New CIO to Implement Technology Master Plan

By Joe Peters

Perhaps a telling sign of how much UMass Boston needed a CIO is how many faculty and staff were uncertain as to what the acronym means.

As UMass Boston's first chief information officer, Martyne Hallgren has been charged with implementing a technology master plan that was compiled over the previous year. While much of her vice chancellor–level responsibility could be boiled down to bits, bytes, and budgeting, Hallgren recognizes that her immediate task is communication.

"Communication is very important to this job," she says. "One of my roles in regard to the other vice chancellors is to educate them on the possibilities and potential for technology on campus."

While all the other UMass campuses, the president's office, and many of the state and community colleges have had a CIO for years, UMass Boston has lagged behind. Understandably, one of the first comments people had in drafting the technology plan was that the campus needed a CIO to bring together the many individual technology pieces on campus and inject a voice for technology at the executive level.

Chancellor Jo Ann Gora approved the plan early in 2003 and commenced the search for a CIO in the spring. Among more than 100 applicants, a search committee whittled the list down to three candidates.

Hallgren, who earned a BA in computer science and holds an MBA from Cornell University, most recently was the CIO of the Jackson Laboratory, a leading genetics research institution in Bar Harbor, Maine. The lab's primary commodity is mice, and in an ironic but perhaps fortunate for UMass Boston, twist, Hallgren discovered she was allergic to mice. The reality cut short her tenure at the Jackson Lab and soon led her to UMass Boston.

With her computer science background and 20 years' experience in various facets of technology, she has a background most techies would appreciate. She jokes about a visit to Shanghai, China, in 2000 where most people might be photographing the many landmarks. Hallgren instead has pictures of the various antennae and communications paraphernalia on the buildings. Still, when it comes to technology and UMass Boston, she can sound more like a public relations specialist than a technologist.

"Technology needs PR," she says. "Sure I can say the new network is going to have a state-of-the-art 10-gigabits-per-second-backbone, but how does that help us in the daily life of the campus?"

Hallgren says the new network (which is a few months away) and other initiatives will help daily life by eliminating the physical constraints that inhibit learning and a sense of community.

She mentions the commuter aspect of UMass Boston and the fact that many of our students work full or part-time. She says an unexpected strength of this older student population is that they are familiar with technology, which is ever present in today's workplace.

"I think our students are pretty sophisticated when it comes to technology," she says.

Her task at hand becomes finding ways to create or enhance services by giving students, faculty, and staff the ability to interact outside the walls of the campus, building a sense of community and service to help attract and retain students. Educating faculty and staff to the possibilities for technology in their roles translates directly to an improved environment for learning.
"Ultimately, you want to empower students to do their job, which is to learn the best they can," she says.

Image: New chief information officer Martyne Hallgren began her tenure at UMass Boston in August 2003. (Photo by Harry Brett)

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