Michael Pickett has been named the University's new vice president for computing and information services, the University announced Tuesday.
Pickett, who has spent the past 24 years in various IT positions at Duke University, will take over for Terri-Lynn Thayer '81, who has headed Computing and Information Services on an interim basis since Ellen Waite-Franzen left for Dartmouth College last September. Thayer will work closely with Pickett as she returns to her post as assistant vice president for administrative information systems.
The vice president for computing and information services is responsible for managing the University's academic and administrative technology services and working with the University Librarian on systems such as the Josiah catalog. Pickett, who most recently served as deputy chief information officer at Duke, will lead a 152-member professional staff at CIS. CIS supports nearly 18,000 users, maintains more than 40,000 network ports in more than 160 buildings and operates an e-mail system with nearly 16,000 mailboxes, according to a press release announcing Pickett's statement.
Pickett will start in his new role on July 1 and will report to Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98.
"For more than two decades, Michael Pickett has been closely involved in the growth and evolution of information technology on the college campus," Kertzer said in the release. "His depth of experience in both university and academic medical settings, coupled with the strategic policy and planning work he has done as a senior information officer at Duke, afford him an excellent background to provide leadership in Brown's complex information systems environment."
Pickett, a North Carolina native who grew up on Duke's campus, will face a number of challenges as he transitions into his new role. He will be responsible for managing ongoing initiatives such as MyCourses and wireless Internet expansion, as well as overseeing upgrades to some of Brown's aging administrative systems.
Daniel Leventhal '07, a computer science concentrator and member of the search committee that selected Pickett, told The Herald that he is excited about Pickett's hiring but that, at least initially, he will be in a difficult position.
"He has a big job in front of him, which would be true for anyone coming here," he said. "At the same time, I think that bringing in someone new who doesn't have experience with how things are done at Brown could be great for the University. He brings a whole new perspective and approach to the position."
Last July, Waite-Franzen told the Dartmouth student newspaper that "Dartmouth is in a different place with how they think about technology and how it should be used on campus. At Brown, IT takes more of a backseat, while at Dartmouth, the college continues to assume a leadership role at the forefront of the industry."
Pickett said he was not aware of Waite-Franzen's comments, though he did discuss her departure during the interview process. President Ruth Simmons assured him that the University "will not seek to fail by under-funding projects," he said, and added that he had no reservations about taking the role at Brown and was looking forward to the opportunity to work within Brown's "innovative environment."
"Brown is different from a lot of other universities. There is a spark of creativity and innovation here among students, faculty and administrators that I'm excited to be a part of," he said. "I am extremely excited at the idea of improving things and finding a better or more efficient way to get something done. I like to tweak things around and think of new solutions and in that sense I think Brown really fits with my values."
Pickett said he is conscious of the need to tailor spending on technology to meet the needs of students and professors.
"I'm not a person who is interested in technology for technology's sake," he said. "I want to make sure that our initiatives are geared towards supporting research and the overall academic experience. Hugely funded projects are not always the most successful, and I don't want to be wasting money that could be used to hire another professor or provide a scholarship to another student," he said.
But, Pickett added, he will "fiercely advocate for" projects he thinks deserve funding.
Pickett said he thinks his background in teaching and research helps him to put his work in context and understand the need to balance academic needs with the goal of developing technology. He has a master's degree in education, and he taught and conducted seminars and workshops in developmental disabilities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the late 1970s. He was also on the research faculty at the University of Oregon in the early 1980s.
Pickett, whose father was a professor at Duke Medical School as well as an inventor with 43 patents, became involved in technology at a young age. He joined Duke in 1983 as a microcomputer programmer at Duke Medical School.
Pickett said he was not looking for a job outside of Duke, but he quickly became very interested in Brown when he was contacted by the search committee about the vacancy in January.
"Brown is perhaps the only University that could have attracted me away from Duke," he said.
Pickett said his first major initiative at Brown will be to "talk with a number of people."
"I don't want to make the mistake of 'ready, fire, aim,' " he said. "I want to gather a lot of information from students, faculty and administrators before moving forward with anything," he said.
He said he is familiarizing himself with Brown's specific needs and projects, mentioning the implementation of Banner, overcrowded physical facilities and challenges presented by the current human resources payroll system.
Pickett said Duke's similar size to Brown, as well as his friendship with a number of members of Brown's CIS administration through the IvyPlus Administrative Computing group, will help ease his transition to his new job.
