Announcing the appointment of Vice Chancellor for Information Technology

To: UCSC Community

From: Chancellor Cindy Larive

I am excited to announce that Aisha Jackson will serve as our next Vice Chancellor for Information Technology. Her first day will be Aug. 1.

Aisha is a collaborative leader who brings to our campus and leadership team a wealth of experience in higher-education information technology. She is currently the University of Colorado Boulder’s first-ever Assistant Vice Provost and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Technology and Student Success. Her current position was created to ensure the continued advancement of campus technology to serve both faculty and students. It is a unique role in that it bridges the academic and administrative aspects of the university, with operational oversight of academic technology and student-success analytics as well as some administrative platforms. This experience will be helpful as Aisha continues work already underway to involve our Information Technology division in efforts to achieve our campus goals of advancing student success; elevating our research profile; fostering an inclusive campus climate; and improving the efficiency, effectiveness, resilience, and sustainability of our operations.

Aisha has spent the past dozen years at CU Boulder, working in various director and manager positions in the university’s Office of Information Technology. She began her career in information technology at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago. She earned a doctorate in education from the University of Colorado, Denver; a master’s in education from the University of Florida, Gainesville; and a bachelor of arts in elementary education from Flagler College in Florida.

I am grateful to interim Vice Chancellor for Information Technology Byron Walker, who has served as interim CIO since August, when former VC-IT Van Williams was named chief information officer and vice president for information technology services for the University of California system. Byron has worked with leadership, faculty, staff and students across campus on how best to leverage technology in ways that support teaching, learning, research and discovery, while also supporting all aspects of campus operations.

I am also grateful to the search advisory committee, chaired by University Extension Dean PK Agarwal and Vice Chancellor for University Relations Mark Delos Reyes Davis, for its work reviewing candidates and providing advice and feedback at every stage of the search process.

Thank you, as well, to the many members of our campus community who provided valuable feedback during the stakeholder-engagement process before we launched the search, then again after meeting with our candidates. The input was exceptionally helpful.

Please join me in welcoming Aisha and congratulating her on joining our campus community!