XVIII. IT Governance Policy

I. Metropolitan State College of Denver Statutory Mission Statement

Colorado law assigns the following mission statement to Metro State:

There is hereby established a college at Denver, to be known as Metropolitan State College of Denver, which shall be a comprehensive baccalaureate institution with modified open admission standards: except that nontraditional students who are at least twenty years of age shall only have as an admission requirement a high school diploma, a GED high school equivalency certificate, or the equivalent thereof. Metropolitan State College of Denver shall offer a variety of liberal arts and science, technical, and educational programs. The college may offer a limited number of professional programs. Metropolitan State College of Denver shall not offer graduate programs. (Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 23, Article 54, Section 101)

II. Metropolitan State College of Denver Operational Mission Statement

In December 2003, the Metropolitan State College Board of Trustees adopted an operational mission statement. The operational mission statement translates the statutory mission statement into a statement meant to guide the daily operations of the College and provide a more descriptive statement for planning purposes.

Metropolitan State College of Denver is a comprehensive, baccalaureate Degree-granting, urban, non-residential “ College of Opportunity.” With its modified open admission policy, the College welcomes students from all walks of life and circumstances, including all levels of academic preparation consistent with statutory guidelines, all conditions of economic and income status, all ages and all ethnic and cultural backgrounds. In addition to degree-seeking students, non-degree students seeking opportunities for continuing education are welcomed.

The College is a teaching institution where excellence in teaching and learning is accorded the highest priority. The College seeks to attract and build long-term relationships with a highly qualified faculty and staff with diverse interests and abilities. As partners in the College’s fulfillment of its mission, faculty, staff and student participation through shared governance is encouraged and valued.

Student success, supported in a collegial atmosphere of academic freedom, is of paramount importance and all members of the College community seek to inspire students to strive for the highest level of future achievement. The College seeks excellence in all programs and activities and evaluates the attainment of excellence utilizing measures focused on the knowledge, skills and understanding students gain during their educational experience with the College. A successful college experience enables students at Metro to achieve their specific educational goals.

The College offers programs and courses in the letters, arts, sciences, professional and business disciplines. The College is committed to a liberal arts foundation for all education by which each graduate develops the ability to communicate and reason effectively as a culturally and economically literate citizen in a multicultural, global and technological society. The College seeks to provide its programs and services to a diverse student body in an environment of quality, accessibility and affordability. Mutual respect, creative endeavor and scholarly inquiry, within and among all College constituencies, are expected.

The College provides students with an enriching education that leads to rewarding careers, prepares them for post graduate study, embraces the quality of their lives, and enables them to be well-educated, critically thinking citizens who contribute and participate in meaningful ways in community and civic life. Partnerships with the College’s Foundation, Alumni Association, non-profit agencies and service organizations, corporations, businesses, civic and governmental agencies, as well as the community at large, assist the College in fulfilling its mission. Institutional priorities are established in accordance with the interests and needs of students, faculty, staff, employers and the citizens of Colorado.

III. Metropolitan State College of Denver Vision Statement

A vision statement is a succinct expression of the general direction the College intends to pursue in the context of its mission and the resources available to accomplish the mission.

As Colorado’s “College of Opportunity,” Metropolitan State College of Denver strives to be Colorado’s leader in urban, public baccalaureate education by focusing its resources on quality, accessibility, affordability, and accountability.

Excellence in teaching and learning is the College’s primary objective as it supports the educational goals of recent high-school graduates, transfer students, adult learners wishing to finish a baccalaureate degree and citizens intent on acquiring new skills or desiring to enrich their lives through participation in lifelong learning.

IV. Information Technology (IT) at Metropolitan State College of Denver Mission, Purpose, Value, and Vision Statements

Mission
To enhance teaching and learning experiences with technologies by enabling timely, cost-effective and high quality delivery of state of the art computing and technology, through collaboration and participation with faculty, staff, and students.

Purpose
To provide valued leadership, expertise and service in information technology to the Metro State community.

Value Statement
We build relationships with colleagues and customers, practicing personal integrity, accountability and commitment to the college while supplying excellence in information technology.

Vision Statement
IT aspires to provide exceptional technological solutions and services that foster personal creativity, opportunity for collaboration, flexibility and unfettered access to people and resources in our community and beyond.

