On Wednesday, August 2, campus information technology (IT) professionals gathered for the annual Continuous Improvement in Technology (CIT) Conference. Several sessions this year revolved around the advancement and use of artificial intelligence (AI), including the general session, “Generative AI: Exploring the Landscape,” given by David Bruce, executive partner with Gartner. According to Kevin Hand, executive director of the Office of Technology Solutions, Gartner for Tech Professionals “provides in-depth information and research for campus IT professionals in domains including technical planning and decision-making, architecture and design, and technology assessment.”
Bruce’s talk included a fascinating example of the topic he was addressing—the story of AI, told by AI and illustrated by AI. Bruce had ChatGPT 4 create a fable-like short story about where AI came from and how it works. He then used the example to parse benefits and drawbacks of the technology, including the biases built into the system.
There were a variety of sessions in three time slots to choose from the morning of the conference. Participants were able to attend in person or virtually, and there were networking opportunities throughout the day to meet with fellow colleagues from across campus. After lunch, everyone gathered to hear Bruce’s general session and IT News from Tech Solutions and other areas of campus, before breaking out to attend one last session of the day.
While most of the sessions were from IT professionals at Illinois State University, participants were also able to attend talks on an empathetic approach to leadership from Alyssa Crull, general manager with Tesla, Inc. in Bloomington, and information on the efforts of a town-and-gown collaboration from members of the Bloomington-Normal Innovation Alliance, including Charley Edamala, CIO and associate vice president at Illinois State University.
Jim Johnson, part of the Cloud, Compute, and Authentication services (CCA) team in Tech Solutions, was recognized as the CIT MVP Award winner this year. His supervisor, Majeed Abu-Qulbain, wrote of Johnson in his nomination, “[Jim] brings an arsenal of experience with him. His work ethic is amazing. He cares so much, not just about himself and about the team, but about ISU as well. He’s always looking out for the University. He wants to keep ISU ahead of its peers.” He thanked Johnson for his passion and for all that he’s done to move our campus forward.
Brian Bertalot from the Enterprise Data and Analytics (EDA) team and Gary Short from the Endpoint Support team were also nominated this year for the MPV Award.
Mike Regilio, CIT planning committee member and director of the College of Arts and Sciences IT department, noted, “The planning committee was very pleased with attendance and collaboration in this year’s CIT Annual Conference. We had a great lineup of speakers, from both ISU colleagues and external partners, and attendees tell us they appreciated the insights gained throughout the day.”
CITx, the CIT half-day extension event, is set to be held in February 2024. Deadlines for session proposals and nominations for the CIT Student MVP Award will be announced at a later date.
