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Initiative VIII

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‌Attract, Retain and Empower Technology Team Members

UTech plays a vital role in the success of Case Western Reserve University. As we address the needs of CWRU, we recognize that UTech’s success depends on the commitment and talent of its staff. The division provides meaningful recognition to those who excel in their roles, as well as opportunities for growth and advancement.

It is paramount to attend to and invest in “the human element” in order to make our other investments effective. Through a deliberate effort to promote diversity in the workplace, UTech seeks to improve our multi-generational team of professionals to move CWRU into the future. We strive to attract and retain highly skilled individuals to help empower our service delivery efforts.

Success Stories

Every member of UTech is invited to participate in ongoing DiSC training that provides an understanding of work styles to enable more effective and productive working relationships, along with strategies to communicate, collaborate and work more effectively as a team.

The assessment leads to individual profiles that categorize interaction styles into four major quadrants: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness. Ongoing training is provided to all staff along with periodic refreshers on how the profiles can be utilized to promote productive interactions with colleagues and identify areas for development.

Believing in the value of developing future leaders of the division, UTech’s senior leadership team invested in the MOR Leaders Program to provide an industry-recognized, group  training initiative focused on strategic leadership development over the span of a year.

Twenty-seven UTech managers and directors participated and graduated from the comprehensive program and are now “paying forward” the methodologies and teachings of the MOR program with their staff members and UTech new hires.

The MOR sessions addressed interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, building relationships, mapping networks, the leader’s role in delivering results, developing measures in higher education, leadership as performance art and coaching for breakthrough.

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Women tend to leave technical professions at twice the rate of their male colleagues. UTech is committed to maintaining a diverse organization of talented men and women and providing many training opportunities to make that a reality. With this in mind, UTech invested in its female workforce by sponsoring participants in Weatherhead’s Leadership Lab for Women in STEM.

This program was recently highlighted in a Forbes article for effectively helping participants articulate career visions. This process motivates individuals that are “more likely to be engaged in their work and committed to the profession.”

  • Encouraged staff engagement through staff-organized and-led Affinity Groups
  • Recruited 29 IT professionals into various staff and leadership positions in a market where demand exceeds supply
  • Initiated a system where cross-trained technicians in the CWRU School of Law, the Weatherhead School of Management and the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences can assist and provide backup for each other
  • Invested to provide seats for UTech staff in the Dively Executive Education program
  • Improved various office and common spaces to enhance worker experience as part of UTech’s space optimization initiative

University Technology, UTech, defines professional development as the continuous process of acquiring new knowledge and skills that relate to one’s profession, job responsibilities or work environment. UTech is committed to maintaining trained, informed and motivated employees, regardless of job classification.

2016/2017 Training Opportunities and Conferences:

  • A.L.I.C.E Training
  • Amazon Web Services Conference
  • Business Writing Refresher
  • Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation
  • COE Forum Executive Summit
  • Compliance Training
  • D2L Fusion 2016 Conference
  • Dell/EMC World Education Conference
  • DevLearn
  • DiSC Training/Assessment
  • DiSC Training/Refresher Activity
  • EAB Workshop
  • Educause Fall Conference
  • Educause Security Professionals Conference
  • Fred Pryor Seminars Business Writing Class
  • Gartner Finance Summit
  • Global Knowledge, CCNA Course
  • Google Next 2017 Institute
  • HEUG
  • HR - Organizational Development + Learning
  • InstructureCon 2016
  • Internet2 Global Conference
  • Internet2 Technology ExchangeIT Financial Management Conference
  • IT Playbook Training
  • Leadership Lab for Women in STEM
  • MOR Leadership Conference
  • NAB Conference
  • NASASPS Annual Conference 2017
  • Next Generation Learning Spaces Conference
  • Online Learning Consortium
  • Planning, Scheduling + Controlling, + Stakeholder Mgmt
  • Project and Portfolio Management
  • Project Management for IT + Business Analysis
  • Puppet Enterprise Fundamentals
  • Securing the Human Online Training
  • Splunk Conference
  • SuperComputing 2016
  • University Professional + Continuing Education Association (UPCEA)
  • UPCEA 25th Annual Marketing + Enrollment Mgt Seminar
  • WCET Annual Conference
  • Weatherhead School of Management – Dively Exec Ed Training
  • Weatherhead School of Management Affiliate Program