w. alvin chai --
chief information technology officer

If history is destiny, W. Alvin Chai, Southern's chief information technology officer, was born to work in higher education. Chai's mother was one of the first eight women to attend a coeducational university in China; his father, a Ph.D., wrote more than 20 books on philosophy. "They met as exchange students and married on the campus of Wittenberg University," recounts Chai, one of three brothers to earn a Ph.D., Chai's own from Polytechnic University.

Clearly, education is extremely important to the Chai family. And as Chai's appointment at Southern proves, technology is extremely important to today's educators. Several years ago, Southern reorganized several areas -- academic computing, administrative computing, and telecommunications -- under a single umbrella: the Office of Information Technology. Chai is the first to oversee the office, succeeding Edward C. Harris who held the head technology position on an interim basis.

Chai brings a wealth of experience, having served, among other positions, as a senior vice president in charge of software development and a computer science professor at Montclair State. Most recently, Chai was with Bay Path College where he was a professor and chair of information technology and director of the information services department.

Among Chai's initiatives has been the establishment of a centralized Help Desk/Call Center to serve faculty and administrators, clients previously handled by separate offices. The Help Desk is the contact point for everything from computer installation requests to problems with equipment.

Chai has also overseen the creation of a multimedia faculty technology lab. The laboratory, part of a comprehensive faculty technology resources center, helps educators use technology to enhance their teaching. Designed for computer experts as well as novices, the lab provides everything from access to digital cameras to the equipment and training needed to create multimedia presentations. "If you want to use technology in the classroom, you must be willing to become a student," says Chai, stressing the importance of technology to today's students. "Their introduction to technology begins with kindergarten or earlier. Of all my children (Chai is the father of five), my youngest son is the most critical of teachers who aren't using technology. But, then again, he knows PowerPoint better than I do."

Because his son's aptitude for technology is not unusual, Chai stresses the importance of creating a "technology rich" campus and marketing Southern as such to prospective students.

Chai concedes that the Office of Information Technology faces distinct challenges, most notably, limited space on campus and the difficulty of attracting and retaining technology employees who can be lured by the high wages offered by corporate America. However, "the technology people here are exceptional and very loyal to Southern," says Chai.