On the day of our interview, Helen Chu had been in Eugene only three weeks and on the job only three days, but already our new director of academic information services was feeling very much at home. "I'm excited to be here. It feels like a good place to be for a very long time," she said.

This is a serious compliment considering that Chu, who comes to us from sunny San Luis Obispo, first arrived on campus during a violent rain and wind storm of historic proportions.

Chu brings with her an impressive array of skills in academic information technology development and administrative computing acquired over the past decade. Most recently, she was director of library information technology at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, where she spearheaded the creation of the Learning Commons, launched new online search services, and developed an Internet2 faculty research and development lab.

Prior to her tenure at Cal Poly, she served as associate director of web development and strategy at Columbia University in New York, where she developed an integrated web and print presence and helped launch online events scheduling, content management systems, a course bulletin editor, ticket tracking, and online advising for faculty and students. Chu earned her M.A. in French at UCLA, where she taught French and worked with faculty as an instructional technologist.

Along with her academic technology savvy, Chu has valuable experience in working with a variety of people to meet the technology needs of large institutions. Developing collaborative relationships between diverse groups of stakeholders is one of her specialties, and she looks forward to facilitating collaborative IT efforts at the University of Oregon. "There's a really great opportunity for collaboration here," she says, "Everyone is so dedicated. They all have their hearts in the right place and really want to help students and faculty succeed."

In fact, it was the UO staff's creativity, dedication, and commitment to excellence she perceived on her early visits here that ultimately lured her away from a good job, sunny climate, and "a really great childcare situation" in San Luis Obispo.

Chu is also looking forward to being a part of the Information Services division itself."Information Services is both in the front lines and in the back room, and it's central to UO operations. It's a huge privilege and responsibility to be a part of that," she says.

Chu anticipates that being a newcomer will enable her to contribute a fresh perspective to our operations. Since beginning her new job on December 3, she's embarked on an intensive learning and listening tour of campus departments and administrative units, talking with tech support personnel and administrators and getting acquainted with her fellow directors and her Academic Information Services team.

Chu is eager to gather perspectives and ideas from everyone, and she is also looking forward to working with faculty and students to address their current technology needs and desires.

Not surprisingly, Chu's calendar has been rapidly filling up since she arrived in December, but feel free to contact her to arrange a meeting or email a comment if you want to share feedback on academic technology issues. Chu's email address is helenc@uoregon.edu.