Grundy Reporter

University of Illinois System Senate Committee on Information Technology met Sept. 11.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

Present: Chair Mike Bohlmann, Masooda Bashir, Anita Chan, Jennifer Cromley, Matt Goodman, Rudolf Haken, Sean Mullen, Judith Pintar, Randall Sadler

Ex officio: Kelly Block, Greg Gulick

Absent: Cody Bainbridge, Adil Hussaini

Ex officio: Michel Bellini

Guests: Joe Barnes (Chief Privacy and Security Officer), Faye Jones (Chair of the Rokwire Data Privacy Advisory Committee)

I. CALL TO ORDER

A regular meeting of the Senate Committee on Information Technology (IT) was called to order at 3:02 pm with Chair Bohlmann presiding.

II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes of the April 10, 2020, meeting were approved as distributed.

III. PUBLIC COMMENT

No requests received.

IV. CHAIR’S REMARKS

Chair Bohlmann welcomed the committee to the new year and shared updates on Senate activity since the end of the spring semester. The vast majority of technology resources throughout the University have been moved to the COVID-19 pandemic response.

A privacy advisory committee was created in the summer by CIO Greg Gulick in response to IT.20.05. The committee’s initial focus was on the COVID-19 aspects of the Illinois app (formerly called Rokwire) and the Safer Illinois app.

V. OLD BUSINESS

IT.18.03, Qualtrics Licensing

Chair Bohlmann shared that this agenda item remained on the agenda to remind us all that this is still an unmet need for many researchers at the University. The funding that Technology Services was seeking to provide a Qualtrics service has stalled due to the increased costs and resources going into the pandemic response.

VI. NEW BUSINESS

IT.21.01, COVID-19 Technology Status

CIO Greg Gulick provided an update on the efforts of Technology Services to facilitate the University’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. National news media has covered

our efforts and our accomplishments, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is looking at our testing regime. The Digital Ecosystem Leadership Team (DELTA) has been created to coordinate decision-making related to data and technology. Broader data privacy has already become a topic of discussion.

Associate Vice President Kelly Block shared that AITS has partnered with Carle to scale the University’s testing program to the rest of the state. Several other universities and others are interested in setting up their own testing using the University of Illinois’s model. The goal is to complete 2.5 million tests per month starting in January.

IT.21.02, Privacy and Rokwire Follow-up

Joe Barnes and Faye Jones informed the committee on the activities of the Rokwire (Illinois Instance) Data Privacy Advisory Committee. Faye Jones is the chair of the committee. The committee is an opportunity to work on the gap areas around privacy policy, and the Safer Illinois and Illinois apps are being used to help find a model for future approaches to privacy. Data governance has become an obvious issue in conversations in the DELTA committee. How do we take requests to get access to data? How do we shepherd requests down the right path? How do we enable research to happen?

Joe Barnes reported that his office is once again searching for a Director of Privacy. With that effort and the conversations around privacy, Barnes wants input on how to move forward on the privacy policy effort that Senate IT requested in IT.20.06. Cromley acknowledged that we are weighing the costs and benefits of giving up privacy for the common good. Pintar appreciated that we have moved the privacy conversation substantially forward since May.

VII. ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 2:23 pm.

https://uofi.app.box.com/v/InformationTechnology/file/729783737705