About Michigan IT

Michigan IT is not a department, but a community. More than 2,600 IT staff work on all U-M campuses, schools and colleges, libraries, research institutes, Michigan Medicine, and administrative units. Hundreds more are in leadership and IT-related roles or have a strong interest in IT at U-M. See the list of campus IT providers.

The Michigan IT program is led by the Michigan IT Steering Committee and sponsored by the Office of the VPIT-CIO to build community, foster skills & professional development, and promote innovation across U-M’s IT professionals.

Mission

Michigan IT helps increase the impact of technology at U-M through collaboration, promotion, and supporting technology professionals and advocates throughout the university.

Michigan IT Objectives

  • Workforce: Provide opportunities for people across U-M to develop and enhance technology capabilities and skills. Contribute to recruiting and retaining a diverse and inclusive community of technology professionals.
  • Collaboration: Help build and nurture relationships that support continuous learning and accelerate value creation for our University of Michigan community.
  • Innovation:  Explore and leverage new technologies, showcase novel/new/unique solutions, and collaboratively solve problems using innovative approaches.
  • Promotion:  Share and promote the impact provided by the U-M technology community.

Branding & Templates

The Michigan IT brand falls under the umbrella of the overarching U-M guidelines. U-M IT staff may use the Michigan IT wordmark as appropriate in the course of Michigan IT sponsored activities.

Background

In 2012, a team of university leaders engaged with the IT community for the purpose of defining a strategic vision with an emphasis on mission-aligned services. This led the publication of a planning report incorporating more than 380 recommendations from the IT community, and Michigan IT's inclusion in the university’s IT Strategic Plan.

A program of initiatives followed, including an intensive on-campus leadership development program for over 100 top IT leaders and managers, an annual university-wide IT Symposium including over one hundred posters and dozens of presentations showcasing the best of Michigan IT, dozens of peer-led communities of practice organized around very specific and strategically aligned IT topics, an annual hackathon to enable rapid cross-campus creativity on pressing needs, and more.

These initiatives created the foundation of today's vibrant Michigan IT community.