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CISOA 2010 Conference Spotlights Top IT Issues

Last Updated on Thursday, 12 August 2010 Written by Jen Gednalske Monday, 22 February 2010

The California Community Colleges (CCC) statewide Chief Information Systems Officers Association (CISOA) has responded to the current fiscal climate by adding value to its annual conference.

The CISOA 2010 Annual Conference: Collaboration Today for Solutions Tomorrow will feature key changes intended to make the event an irresistible value. The board of the CCC Chief Information Systems Officers Association recognized that in times of budget crises any conference must offer rich content in its presentations and feature recognized leaders to justify attendance.

Accordingly, CISOA focused on providing attractive and meaningful content for its 2010 conference. Highlights include spotlight sessions focused on issues determined to be of high importance to the state’s community college information technology leadership. The spotlight sessions include a free pre-conference workshop on Sunday.

“This year’s conference is a terrific value,” said Susan Guarino, Dean of Information Technology at Mt. San Jacinto College and CISOA Conference Chair. “Even though we are in the middle of a budget crisis, our institutions are open for business and must continue to comply with security and technology mandates. The CISOA approach, then, was to spotlight the high priority issues that impact the person in the role of Information Technology (IT) Administrator at our colleges. ”

The CISOA conference committee conducted a survey of its membership to determine the top technology concerns and focus areas for CISOA members and the California Community Colleges as a whole. The committee tallied the top three responses and the 2010 conference will include three spotlight sessions dealing with these topics: security, e-discovery and accreditation.

Security was identified as the number one issue facing the CCC technology community, so this area will be covered in the free pre-conference workshop on Sunday, March 21. The pre-conference spotlight session will be hosted by @ONE. Micah Orloff and Jeff Williams will present a session on IT Security and Risk Management from two to four-thirty in the afternoon, prior to the evening’s opening reception. The @ONE project provides training, online resources and research for CCC faculty and staff. The @ONE project is made possible through funds provided by the CCC Chancellor's Office Telecommunication and Technology Infrastructure Program, also known as TTIP.

Monday morning’s spotlight session will focus on e-discovery. The session will be delivered by Connie Almond from Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, a public-sector law firm. Almond will focus on the legal aspects and challenges of e-discovery, such as what expectations are placed on a public institution to comply with a request for public information including email: how far back, deleted email, protection by email policy and procedure, timeliness to provide and cost recovery. Without proper planning, the execution of a subpoena or request for public information can become an institutional dilemma.

In the afternoon, Dr. Steve Maradian from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) will present a spotlight session on accreditation self-study. The session will focus on the expectations the accrediting agency places on the institution, the IT perspective, emphasizing the components of the cyclical evaluation, planning and improvement model.

The CISOA 2010 annual conference will also feature a powerhouse lineup of speakers, including:

• Jack Scott, Chancellor of the California Community Colleges
• Joanne McNabb, Chief of the Office of Privacy Protection, State of California
• Dr. Robert Bramucci, Dr. Robert Bramucci, Vice Chancellor of Technology and Learning Services, South Orange County Community College District

An upcoming story in TechEDge will focus on these speakers and their messages for CISOA.

In order to adjust to the difficulties of the budget this year, conference planners carefully weighed their options. While videoconferencing of future sessions is being considered, the planners believe that part of the success of CISOA is the collaboration that comes with face-to-face contact between both colleagues and vendors.

Vendors will be plentiful at this year’s conference are a main reason to attend, as attendees can learn about new, cutting-edge products and trends. Vendors are also a good source of conference revenue as their payment for attendance helps keep the prices low for individual attendees. Due to vendor participation this year, the CISOA committee was able to maintain the same conference price as last year.

After a Fun Run on Tuesday morning, the conference will offer six more sessions, including an @one session on managing Windows 7, a session on eForms and a session on new technology tools. There will be a CCC Chancellor’s Office and the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) report to end the conference that afternoon.

“We really do have a lot to offer this year,” Guarino said. “Our whole intent was to make the conference so valuable that our membership could not afford NOT to attend.

In consideration of the high cost of travel, this year the conference will also end one day earlier to allow attendees to save travel costs. The conference runs March 21-23 in Ontario, California. There is no deadline for conference registration. Attendees are welcome to register upon arrival at the conference.

For more information about or to register for the CISOA 2010 Annual Conference, please visit http://www.cisoa.net.<>

Jen Gednalske is a CCC Technology Center and California Virtual Campus Project Manager
and a TechEDge Editor.