Thoughts on technology, leadership, security, infrastructure, automation, and the systems between them.
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Infrastructure
“Broadband is not the differentiator. The absence of broadband is the differentiator.” That statement has stuck with me. As technology leaders in North Carolina, particularly in our rural communities, we need to change the way we think about connectivity. There was a time when broadband access could be marketed as an...
Technology
As community colleges prepare for another Fall semester, many of us are continuing to strengthen cybersecurity by expanding Multi Factor Authentication (MFA). It's the right thing to do. But here's a question I've been thinking about. Should owning a personal smartphone become a requirement for accessing a community...
Infrastructure
One of the easiest traps for leaders, especially in IT, is confusing activity with progress. A day can disappear quickly. Emails need responses. Meetings fill the calendar. Phones ring. Teams messages arrive every few minutes. Unexpected issues demand immediate attention. By the end of the day, you may feel exhausted...
Leadership
I was listening to a leadership discussion recently that used a simple analogy that stuck with me. Imagine you're riding down the highway at 70 mph. If you're the driver, the experience feels very different than if you're the passenger. As the driver, you control the speed. You know when you're about to brake. You know...
Technology
You can teach anybody to be a technician. You can teach somebody how to reset passwords, replace hardware, troubleshoot networks, manage systems, follow documentation, or learn a new platform. Technology changes every few years anyway. If somebody is willing to learn, the technical side can be developed over time. What...
Leadership
That line has been sitting with me lately, and it reflects the reality of IT leadership more than people realize. As an IT Director, the day doesn’t stay in one lane. It’s budgets, policies, vendor conversations, onboarding new hires, planning a help desk space, refreshing systems, and keeping the environment stable...
Leadership
We often describe portals, forms, and workflows as self service. The assumption is that technology makes things faster, easier, and more efficient. In reality, many of these systems simply move the friction from the institution to the person trying to get help. I recently watched a simple request turn into a multi week...
Leadership
For years, we’ve talked about automation like it was the finish line. You build the workflow, write the script, and let it repeat. But now we’re entering something new: Agentic AI, where systems can plan, decide, and act with minimal human direction. Imagine an AI that doesn’t just send you alerts, but actually detects...
Leadership
Have we really designed our systems for the people we serve, or just for the people who have always been here? Higher education is now serving five generations of students at once, and each brings a different expectation of what “great service” looks like. There’s the traditional student who grew up online and expects...
Leadership
Have you ever stopped to think about who’s sitting around your table — not in title or rank, but in influence, perspective, and curiosity? Over the years, I’ve learned that growth often happens through the people we spend time with. The phrase “if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room” isn’t...
