1. Letter from José-Marie Griffiths
2. Education for the 21st Century
3. Knowledge Discovery and Co-invention
4. Community Service and Development
5. IT Usage Trends and Statistics at U-M

Surgeons operate on a patient who is halfway around the world...

Musicians and engineers create new musical instruments and sounds...

Space, computer, and behavioral scientists from around the world collaborate in real time...

A culture preserves and shares its heritage...

Scientists, teachers, parents, and K-12 students worldwide collaborate on weather science...

…Information Technology (IT) makes all this possible. Not long ago, many of us defined IT as a computer or word processor. We were happy to be able to save and reprint text, to make changes and corrections without having to retype entire pages. But IT, once a sleepy support tool, is now a driving force in our economy, society, and culture. IT helps us to do things differently, and to do different things. With IT, research, teaching, and learning are inextricably intertwined. The pace of knowledge creation and dissemination is limited only by our imaginations and the speed of light.

The University of Michigan (U-M) puts IT in action. Areas of special interest include:

• Research, and advanced technology applications.
• Academic initiatives and support.
• Community outreach and collaboration.
• Facilities and infrastructure development.

IT is almost ubiquitous at the U-M, and its use is growing dramatically. Every residence hall room is “wired.” We have multimedia production facilities, residence hall and public computing sites, virtual reality facilities, computers in labs and offices, supercomputers, University television, video conferencing, remote access, a federated system of institution-wide support, and more.

IT is impacting recruitment and retention. Faculty and student requirements and expectations are high, and rising. Eighty percent (80%) of incoming students tell us that our IT resources were either "critical" or "one of several equal factors" in convincing them to attend the U-M.

But IT is not an end in itself. It must serve our needs, not the other way around. To help ensure that our use of IT reflects the values of the University and enhances our traditions, we follow four Guiding Principles for IT Implementation. IT must:

• Add value to the core mission, values, and work of the University community.
• Pull people together rather than push them apart.
• Provide equitable, though not necessarily identical, access to technology resources.
• Balance economies of scale with the need and commitment to a diverse IT environment.

I invite you to peruse the following brief descriptions of selected U-M projects and initiatives that make extensive use of IT. To learn more, please contact me directly, or visit our Web site at http://www.cio.umich.edu

José-Marie Griffiths
University of Michigan Chief Information Officer
and Executive Director of the Information Technology Division