Dr. John Campbell, currently an associate vice president for information technology at Purdue University, has been named associate provost for information technology and chief information officer at West Virginia University, effective Jan. 28, 2013.

As associate provost and chief information officer at WVU, Campbell will oversee a staff of 150 and manage an annual budget of $21 million. He will be charged with helping the university attain national research prominence by 2020 by better defining IT services, improving institutional alignment, completing the IT infrastructure and enhancing technology solutions and modernizing customer services.

“I am delighted to bring Dr. Campbell to campus in this role,” said Provost Michele Wheatly. “His areas of expertise align perfectly with our needs going forward. Moreover, he is an experienced leader and will work well with our talented IT staff across campus to realize a number of ambitious goals. In particular, he is steeped in use-inspired IT in higher education and how it can improve teaching, learning, and research.”

In his current role, Campbell provides strategic leadership to the university and regional campuses for academic and research technology; selects, implements, and supports software applications; develops information technology policies; and collaborates with a wide range of campus constituencies to support campus governance. He oversees a staff of 94 and manages a budget more than $7.5 million.

“We had a number of extremely qualified candidates apply for this position,” said Joyce McConnell, dean of the WVU College of Law and chair of the search committee. “Dr. Campbell stood out for the scope of his vision and the breadth of his knowledge. We are thrilled to have him coming to Morgantown.”

“It is a great privilege to join the West Virginia community and to have the opportunity to work with the many high quality faculty and staff members I have met,” Campbell said. “Technology is intertwined with all that we do and I look forward to working with the campus community to improve and enhance our technology services as WVU implements its 2020 Plan.“

Campbell has participated in many externally-funded projects focused on the development and support of new cyberinfrastructure for the campus community. His grants total approximately $20 million over the last 12 years. He has also published book chapters and journal articles largely on analytics and learning design, and has presented extensively at professional meetings the profession.

His research interest is in learning design and technology, most recently on the development of analytical approaches to identifying students at risk and improving their success. He was the founder of the Signals project which has been featured on NBC and in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The Signals project has also been awarded the 2012 Noel-Levitz Retention Award, the 2011 Digital Educational Achievement Award and the 2011 Campus Technology Innovators Award for Teaching and Learning. Campbell has been named “One to Watch” by CIO Magazine and has patents pending on his analytical approaches to identifying students at risk.

Campbell earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics education, a masters degree in educational technology, and a doctor of philosophy degree in higher education administration, all from Purdue.

Executive search firm Witt-Kieffer facilitated this search; the search committee was also guided in its candidate selection by an OIT strategic planning report produced for the University by Gartner Consulting.

Mark Six, WVU’s director of enterprise infrastructure and technical services, has been serving as interim executive director of the Office of Information Technology since December 2011.

“Mark has done an outstanding job in a challenging role,” said Senior Associate Provost Russell Dean. “We are tremendously impressed with all that he has accomplished with IT projects in a short time and grateful to him for stepping into the interim role when asked. I know he and John will work together well as we move to provide better coordination of IT planning on campus and advance a number of ambitious IT goals.”

Six will remain in his position as interim executive director of OIT as Campbell assumes his new role.

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CONTACT: Russell Dean, WVU senior associate provost
304.293.7119; rkdean@mail.wvu.edu

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