IT Leader Appointed Chair of Higher Ed Nonprofit
Tracy Schroeder leads group representing 1,800 colleges and universities
BU’s top information technology administrator has been appointed chair of an international nonprofit association that helps universities use IT to improve education.
Tracy Schroeder, vice president for information services and technology, began serving at the helm of Educause in October. She has been a board member of the Colorado and Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit, which provides member institutions with research and data analysis, professional publications and conferences, online services, and teaching and learning initiatives, for the past three years.
“This appointment represents a rare opportunity to serve a remarkable community of professionals in higher education, all of whom are striving to transform their institutions in positive ways by leveraging technology,” Schroeder says. “Educause is an extraordinary organization that includes a diverse group of professionals.”
As chair of the 13-member board, Schroeder will help oversee the start of Educause’s just-adopted, five-year strategic plan. The plan, she says, will let all of the organization’s members have access to specific research, teaching, and learning content that heretofore has been available only through a separate subscription. She says the change will enable greater personalization, reimagined professional development, and expanded partnerships and collaborations. More than 1,800 colleges and universities, including BU, join 300-plus corporations, nonprofits, associations, and government agencies in Educause membership, allowing them to share IT strategy.
Chairing the board, Schroeder says, will require her to attend three board meetings in the next year, plus additional meetings and webcasts. She’ll also check in with the organization’s CEO “to advise and consult as needed.”
Schroeder’s appointment, says Jean Morrison, University provost and chief academic officer, “is a well-deserved recognition of her national leadership and serious engagement with the most relevant information technology issues facing higher education. Each day, Tracy is bringing and helping to implement important new ideas that advance teaching and learning through technology. We’re very proud of her and excited for what she will be able to accomplish in this new role.”
Schroeder came to BU in 2009 from the University of San Francisco, where she was IT vice president and chief information officer. She helped oversee the University’s BUworks initiative to modernize finance, budgeting, procurement, payroll, and human resource systems.
She is a graduate of Stanford and has a master’s degree from USF.
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