About the Office of Technology Services

 

The Office of Technology Services:

• Provides the highest level of cost-effective technology support possible to students, faculty and staff.  
• Stays current with technology advancements. 
• Creates resources to help promote the understanding and use of technology. 
• Provides technology training resources.
• Helps faculty, staff and students understand how to help themselves. 
• Provides leadership in instructional technology, resources, and services. 
• Communicates changes and improvements in campus technology. 
• Communicates answers to frequently asked questions and concerns. 
• Seeks ideas and suggestions for improving the delivery of technology services. 
• Proposes and implements changes that will take advantage of the evolution of technology to provide a more productive environment and better user experience. 
• Provides guidance to faculty, staff and students in selecting and adopting secure and sustainable technologies and applications. 
• Assesses and manages security risks associated with University information assets, technology and applications. 
• Connects the campus community to technology resources, ensuring they are available when and where they are needed.
• Facilitates, guides and manages campus technology initiatives aligned with Towson University’s strategic direction.  
• Works toward meeting or exceeding compliance with national and international technology and information security standards. 

OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

Mission Statement

The Office of Technology Services provides leadership and support for the University’s strategic direction by leveraging technologies and resources to foster student success, academic achievement, and institutional excellence within a culture of service, innovation, and collaboration.

Strategic Goals

The overreaching strategic goals of the Office of Technology Services include:

1. Maintain a flexible, responsive, and program-focused educational technology environment in which faculty and students can confidently use available resources, explore new teaching and learning strategies, and take advantage of creative and innovative opportunities.
2. Support responsive student-centered services, streamlined business processes, scalable and efficient operations, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness through the development of integrated, high-functioning, and flexible information systems.
3. Leverage technology to advance the University digital strategy in support of fostering greater connection, communication, and collaboration among internal and external constituents.
4. Provide high-performing, useful, secure, and well-supported technology infrastructure and resources by stressing strategy, coordination, planning, communication reliability, customer service responsiveness, and staff development.
5. Support Towson University's inclusion, effectiveness and efficiency goals by providing digital accessibility consultation services to campus workgroups and the university community.

OTS Units

The Office of Technology Services (OTS) is comprised of units working together to ensure the technological success of Towson University students, faculty, and staff. Together, these units offer responsiveness, services and quality support to keep the campus—and our technology—working. 

Behind TU’s technology are many talented and highly skilled professionals with expertise in computing operations, IT project management, networking, telecommunications, application development, information security, finance, customer service, support and other technology-related areas. See how OTS units are organized and the functions (PDF) they perform. 

The Office of the CIO

The Office of the CIO provides strategic planning and guidance for OTS as an organization and engages with the campus and executive leadership to ensure efforts are aligned with university priorities. The CIO leads and directs the Office of Technology Services; responsible for providing leadership and direction for the university's Information Technology, supporting the academic and student experience, digital transformation aligning with future-oriented goals for modernization, user experience, and ensuring a secure and compliant technology environment across campus. This team also performs financial, business and administrative support services for all OTS staff. 

Academic Technology & Customer Service (ATCS)

ATCS provides a wide range of services focused on students and their academic success. This team focuses on student-facing technologies, multi-media video conferencing technologies, classroom support and planning for faculty, and the student technology engagement program (student organizations). ATCS leads engagement and outreach with colleges and student organizations in support of academic technology planning and programs. ATCS is comprised of The Student Computing Services Help Desk, the Faculty/Staff Help Center and Field Support,  Classroom and Computer Lab Technologies, Blackboard, Digital Accessibility, ResNet, Engineering Project & Services and AV and Digital Media teams. 

Client Services (CS)

Client Services provides a range of support services to the university community. The OTS Faculty/Staff Help Center offers telephone, walk-in and online support. The Field Support team's three campus precincts serve as a base of operations for on-site service calls to campus offices. 

Digital Experience Technology (DET)

This group designs and improves the way the campus experiences technology. DET is responsible for development and support of Salesforce, TU’s official platform of engagement, and the Towson University website.  

Enterprise & Infrastructure Services (EIS)

EIS provides technology infrastructure and is responsible for the central computing systems, Internet services, wired/wireless networks, and the phone and tv infrastructure that the campus relies on every day. In addition, the team is responsible for managing NetIDs, email, enterprise application platforms, file storage, collaboration systems, managed desktops, server and database hosting, storage, and support of a large collection of business applications and system integrations. EIS also provides Telecom administration, account provisioning support and manages the Operations Center, which monitors the health of IT services and infrastructure, ensuring issues and requests are addressed in a timely manner.

Enterprise Applications & Analytics (EAA)

EAA supports university-wide business systems that allow students, faculty, and staff to perform administrative tasks. Systems supported include Stratus Financials, PeopleSoft, TU’s official system of record - including Human Capital Management and Campus Solutions. This team also provides services to support university-wide information and analytics and a range of business applications including business intelligence dashboards. 

Information Security (OIS)

From both a technological and policy perspective, the OIS promotes data security, security policy compliance and safe computing practices across campus business units and academic departments. 

Planning & Project Management Office (PPMO)

The PPMO guides technology projects that are in alignment with university strategic goals, enabling OTS to support the success of faculty, staff, and students. The Project Management Office (PMO) team within the PPMO receives, facilitates and manages technology-related requests for the campus.