and management. Steven joined UCR in 2024 as a Cloud Architect, prior to UCR he held various system engineering and architect positions in Sun Microsystems, Oracle, VMware and F5. Steven earned a MS in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University, he lives in Southern California with his family, enjoys hiking and traveling during his leisure time.

Session Files

uc-tech-2025-chengs-proposal.docx (99.97 KB)

Session Format

Panel

Session Skill Level

Intermediate

Session Status

Accepted

Session Track

Systems and Solutions: Enterprise Infrastructure, Data, Research Computing and Support

Session Track Reasoning

A hybrid cloud approach combines on-premises infrastructure with public cloud resources, offering flexibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness for enterprise computing and academic research. Our hybrid cloud journey has successfully started with systems migration and solutions modernization by moving applications and data to a hybrid cloud environment, and then modernizing those applications to leverage cloud services and cloud-native capabilities, it greatly enhances our ability to provide systems and solutions services at UCR.

June 26, 2025 @ 1:00 pm - June 26, 2025 @ 1:45 pm

RC E

Advancing Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging for Women in Tech in the Digital Age

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 20:52:07 +0000

Advancing Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging for Women in Tech in the Digital Age Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/27/2025 - 13:52 As technology evolves at an exponential rate, so too must our approach to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) within the digital landscape. Women, particularly women of color, remain significantly underrepresented in tech and face unique challenges in accessing opportunities for advancement, leadership, and meaningful contribution. This presentation will address key DEIB issues within the tech industry, focusing on how inequities persist and how the digital age offers both challenges and opportunities to combat them. Attendees will hear about real-world case studies, and best practices to foster a truly inclusive environment for women in tech—one that values equity, promotes inclusion, and ensures belonging for all. The session will provide actionable strategies to help organizations and individuals create a digital ecosystem that is not only representative but also empowers women in their full professional potential.

Mai Vang

Director of Constituent Management & Technologies at UC Riverside

Dr. Mai Vang is a higher education leader with over a decade of experience in enrollment systems, technology strategy, and student success. She currently serves as Director of Constituent Management & Technologies at UC Riverside, leading digital transformation initiatives across advancement systems, including Salesforce/ascend CRM and data analytics. Dr. Mai Vang holds a Doctorate in Educational Justice and Leadership from the University of Redlands, where her research focused on the experiences of m/others of color in graduate education. She is also an adjunct professor, teaching marketing, excel, and analytics to diverse undergraduate and graduate learners. As a committed advocate for equity, she serves as a DEIB Committee member within University Advancement, as well as served as a First-Generation Mentor at UCR, and currently one of three UC Riverside representatives for UC Womxn in Tech (WIT). With expertise in CRM technology, stakeholder engagement, and metric-driven leadership, she is passionate about building inclusive systems that uplift historically marginalized communities.

Teri Eckman

Executive Director for Student Information Systems at UC Riverside

Teri Eckman, Executive Director of Student Information Systems at UC Riverside, is a leader in higher education technology with a strong focus on building collaborative teams and leveraging technology to enhance student experiences. She leads a team of 30, overseeing student information systems, educational technology, and enterprise applications. A passionate advocate for diversity, Teri co-founded and chairs the UCR ITS Women in Technology (WIT) group and serves on the UCOP Womxn in Technology Committee. She is dedicated to creating an inclusive environment and championing opportunities for women in the tech field. Teri holds a Master's in Organizational Leadership and a Bachelor's in Sociology.

Sureyya Tuncel

Manager for Identity and Access Management at UC Riverside

Süreyya Tuncel is the Manager of Identity and Access Management (IAM) at UCR, responsible for safeguarding critical data and IT resources for faculty, staff, and students. With over 20 years of IT experience in areas such as systems and network administration, security, and risk management, she joined UCR's Information Security Office in 2018 and moved to her current role in 2020. Süreyya is a seasoned leader focused on enhancing security, streamlining user access, and fostering collaboration. She holds a BSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and is dedicated to professional development and team empowerment. Passionate about supporting women and minorities in IT and cybersecurity, Süreyya is a UC Women in Technology (UC Wit) Committee member, co-representing UCR. She is looking forward to sharing her insights on the "Advancing Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging for Women in Tech in the Digital Age" panel at this year's UC Tech Conference.

Deidra May

Lead Banner Infrastructure Architect at UC Riverside

Deidra May serves as the Banner Architect in the Student Information Systems Department at the University of California, Riverside. A member of UC Women in Technology (UC WIT), she has been with UC Riverside for seven years.

Session Format

Panel

Session Skill Level

Intermediate

Session Status

Accepted

Session Track

Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in the Digital Age

Session Track Reasoning

The Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in the Digital Age track is the best choice for this session because the topic at hand addresses the the equity gap in information technology fields for women in technology. Recommendations will be shared to combat equity, inclusion, and belonging issues in the digital age for this population.

