| | November 20159staff input. Unfortunately, this leads to various assumptions about how higher education really works and can step on or truncate academic and administrative processes and direction along the way. This has also led many CIOs to be viewed primarily as technologists. In my role as CIO, a primary focus for me is to be viewed as an institutional leader, playing a part in our overall vision, mission, and goals. CIOs should be strategic, financially savvy, extraordinarily creative, and thoroughly understand what the institution is fundamentally about and trying to achieve. I implement technology strategic planning as academic and business planning and consider my peers to be digital leaders in partnership with information technology. Recently, my role as CIO has been elevated to the cabinet level, reporting to the president. I believe this demonstrates the university views the CIO role and supporting organization as a strategic area critical to our future. Keeping infrastructure initiatives at the core during strategic and capital planning is essential. A robust refresh and expansion ongoing plan, with an emphasis on wireless connectivity, should be in place to address current and future needs. Internet of Things--Changing Campus Life and Learning Campus life and student services have most likely seen the biggest impact. Security systems, building management, and lab space availability are some examples. Essentially, the Internet of Things reduces effort and makes lives easier. Being able to allow students to view which computers are available and where they are located on their mobile devices is much easier than asking them to walk from building to building to find availability. The Internet of Things has tremendous potential to address some of the biggest issues on campus. For example, if parking is at a premium, with a fully connected campus to the Internet of Things, notifications could be sent to students to alert them of available parking. Of course, the more connected we are, the more aware we must be regarding information security and risk management which continues to be a balancing act for all things technology related. Becky Vasquez
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