V. Shared Governance

In October 2003 the Board of Trustees defined Shared Governance to be:

Within the College’s statutory role and mission and the Board of Trustees’ operational mission, all constituencies have a role and a responsibility in assisting the College to achieve excellence in all areas of College activity. In pursuing excellence, the Board of Trustees welcomes and expects the participation of faculty, students, staff, and other College constituencies in the decision-making process. The Board of Trustees encourages a broad exchange of information and ideas. To facilitate the exchange of information and ideas, the Board of Trustees looks to the President of the College as its primary liaison with the College constituencies. To be effective in this role, the President must establish an open environment of communication with all members of the College community and establish avenues for consultation and recommendation by faculty, students, and staff regarding policy matters considered by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees delegates to the President, as the chief executive officer of the College, full authority and responsibility for administering the College within the policies and procedures established by the Board of Trustees. Within this delegation is the expectation that the President will elicit the participation and facilitate the fulfillment of the roles and responsibilities of the College’s campus constituencies in the College’s internal decision-making processes. It is through the initiative, participation, and effort of all the College’s constituencies that excellence is achieved.

VI. Information Technology Governance

"Shared governance" is the process of securing user input on such issues as direction, establishing priorities, reviewing technology decisions, and providing effective user communication in systems development and daily operations. The governance process is meant to involve those individuals, departments, programs, and interests served by the technology resource in meaningful and significant participation.

Metro State’s vision of leveraging information technology to enhance the academic mission of the college requires an IT oversight capability, or governance, that ensures equal and proper involvement of all areas of the college infrastructure in IT investment decision making process.

The functions of the Department of Information Technology are somewhat unique when weighed against those of most departments within Metro State. The division was founded to provide technology-based services to all elements of the college within which it operates. Since it is service-oriented, this organization must receive continual feedback from the college community concerning direction and performance.

Because of its technical nature, provision of IT services requires unique control methods that would normally not be applied to any other academic function. These controls must ensure that the best interests of the college are served while at the same time, ensure that the services offered to users are relevant and cost effective. This form of control is best applied through the use of an “IT Governance” structure.

To exercise proper oversight in the planning, acquisition and deployment of IT, a three-tiered governance group has been established. The highest level is the President’s Cabinet. Reporting to the Cabinet is the Information Technology Executive Advisory Committee. Reporting to the Committee is a functional committee, the Technology Initiatives Committee. Also, three other functional committees, the Lab Advisory, Banner Managers and Portal Advisory committees serve to advise both the Executive Advisory and the Initiatives Committees. The functional committees should meet not fewer than three times during the Fall and Spring semesters. Other functional committees may be formed as the college identifies new initiatives, such as Online Education and specific departmental projects.

The college’s Chief Information Officer is responsible for the IT environment at Metro State. The CIO Chairs the Executive Advisory Committee that is responsible for IT policy and oversight of the IT environment. The Initiatives Committee is responsible for preparing strategic and policy IT matters to be considered by the Executive Advisory Committee. The other functional committees coordinate their projects with the Initiatives Committee to ensure that an overall college perspective is used when implementing new IT technologies and/or strategies.

Through this Governance structure, along with the Annual Academic and Business Planning processes, Metro State is ensuring maximum educational and business value for its IT investments.

VII. Information Technology Executive Advisory Committee

The Information Technology Executive Advisory Committee (ITEAC) is responsible for information technology policy and with technology change as it affects instructional methods, research, outreach, and administrative processes. It also serves as the committee responsible for matters concerning global initiatives for technology. Activities covered under this structure are related to academic, administrative, lab, and shared college technology resources. The committee’s primary purpose is to bring equity and planned focus to the distribution of college information technology resources and not to make equipment decisions relating to specialized departmental requirements. The focus of this committee is priorities, planning, funding, and policy issues. Among the roles that this committee is charged with includes:

• Identify and maintain both short and long range strategic plans for IT.
• Review project and procurement priorities with established plans.
• Review and recommend academic, administrative, and other IT policy issues.
• Ensure that major technology related initiatives are communicated to the campus and funded accordingly.
• Serve as the focal point for input on computing matters and concerns.