June 27, 2025 @ 10:45 am - June 27, 2025 @ 11:30 am

RC A

Using Generative AI to Reduce Manual Burden in Research Data Management

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 23:27:15 +0000

Using Generative AI to Reduce Manual Burden in Research Data Management Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/26/2025 - 16:27 Scientists want to do science. Some things they don’t want to spend time doing include: - Making a plan for managing their data - Creating README files for their materials - Filling out and updating metadata for research outputs Our team provides tools and services to help make research data FAIR - Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. In this panel, we’ll discuss recent efforts to use Generative AI to help in data curation tasks, and the challenges and opportunities we’ve discovered. Projects include using AI for: - Drafting and giving feedback on data management plans - Reviewing datasets prior to repository submission to suggest improvements that help others re-use them - Streamlining metadata curation by automating validation and enrichment workflows By reducing burden on the researcher, while still keeping them as the final authority, we can continue to support making data FAIR and let scientists spend more time on the science itself.

Becky Hofstein Grady

Senior Product Manager at UC Office of the President

Becky Hofstein Grady joined UC O6ice of the President in 2024 to be the Senior Product Manager for Data Management Planning at the California Digital Library. She works as the service manager for the DMP Tool, a free, open-source online tool that helps researchers write data management plans (DMPs) for grant applications. Currently, her team is working on rebuilding the tool to o6er more machine-actionable functionality and new features. Together with other institutions and partners, they are exploring innovative functions like using generative AI to help review and draft DMPs, interfacing with local research systems to re-use information, and promoting connections of DMPs to the broader scholarly ecosystem. Before joining UCOP, she received her PhD in social psychology from UC Irvine (Zot!) and then worked as both a user experience researcher and a product manager in the video game industry.

Adam Buttrick

Senior Product Manager at UC Office of the President

Adam Buttrick is the Senior Product Manager for Persistent Identifiers at the California Digital Library (CDL). A librarian and developer based in Los Angeles, USA, Adam previously worked on the research team at Crossref, as a developer for the Getty Conservation Institute, an implementation manager for OCLC’s Metadata Services, and for the University of Michigan Library.

Scott Fisher

Lead Programmer at UC Office of the President

Scott Fisher is Technical Lead at the UC Curation Center, California Digital Library, where he builds data-publication tools that help researchers make their work findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. He co-developed the Dryad repository and the CDL Web Archiving Service and has presented at Open Repositories and Code4lib. Scott is passionate about using AI to streamline data-sharing workflows and reducing friction so researchers can more easily preserve and publish their results.

Steve Diggs

Research Data Specialist at UC Office of the President

Steve Diggs is a Research Data Specialist with the University of California Office of the President (UCOP), serving as the Senior Product Manager for the data publishing portfolio at the University of California Curation Center (UC3). He previously was the Technical Director for the Hydrographic Data Office at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. With decades of experience in designing and operating full-stack information systems, Steve focuses on making data more valuable, discoverable, and accessible to the research community. He is also active in international data and science teams, serving on the Board on Research Data and Information (BRDI) under the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) and the UN Ocean Decade Data Coordination Committee. Steve’s extensive work with researchers in the field and lab gives him a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities in managing scholarly data.

Session Format

Panel

Session Skill Level

Beginner

Session Status

Accepted

Session Track

Innovation and Emerging Technologies

Session Track Reasoning

Generative AI is an emerging technology we know many are interested in and experimenting with. In the library and data management community, there is both excitement and concern about the rise of AI and how it will impact how scientific data is managed. We think these examples will help inform others exploring this technology, as our learnings and experiences are likely shared among other initiatives:
- How we’ve balanced getting the most out of AI with retaining the human as the authority
- How we’re selecting AI models and tools that fit with our open-source model
- When we collaborate with others and when we do things in-house
- Why we selected these specific areas for generative AI, focusing on specific user needs that we think AI could help address rather than starting with AI and finding an area that fits

We believe this session will be interesting and information to anyone working with generative AI and other innovative technologies, not just those in data curation.

June 26, 2025 @ 2:00 pm - June 26, 2025 @ 2:45 pm

RC A

CISO Panel

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 16:19:59 +0000

CISO Panel Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/26/2025 - 09:19 The cybersecurity landscape is rapidly evolving, with new threats emerging at an alarming pace. This panel of UC CISOs will explore the most pressing cybersecurity challenges facing higher education, including AI-powered attacks, supply chain vulnerabilities, and the increasing sophistication of ransomware. The session will delve into strategic defense mechanisms, proactive threat mitigation, and the importance of collaboration across the UC system. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with the panelists during an extended Q&A session.

