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Life is far from dull for CIO Deirdre Woods at the University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Wharton School. She and her team divide their time among a host of constituents, interests, and tasks, from working with faculty on research projects to supporting blogs where current students can share information and their views with prospective students. The pace and scope of all this might easily distract, sidetrack, and overwhelm even a high-energy individual like Woods, multiple times per day. But she and her staff live by one mantra: Focus on the institution's core mission. And from that focus, and the alignment it's ensured between IT and the school's business objectives comes a rich and collaborative environment where everyone can grow.

"We want to be seen as more than just the geeks who run the computers," comments Woods, so she works to provide career opportunities for Wharton graduates with top technology vendors; to develop computer simulations, games, and learning modules of real-world business scenarios; and, just for good measure, to build technology tools that have brought in significant revenue for Wharton.

Tune in to Tom Parish's lively conversation with a technology expert who extends IT's role far beyond just keeping the desktops running -- to entrepreneurship, to problem-based education, and to academic research -- and find out how she and her group take an active role in educating the CIOs and CEOs of tomorrow.

Resources

Powerful Partnerships: Here's how the Wharton School has leveraged IT vendor collaboration to reap unexpected rewards.

CIOS Make Project Management Skills a Priority

Bio

Deirdre Woods was named CIO and associate dean of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in 2004, having begun her career in IT at Wharton in 1990. In this role, Woods leads a 95-person organization at Wharton Computing in developing and maintaining technologies that further the School’s leadership in experience-based learning.

Production Credits

Dana Farver, Executive Producer, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer, Show Host
Kimberly Stone, Web Development Manager
Scott Ebner, Web Developer