We kicked off the 2021 Michigan IT Symposium with remarks from Vice President for IT and CIO Ravi Pendse and a panel discussion with DEI leaders from across Michigan IT.
Foundational to “moving forward together” is our ability to create inclusive and diverse environments for collaboration, involvement, and engagement. This panel focused on the role of technology in DEI.
Leadership Conversation Panelists
- Ravi Pendse, Vice President for Information and Technology and Chief Information Officer
- Phillip Deaton, Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX Office
- Ryan Henyard, Inclusion & Justice for the Center for Academic Innovation
- Diane Jones, Information and Technology Services
Biographies
Ravi Pendse, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer
The University of Michigan Board of Regents appointed Ravi Pendse, Ph.D. as vice president for information technology and chief information officer effective August 1, 2018.
Dr. Pendse serves as an executive officer of the university and provides university-wide leadership and strategic direction for information technology.
Dr. Pendse has extensive experience as a successful and collaborative university leader, most recently as Brown University’s vice president for computing and information services and chief information officer. He has also been a professor, researcher, teacher and advisor to students. His successes include securing more than $21 million in external research grants, developing university courses, earning several teaching awards, and publishing numerous scholarly articles and papers co-authored by students.
Dr. Pendse holds a B.S. in electronics and communication engineering from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Wichita State University.
Phillip Deaton, Digital Information Accessibility Coordinator for the Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX (ECRT) Office
As the Digital Information Accessibility Coordinator, Phil provides guidance and support around making information technology and digital content accessible for individuals with disabilities. Phil partners with various U-M units and groups to move forward digital accessibility initiatives and works with various groups internationally, nationally, and locally to research the best ways to provide equal access to technology.
Phil has a Master’s degree in Digital Rhetoric & Professional Writing and a Bachelor’s degree in Professional Writing and Creative Writing from Michigan State University, where he studied digital accessibility, organizational studies/theories, information design, web design, and disability studies. Phil previously was the digital accessibility coordinator and a fixed-term instructor of disability studies at Michigan State University. Phil enjoys promoting disability culture and justice, playing video games and disc golf with friends, staying up to date on web and application development, and hanging out with his partner, and their fierce cat, Shmuly.
Ryan Henyard, Learning Experience Designer for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice at the Center for Academic Innovation
Ryan Henyard is the Learning Experience Designer for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice (DEIJ) at the Center for Academic Innovation. In his position, he consults on broader issues relating to faculty partners and assists in the planning and facilitation of events and workshops, discussion groups, and community groups. He works to create valuable innovation experiences for U-M faculty, with a focus on building community, ensuring faculty well-being, and creating mutually beneficial partnerships. Henyard is also actively engaged in the center’s efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion and has served as a DEI Implementation lead or co-lead at MSIS, HITS and now CAI. Through this role, he serves on a number of campus committees and works with a wide range of partner units on outreach and social justice issues.
Ryan created and led design for the Police Brutality in the United States Teach-Out and subsequent Community Awareness Course on Coursera in 2020, reaching over 6,500 learners around the globe in a course that brought together faculty, community experts, students, activists and legislators to dive deep into a pernicious social problem when the world needed it most. Henyard also co-created the Envisioning an Anti-Racist World Design Challenge alongside colleagues from the Arts Initiative, ODEI, Extended Reality Initiative, and the Center for Socially Engaged Design, and served as a mentor for the various teams of student innovators.
Ryan is active in many educational outreach efforts in the state of Michigan and engages in bilateral partnerships with various service organizations that address societal issues, including the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, Gamers Outreach foundation, Wolverine Pathways program and others. He serves as a trustee for Avalon Housing, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing housing as a human right in Washtenaw County, and was named as a Champions for Change fellow in 2021 in Washtenaw County by the Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW) organization.
Ryan was featured in the Staff Spotlight: Ryan Henyard on Bringing Important New Voices into the Conversation.
Diane Jones, Executive Director of ITS Administration and the Office of the Vice President for IT and CIO
Diane is the Executive Director for ITS Administration. Her responsibilities include planning, allocation, and management of all functions in our finance, human resource, facilities, workforce & org. development, Program management and communication areas.
Previously, Diane worked in Detroit Public Schools for six years as Chief Information and Strategic Officer and served as an executive cabinet member of the district leadership. There, she managed a team of professionals who were accountable for the delivery of all information technology services that supported the achievement of Detroit Public Schools' goals and instructional priorities. Prior to this, she worked for 10 years as a program director for Compuware Corporation at Ford Motor Company. She managed one of the largest clients in Compuware Corporation's professional services portfolio, Ford Motor Co., North America, Europe and Germany IT Sourcing and Management operations, a $100 million account. She also implemented business management systems standards that received the Ford Q1 award and the ISO 9001:2000 certification. Prior to Compuware, Diane worked as the associate director for the Office of University Budget at Wayne State University. Her responsibilities included the planning and implementation of major operational activities and serving on a task force overseeing the implementation of the Finance, Budget, and Human Resource systems. Finally, Diane worked for nine years as Manager in the Financial Planning department at AAA Michigan. She was responsible for managing the planning, collecting, analyzing and reporting processes relative to loss reserves, budget, forecast, the balanced scorecard, and capital acquisitions.
Diane has received many outstanding awards, including the 2019 Women of the Year in Technology award from the Michigan Women in Technology Foundation, 2014 Women of Excellence Award in March 2014 from the Michigan Chronicle, the Ford Q1 award - ISO 9001:2000 certification in April 2007 from Ford Motor Company, the Flame of Inspiration Award in February 2008 from Compuware Corporation, the Presidential Award for high achievement from Wayne State University, and was recognized as a Leader in the Corporate Community in the second and third editions of Who’s Who in Black Detroit.
Diane is actively engaged in industry and professional organizations, and has served on numerous boards including the Michigan Women in Technology Foundation, National Advisory Council on ConnectED NACC, Community Telecommunications Network (CTN), the Council of Great City Schools (CGCS), the RTM Business Group Advisory Council, CIO Congress and Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice (DWEJ).
Diane's achievements in innovation and education were recognized by the Gartner Group in a white paper as helping to transform the learning environment. (“Road Notes on Supporting Collaborative Education: Starting With Students” G00254937). As a member of the advisory council Diane wrote an article about the digital divide in the white house education initiative in June 2013.
Diane was also asked to contribute to the CIO Review Magazine in October 2015 on the Cloud – A Game Changer for the Education Industry.