Membership
Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, Chair
Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs
Vice President of Student Services
Vice President of Administration and Finance
Vice President of Institutional Advancement
Assistant Vice President of College Communications
Chair of Technology Initiatives Committee
Dean, School of Business
Dean, School of Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Dean, School of Professional Studies
A representative from Student Government
Assistant Vice President of Information Technology

VIII. Technology Initiatives Committee

The primary purpose of this committee is to ensure that technological initiatives serve to enhance or supplement the teaching mission of the college and functions at the ITEAC’s direction. The focus of the committee is to determine which new technologies are needed for the college to continually meet its teaching and learning objectives. All matters of policy, strategy, and management of the IT environment should be reviewed by the Initiatives Committee and forward these matters or issues to the ITEAC with their recommendation. The chair of this committee is selected at the start of each academic year by Faculty Senate. One director from IT will work with the committee chair to co-chair
the meeting. The committee should meet a minimum of three times during the Fall and Spring semesters. The roles of this committee include:

• Recommend short and long-range strategic plans for shared academic IT resources (not including school, departmental, or student lab plans for special purpose computing requirements).
• Coordinate and review the short and long-range plans for general academic and specialized computing use, including the use of online teaching services.
• Review and recommend service-related policies for academic computing, including online academic computing needs.
• Review and recommend priorities for projects and procurements for academic computing.
• Work in conjunction with the ITEAC in establishing and articulating an evaluation and review process for computing across the College.
• Work with the other functional committees to address the college-wide IT strategy and any initiatives that they bring forth.
• Additional responsibilities as determined by ITEAC.

Membership
Vice President for Information Technology (Ex Officio)
Director, Faculty Resource Center
Chair of Mathematical and Computer Sciences Department or designee and two additional representatives from the School of Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Chair of Computer Information Systems Department or designee and one additional representative from the School of Business
Two representatives from the School of Professional Studies
Director of Server Support Services (Co-Chair)
Director of Network and Desktop Support Services
Information Security Officer (Ex Officio)
One representative appointed by Faculty Senate to serve as Chair
Two student representatives
One representative from Academic Affairs
One representative from Administration and Finance
One representative from Student Services
Chair, Lab Advisory Committee
Chair, Banner Manager
Chair, Portal Advisory Committee

IX. Other Functional Committees

The college has three other committees that are formally concerned with matters relating to IT. The other committees address operational matters that pertain to the Student Lab, Administrative Computing, and Portal/Web environments. These committees are important to the overall success of the college’s IT environment and should meet a minimum of three times per Spring and Fall semesters. Additional functional committees, such as the Online Task Force, may be formed to address significant computing issues that may impact the campus. The following is a brief description of the ongoing committees:

Lab Advisory Committee
The primary purpose of this committee is to ensure that Student Lab resources are used to enhance or supplement the teaching and learning mission of the college. The focus of the committee is to develop and recommend policies, potential uses, and software requirements needed to provide students with the technology they need to complete coursework and succeed in their educational pursuits, as well as provide computer classrooms for faculty to use in teaching. The chair of this committee is elected at the start of each academic year. One director from IT will co-chair the committee and help facilitate the meetings. The roles of this committee include:

• Recommend short and long-range strategic plans for student labs (not including school or department labs).
• Coordinate and review the short and long-range plans for general
  academic and specialized computing use with the Technological Initiatives Committee.
• Review and recommend service-related policies for student computer labs.
• Review and recommend priorities for projects that impact the student labs.
• Additional responsibilities as determined by the ITEAC

Banner Managers Committee
The primary purpose of this committee is to ensure that Administrative computing resources are used to enhance or supplement the mission of the college. The focus of the committee is to develop and recommend policies, identify issues and recommend solutions for Banner. The chair of this committee is elected at the start of each academic year. One director from IT will co-chair the committee and help facilitate the meetings. The roles of this committee include:

• Recommend short and long-range strategic plans for administrative computing.
• Coordinate and review the short and long-range plans for administrative computing use with the other functional committees and Technology Initiatives Committee.
• Review and recommend Banner related security policies.
• Review and recommend priorities for projects and implementation of Banner upgrades.
• Work to establish and articulate an evaluation and review process for administrative computing projects and administrative policies.
• Additional responsibilities as determined by the ITEAC.

Portal Advisory Committee
The primary purpose of this committee is to ensure that the college’s Web and MetroConnect services are used to enhance or supplement the mission of the college. The focus of the committee is to develop and recommend policies, identify issues and recommend solutions for MetroConnect and web related services. The chair of this committee is elected at the start of each academic year. One director from IT will co-chair the committee and help facilitate the meetings. The roles of this committee include:

• Recommend short and long-range strategic plans for portal and web services.
• Coordinate and review the short and long-range plans for the college’s portal and web services with the other functional committees.
• Review and recommend priorities for projects and implementation of web and portal upgrades.
• Work to establish and articulate an evaluation and review process for Portal and Web related projects.
• Additional responsibilities as determined by the ITEAC.

Approved August 29, 2005