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New VP for the face of MU IT

By Erica Stonehill For The Miami Student

Those who have received assistance from Miami University's IT Department know how instrumental it is. What they might not know is that Miami is currently searching for a new Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer to oversee all technology provided to Miami's 26,000 students, staff and faculty.

Heading this pursuit is the VP Search for IT Committee, consisting of 12 members and chaired by James Lentini, dean for the School of Creative Arts. According to Lentini, this will be an important search, as the new VP for IT will have a lot of power within the university. The committee is working with Hudepohl & Associates, an executive search services firm that has worked with Miami before in hiring high-level positions, to find and narrow down the list of candidates.

According to the posted vice president position specifications on Miami's jobs website, the new vice president will be responsible for managing the $23 million budget, IT funding, governance, development and university technology infrastructure and will report to President David Hodge. According to Senior Director for IT Communications Cathy McVey, the position will be opening up at the end of this semester because the current Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer Debra Allison will be retiring after more than 30 years at Miami.

This will not be Lentini's first search for a vice president for IT, as he was also chair of the 2008 committee when Hodge originally asked him to take the position. From his previous experience, Lentini said he knows what to look for in a candidate.

"They will need to have the ability to create the right path for how IT should function on a campus like ours and build consensus to move in that direction," Lentini said.

Senior and computer science major Andrew Bair is the only student on the VP Search for IT Committee. As the Associated Student Government (ASG) tech director, he has experience working in IT. Bair said because of his experience as a tech liaison, serving on the committee is a natural fit.

"The committee is primarily looking for someone with years of prior IT experience and leadership," Bair said.

According to McVey, the search committee, along with Hudepohl & Associates, is reducing the list of candidates from the almost 175 applications they have received since December 2012 for this prestigious Miami IT leadership position. McVey said the next step will include about 20 on-campus interviews at the end of April with Hodge and his cabinet participating in the interview process. In later rounds, there are likely to be open sessions for IT staff members to hear from the final candidates.

"The hope is that we will have someone starting July 1," vMcVey said.

According to McVey and Lentini, Debra Allison will stay in the position until then.

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"I've been very impressed with how he has begun."

Mandrell said he believes the teams competing in Oxford this weekend will be a good competition for the 'Hawks.

"Cincinnati will be right there with us and Eastern Illinois is a very good team," Mandrell said. "They are a well-rounded team that typically wins their conference by a landslide. Hopefully we will have an opportunity to win."

The women's team originally planned to send some athletes to compete in Florida this weekend, but Head Coach Kelly Phillips decided to keep them in Oxford and give them the opportunity to race at home.

"I think racing at home is an advantage," Phillips said. "The athletes like being at home and they tend to race better on their home track."

As for top performers, Phillips said she believes senior sprinter Layne Baggett will compete well this weekend.

"Our usual suspects will likely perform well," Phillips said. "Baggett will have an opportunity to win her events. All of the races are loaded with talent, which is good."

The women's team also finished second in the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational in Cincinnati, falling only to host Cincinnati. Phillips said the 'Hawks are not necessarily focused on winning, but increasing confidence. However, winning is a big part of confidence.

"Individually, who doesn't love to win?" Phillips said. "If you win every race, you're going to be pretty darn confident."

Though the 'Hawks do not worry about meet scoring, they recognize the opportunity in front of them.

"When you're on your home track, it's always nice to win; and we're in a position to win," Phillips said.

Phillips said she believes Friday and Saturday will be opportunistic days for the Red and White.

"There will be lots of opportunities for success, we just need to take advantage of them," Phillips said.

has won three out of four matches. The doubles team of Supejova and junior Nino Mebuke has registered ten wins on the season and are winners of three straight. However, EMU has earned the doubles point in only four matches this season. The Eagles are second to last in the MAC standings and are 2-9 on the road this season.

Toledo (7-9, 1-2 MAC) earned its first conference win last weekend when it downed Eastern Michigan 4-3 and are currently in seventh place in the MAC standings. Junior Chrissy Coffman has earned victories in four of her last five matches in singles play while freshman Katelyn Nguyen has recorded seven wins this season. In doubles, the tandem of sophomore Lexy Pitt and freshman Emily Mazzola are 4-2 on the season. Toledo is 1-7 in matches where they lose the doubles point. The Rockets are 2-6 in away matches this season.

"We're looking forward to these matches after coming off of a great weekend against Buffalo and Akron," assistant coach Ricardo Rosas said. "We're having a good week of practice and we're getting better. Eastern Michigan has a good team and Toledo is going to fight. We have to work on getting tougher as we head on in the MAC season."

The RedHawks start the action 1 p.m. Friday when they face the Eagles at the Hepburn Varsity Tennis Courts. They will then return to the court to play the Rockets 1 p.m. Saturday.


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