2020 UTO Highlights Illustrate Support of a Community of More than 100,000
What does it take to support a community of more than 100,000 during a global pandemic?
This past year found us addressing questions we didn’t know would exist in our lifetime. In a period of mandated physical and social distance, the boundless digital realm became our medium for authentic connections. Over the course of five months, the University Technology Office has enabled engaging learning experiences to persist -- and thrive -- in a new modality. We have created a next normal.
UTO family members have worked diligently to close the digital equity gap by providing thousands of laptops and hotspots; to train 3,000 faculty on key instructional tools; to keep the digital campus secure during particularly uncertain times; to build communities of support and uncover the silver linings across ASU -- and then amplify the voices of empowered students, faculty and staff far and wide.
While we suddenly had to shift our means of operating and supporting our community, it was apparent these changes were an expression of what UTO and ASU had been doing for years: leveraging the latest technology to deliver 21st century learning experiences. We have done so while continually reflecting on our culture and each of us becoming empowered stewards of it.
These 2020 UTO Highlights reflect the most pivotal moments in which our organization helped ASU make concrete strides in service of exemplifying the New American University -- a reconceptualization of the university comprehensive knowledge enterprise dedicated to the simultaneous pursuit of excellence, broad access to quality education and meaningful societal impact. Our strategic goals for FY20 were guided by these ideals.
Towards the mission of the New American University, the UTO solidified five arcs this year that focus on these impacts:
Learner Success: Empowering all learners through inclusive strategies and solutions that bolster achievement
Social + Economic Impact: Fostering culture and solutions to improve the wellbeing and mobility of our communities -- and world
Enterprise Experience: Accelerating capacity through operational optimization to foster extraordinary experiences across all ASU enterprises
Next-Gen Solutions: Architecting cutting-edge practices in research, security, data and learning
Visionary Leadership: Shaping the future through entrepreneurial thinking, empathy and community engagement to embrace tomorrow’s opportunities
As we continue to align the disruptive potential of technology to enable and catalyze the New American University, the culture we foster, the work we do, the partnerships we form -- and the stories we tell -- is first and foremost about meeting human need and shaping a better world together.