Dewight F. Kramer

Chief Information Security Officer at UC Riverside

It is my mission to serve the UC Riverside campus through improving the University's information security posture and thus helping UC Riverside better generate, advance, disseminate, and apply data and knowledge. This effort will enhance the ability of the UC Riverside community to teach, do research, and provide public service. I have a Masters of Science in Information Security and Assurance, and a Masters of Law. My area of interest is where law, Policy, privacy, and information security overlap.

Jaki Hsieh Wojan

Interim CIO and CISO at Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Jaki Hsieh Wojan is the Deputy Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. With extensive experience in information security and IT leadership, Jaki Hsieh Wojan oversees cybersecurity strategy and risk management at UC ANR. In her dual role, she drives initiatives that ANR's digital landscape while aligning security priorities with broader technology goals. Jaki Hsieh Wojan is passionate about her role and finds purpose in the dynamic challenges and opportunities that come with leading information security and IT strategy.

Session Format

Panel

Session Skill Level

Beginner

Session Status

Accepted

Session Track

Security, Compliance, & Privacy

Session Track Reasoning

There are two tracks that this could be tagged as. Security track or the Leadership track. As this is a panel of CISOs I chose the security track.

June 26, 2025 @ 1:00 pm - June 26, 2025 @ 1:45 pm

RC A

From PeopleSoft to Oracle Cloud - A Panel on Lessons Learned

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 18:42:42 +0000

From PeopleSoft to Oracle Cloud - A Panel on Lessons Learned Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/25/2025 - 11:42 The project represents a significant achievement in modernizing the university's financial infrastructure. This panel discussion will delve into the critical lessons learned from this complex, multi-year initiative, focusing on both the technical and functional aspects of the project. Featuring representatives from both the technical and functional teams, the panel will explore the challenges faced, the innovative solutions implemented, and the long-term impact of this transformation. Participants will gain valuable insights into managing large-scale system replacements, navigating stakeholder complexities, and ensuring successful project delivery within an academic environment. This panel discussion will provide valuable insights for institutions undertaking or considering large-scale system replacements. The lessons learned from the Impact23 project are applicable to a wide range of organizations, particularly those in the higher education sector.

Patrick Wagman

Associate Director, Portfolio Management Office at UC Riverside

Patrick Wagman, PMP, A-CSM, is an Associate Director in the Portfolio Management Office for Information Technology Solutions at the University of California, Riverside. He is responsible for managing and mentoring a team of IT project managers and a business analyst supporting a variety of IT projects and programs across the ITS Portfolio. He helps develop business analysis, project, program, and portfolio processes. He has over twenty years of experience in management and leadership, quality assurance of personnel and programs, information systems, project management, business process analysis and adult education. He has presented at past UCTECH, EDUCAUSE, and EDUCAUSE Connect events. He has 15+ years instructor and meeting facilitation experience, including certification as a "People Skills" facilitator.

Josh Hoerger

Financial Systems Project Manager at UC Riverside

Josh Hoerger, MBA IT Management, is a Financial Systems Project Manager in Business and Financial Services at the University of California, Riverside. He is responsible for managing a team of business systems analysts that support the accounting office and their various connected systems, especially Oracle Cloud Financials and Concur Travel & Expense. He was the lead functional program manager for Impact23, UCR’s financial system replacement project, Student Systems functional lead in ITS, as well as the Banner Accounts Receivable implementation project manager. Josh has been at UCR for 12 years and has over 20 years of IT and management experience, and has presented several times at Ellucian Live.

Brian E Griffin

Associate Director for Financial Systems at UC Riverside

Josh Kraft

Manager of Integrations and Financial Applications at UC Riverside

I manage a small team of software engineers working on integrations and full stack financial web applications. I have over 20 years of web development experience working at several private companies and 5 years at UCR.

Session Format

Panel

Session Skill Level

Intermediate

Session Status

Accepted

Session Track

Systems and Solutions: Enterprise Infrastructure, Data, Research Computing and Support

Session Track Reasoning

Core Focus: The project fundamentally involved the replacement and modernization of a critical enterprise system (the financial system).
Technical Depth: The proposal highlights significant technical challenges, including data migration, system integration, and cloud infrastructure implementation.
Operational Impact: The project's impact on the campus’ financial stability, data accessibility, and reporting capabilities underscores its relevance to enterprise-level solutions.
Data Centric: A large portion of the project was based on data migration, and the improvement of data accessibility.
Comprehensive Scope: While the project involved change management and stakeholder engagement, these aspects were primarily in service of the successful implementation and adoption of the new system. The "Systems and Solutions" track provides the most comprehensive framework for addressing the project's multifaceted nature.

June 27, 2025 @ 1:00 pm - June 27, 2025 @ 1:45 pm

RC A