Last modified: Monday, June 20, 2011
Computerworld again names Indiana University among best places to work in IT
IU among only five universities, three Indiana organizations named to Top 100 list
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University has again been recognized by Computerworld as one of the Top 100 Best Places to Work in IT. "Technology careers are part of Indiana's economic future, and I am delighted that the IT staff of IU's eight campuses, many schools, and departments have again indicated that IT careers at IU are among the best in the nation," said Brad Wheeler, vice president for IT and CIO at Indiana University.
Since 1994, Computerworld's annual Top 100 Best Places to Work in IT has ranked the top 100 work environments for technology professionals. Computerworld is considered to be a leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers worldwide, making IU's selection for two straight years a tremendous honor.
"To be among the Best Places to Work in IT, it's not enough to seek out and hire the most talented IT professionals, offer them competitive pay and provide great benefits," said Scot Finnie, editor in chief of Computerworld. "Smart IT people realize that they need to get up to speed on their employer's revenue opportunities. The organizations that made this year's Best Places to Work list are creating a work environment that both trains and encourages IT personnel to pursue business-driven priorities."
Rankings are based on a comprehensive questionnaire that encompasses a variety of categories, along with extensive surveys of the organization's IT workers, whose responses are heavily factored into the final rankings. Once again, IU stood out for providing IT employees with challenging and inspiring work, great benefits, an exceptional work-life balance, and a structure that encourages promotion and career mobility.
"In my 25-year career here at Indiana University, I have held a number of positions within the IT organization," said Mark Bruhn, associate vice president for public safety and assurance at Indiana University. "In this organization, I have been able to take advantage of ample opportunities to develop my own skills and leadership, while increasing my knowledge of IT services and their role in the success of IU's broader academic missions. The IU experience enables those who like this sort of dynamic workplace to personally and professionally thrive."
The latest recognition by Computerworld also reflects the success of IU's 2009 comprehensive strategic plan for information technology, Empowering People. Designed to be visionary, realistic and relevant to the university's mission, Empowering People emphasizes achieving efficiencies in IT resources while enabling greater productivity for faculty, staff and students. One such focus was on developing a more "human-centric" approach to IT.
"In over 40 years of managing IT people in higher education, I have never worked for a university whose IT professionals are working harder to make a difference in higher education," said Tom Sawyer, regional CIO at Indiana University. "The IT organization is constantly looking for ways to make their services more available, more usable and more beneficial to the faculty, staff and students," Sawyer said.
"Whether responding to a question in the work climate survey or enjoying a casual hallway conversation, the staff in UITS constantly cite their colleagues as their greatest asset," said Deb Allmayer, human resources officer at Indiana University. "IT workers in UITS and throughout IU openly share technical and professional expertise enabling a world-class '1 IU-IT' staff," Allmayer said. "This recognition of being a best place to work reflects a common vision of collaboration and partnership and a shared value for the importance of higher education. Our staff retention is very high."
IU was among only five universities in the nation and three Indiana organizations on the latest list. The four other universities making the 2011 list were the University of Miami, Temple University, George Washington University, and the University of Pennsylvania, and the two other Indiana organizations were Cummins Inc. and WellPoint.
For more on this achievement, view the June 20 issue of Computerworld magazine, also online at Computerworld.com. To read Computerworld's profile of Indiana University, visit here.
About Indiana University
Indiana University is a leader in a number of important IT initiatives, from evolving international cyberinfrastructure through TeraGrid and FutureGrid, to its pioneering work in advanced networking as the operations center for the nation's leading research networks. IU is a co-founder of many open source software projects (e.g., Sakai, Kuali) and is a global partner in creating sustainable models for the collaborative development of teaching, learning, research and enterprise software. IU is the co-operator for the HathiTrust, which is partnering to digitize the collections of the world's great libraries. Digital textbooks, the advancement of virtual software delivery, and the creation of innovative learning environments support today's mobile students and place IU among the leaders in IT for higher education.
About Computerworld
Computerworld is one of the leading sources of technology news and information for IT influencers worldwide, publishing peer perspectives, IT leadership profiles, and business results. Computerworld's award-winning website (www.computerworld.com), bi-weekly publication, focused conference series, and custom research constitute the world's largest (40 edition) global IT media network.
Computerworld is published by IDG Enterprise, a subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG). Company information is available at www.idgenterprise.com.
For more information or to speak with IT representatives at Indiana University, please contact Steve Chaplin, University Communications, at 812-856-1896 or stjchap@indiana.edu.
