Allan Chen is the Vice President for Institute Technology and Chief Technology Officer at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA.
As VP-IT/CTO, Allan is responsible for the strategic planning and technology portfolio for the Institute. This includes central, administrative IT, infrastructure, and support services. He also coordinates with the technology staff in the Institute's 6 schools to create a cohesive plan for technology moving into the future.
Prior to CalArts, Allan was the Associate Vice President for Academic Technology at California State University, Northridge. As AVP for Academic Technology, Allan was reponsible for areas that primarily interacted directly with the end user. The Faculty Technology Center manages the LMS and works directly with faculty on instrictional technology. The User Support Services group includes the IT Help Center, Classroom Support, and Desktop Services. The Universal Design Center supports and advocates for accessibility for all for the entire campus faculty and staff populations. Finally, Data & Analytics works on data visualization and dashboards for best understanding our operations.
Prior to CSUN, Allan Chen was the Chief Information Officer for Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, and the Chief Information Officer at Menlo College in Atherton, CA. He has also filled leadership roles at the Santa Clara University School of Law and within the Academic Computing department at Stanford University. He has spent his entire career in higher education and Information Technology.
Allan has been a member of the EDUCAUSE Board of Directors since 2021.
Allan has made numerous presentations and regularly writes on technology and leadership in higher education. Along with EDUCAUSE, Allan has been involved with the Special Interest Group for University and College Computing Services (SIGUCCS), part of ACM. He has been a member since 2005 and has made multiple presentations at both the Management Symposium and the Service and Support Conference. He served as Treasurer for the 2012 and 2013 conferences, and as a member of the Executive Committee, the overall governing body, for 2 terms. Allan has also been on the Information Services Advisory Group for the Law School Admission Council. Allan is a Fellow with the Leading Change Institute, and a graduate of both the Leadership Program and the Learning Technology Programs of the EDUCAUSE Institute.
Allan has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.
Allan can be found online mostly on LinkedIn
For this issue of the 7 Things, we asked a set of seven community leaders—who come from different walks of life in the community—to offer a short meditation on the evolution of the profession.
The EDUCAUSE Top-Ten IT Issues represent an average of many opinions, leaving the question, What might an individual institution do to address the issues on the list?
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