University Times

Restructuring of CIS completed

The year-long restructuring of Pitt's Computing and Information Services office is complete.

In an April 9 letter to deans, senior staff and others, Provost James Maher announced that CIS will be realigned into two divisions: Computing Services and Systems Development, with Jinx Walton as director, and Network Services, directed by Maurice Gordon.

"Both directors will report to the provost, and we are eliminating the former central administration, which was expensive and is now unnecessary," Maher wrote.

CIS central administration included 14.5 full-time-equivalent job positions in January 1998, when Maher appointed Robert F. Pack, vice provost for Academic Planning and Resources Management, as interim head of CIS. By last July, all but three of the positions had been reassigned or eliminated.

Maher described the new Computing Services and Systems Development division as "a comprehensive service center, responsive to the needs of faculty, students and administrators and to the enterprise itself through its developmental and support activities and database management role." Network Services will be a "strategic umbrella" bringing together Pitt data, video and voice networks and related infrastructure, the provost wrote.

According to the provost, the restructuring will improve delivery of CIS services, while nurturing teamwork among the two CIS divisions and what the provost called the two other "crucial units" that deliver information services at Pitt: the Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education, and the University Library System.

Maher credited Vice Provost Pack with restructuring CIS "on sound fiscal and operational bases." Last year, Pack cut the CIS staff from 272 positions (some unfilled at the time) to 216, then re-hired workers with needed skills and recruited new ones to reach a strength of 245. He also reorganized CIS business offices and replaced the PC Center in Bellefield Hall with an Internet-based "e-Store."

— Bruce Steele