Avenues to Renewal : Introduction

Tulane University’s Technology Services faced an extraordinary challenge to re-establish connectivity and communications following hurricane Katrina. Dedicated staff coordinated their efforts from disparate locations and under enormous personal stress to meet the needs of faculty, students and staff over the fall of 2005 and through the remainder of the academic year. Now, Technology Services is reaching to establish an ongoing level of service excellence that will build upon the demonstrated success of this collective effort. With the recognition that technology must provide value and enable institutional goals, Technology Services is launching “Avenues to Renewal” a strategic technology planning initiative grounded in a shared understanding among members of the Tulane community regarding how technology can and should support the University mission. Avenues to Renewal defines a process for continual improvement based on measures of success; a mission and vision to guide the delivery of technology solutions and services; strategic goals for Technology Services and action items to align the strategic use of technology with institutional goals, including those in the Renewal Plan; and a decision-making framework to determine which technology projects should be resourced using a transparent, institution-wide approach.

This strategic plan has two purposes: 

1. It serves as a statement from Technology Services leaders that focuses on supporting the use of information technologies as tools that should transform university activities and the student experience, and
   
2. It provides a procedure to assess new project and service requests from the university community.