Biography

Jarret Cummings serves as a policy specialist in the EDUCAUSE Washington Office. In this role, he advocates on behalf of higher education IT in relevant legislative and regulatory contexts, especially federal, and collaborates with representatives of EDUCAUSE member institutions to promote and facilitate effective, consistent institutional IT policies.

Cummings previously served as Special Assistant to the President of EDUCAUSE. In this capacity, he supported the president in assessing strategic and tactical issues and identifying and implementing appropriate solutions. He also supported the president's outreach efforts and managed special projects as assigned. Prior to this role, he served EDUCAUSE as Program Administrator for the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). In that position, he contributed to ELI strategic and operational planning while working with other staff members to plan and implement ELI activities, services, and resources.

Before joining ELI, Cummings worked for SunGard Collegis in information technology (IT) strategic planning, institutional strategic planning, and general management consulting. His clients included colleges and universities of all types. He focused on helping institutions link their technological progress to the achievement of their missions and strategic objectives, including their goals for advancing teaching and learning through technology.

Cummings began his career as a program analyst working with higher education grant programs at the U.S. Department of Education. After completing a master’s in public administration at Syracuse University, he joined the staff of the Executive Vice Chancellor of the California State University System to coordinate a system-wide strategic planning task force. Following that, Cummings worked with the University of North Carolina system as special projects director and later as special assistant to the system CIO. In those roles, he managed system-wide IT strategic planning and network infrastructure planning projects. He also analyzed state and federal IT policy issues for the system president and CIO and coordinated the CIO’s participation in the state’s joint select committee on information technology.

In addition to the MPA, Cummings holds a bachelor’s in philosophy from Southwestern University. His personal interests include weight training and motorcycling.

EDUCAUSE Involvement

Publications

Online Learning Challenges: State Authorization, Federal ...

Departments

October 2011

Presentations

Blogs