This page provides an overview of the IT governance model for UNT.

UNT/System IT Integration Group

Represents UNT in discussions with System leadership and System IT.

Members/Roles

• Neal Smatresk (President): Ultimate approver for UNT in regard to all UNT/System projects.
• Clayton Gibson (Vice President Finance and Administration; CFO): Represents UNT on financial decisions for IT projects.
• James Garrison, Chief Information Officer: Guides day to day interactions and runs UNT IT Strategy Group and UNT IT Tactical Group.

UNT IT Strategy Group

The UNT IT Strategy Group broadly manages our IT functions, how they integrate with system activities, and managing the costs associated with IT at UNT.

Responsibilities

• Determining the effective use of IT to support business functions for the UNT campus.
• Developing our IT strategy and how we deploy cutting edge technology to support our campus.
• Approving major IT projects as needed.
• Identifying enterprise‐wide needs for consideration by the UNT IT Tactical Group.
• Tracking major IT expenditures.
• Weighing-in on our participation with System projects.
• Periodically reviewing UNT campus project implementation.
• Providing guidance and feedback to the divisions and UNT IT Tactical Group on IT support issues, as needed.

Members

• Neal Smatresk (President): Chair
• Adam Fein (VP Digital Strategies and Innovation; CIO)
• Shannon Goodman (VP Enrollment)
• Debbie Rohwer (VP Planning; Chief of Staff)
• Pamela Padilla (VP Research and Innovation)
• Clayton Gibson (VP for Finance and Administration; CFO)
• Mike McPherson (VP for Academic Affairs; Provost)

UNT IT Tactical Group

Responsibilities

• Coordinates and communicates IT issues from the units they represent. Ensures two‐way flow:
  • Considers and evaluates issues and needs arising from the IT Strategy Group to support unit and enterprise business functions at UNT.
  • Helps communicate with affected divisions.
• Brings forward recommendations for major projects to the group to discuss implementation, the resources needed to conduct them, and the extent to which ITSS resources will be required.
• Brings major projects from their divisions forward for consideration by the IT Strategy Group.
• Tracks smaller projects so there is a general understanding of our IT support landscape.
• Works to improve efficiency and eliminate redundancy for our UNT campus.

Members

• James Garrison (Chief Information Officer)
• Tim Christian (Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Technologies)
• Abraham John (Assistant Vice President, Admin IT)
• Ashley Olsberg (Executive Director - DSI Technologies)

VP Academic Affairs and Provost: IT Governance

Associate Deans IT Council (ADITC)

Appointed by each college/academic Dean, the Associate Dean representatives, who can provide budgetary and IT operational perspective on behalf of each college/academic unit, help Academic Technologies by:

• Setting Academic IT strategies and priorities.
• Coordinating future planning, funding, and staffing.
• Coordinating actions to leverage purchases.

Co-Chairs

• Brian McFarlin, College of Education Academic Associate Dean
• Brandi Everett, Vice Provost of Academic Resources
• Tim Christian, Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Technologies

Associate Deans Council Members

• TGS - Dr. Denise Baxter
• LIB - Dr. Sian Brannon
• COE - Dr. Barrett Bryant
• CLASS - Associate Dean for Fiscal and Human Resources Kathryn Cullivan
• COI - Dr. Yunfei Du
• Provost Office - Brandi Everett
• TAMS/Honors College - Dr. Eric Gruver
• BIO - Dr. Lee Hughes
• CVAD - Assoc. Dean Eric Ligon
• New College (Frisco) - Asst. Dean Arvind Mallik
• COE - Dr. Brian McFarlin
• COM - Dr. Felix Olschofka
• CMHT - Asst. Dean Sampath Pamidimukkala
• RCOB - Dr. Terry Pohlen
• HPS - Jackie Thames

Contact/Facilitator: Debbie Taylor

Academic IT Leaders

The Academic IT Leadership Group champions, builds, and applies technology to help the Academic Affairs Division advance education, creativity, and research by:

• Implementing and maintaining operational best practices.
• Maintaining shared services.
• Effectively communicating and coordinating with constituents, governance groups, vendors, and other groups as needed.

The group welcomes It experts and other guest attendance. Voting membership includes:

• 1 ex officio for each college/school VPAA IT group
• 1 ex officio DSI/AITS leadership
• 1 ex officio DSI/DSI-Tech leadership
• 1 appointed by System IT
• 1 appointed by System IT/IT Security (for security and compliance)
• 1 ex officio Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Technologies; chair and voting member

Contact/Facilitator - Debbie Taylor

Lifecycle Management Groups

"Lifecycle Management Group" is a term of art created by ADITC to reflect product, process, and/or service:

• Birth: Getting/acquiring
• Life: Using/maintaining
• Death: Discontinuing

Academic Affairs runs college/library-specific IT branches that use a "command and control" structure. If Academic Affairs ran division-wide IT as a "command and control" structure, you could consider the lifecycle management groups as specialty-focused operational teams. Each Lifecycle Management Group specialty provides cost-effective, compliant, and standard products/services/processes for instructors, creators, researchers, learners, and support staff.

These groups meet on an as-needed basis, with some meeting weekly. Their members are listed on each LMG page below and are comprised of IT staff across the division.

• Computer LMG - Apple/MacOS/iOS
• Computer LMG - Dell/Windows
• Lab/Classroom LMG
• Servers LMG
• Software LMG
• Web LMG

IT Pros Group

Formerly "TAG" (2012 - 2022) and "DCSMT" (1996 - 2012) and "Network Managers" mailing list, IT Pros is the longest-standing UNT IT user group on campus. Members consist of caring, passionate, and determined IT professionals who keep UNT moving forward by their culture of sharing information, learning together, and sanity-checking final-stage products/ideas.

Members self-select and Dr. Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner, Director, IT Support, Academic Technologies, facilitates the meetings.

Examples

• Final IT sanity-checking of broad-impact or high-risk process, service, and/or product changes.
• Broad sharing of information like:
  • Vendor presentations of product roadmaps
  • Multi-institutional and/or UNT changes
  • Multi-institutional and/or UNT outages