I build teams that stay.
I lead three teams that do very different work: teaching and learning technology, classroom and event support, and AV design. Together, they support the technology faculty depend on every day.
My job is bigger than managing those teams. It’s building the conditions in which good people can do good work, making sure the work connects to the institution’s larger goals, and knowing when to get out of the way.
- Stay
-
People don’t leave my teams; they get promoted out of them. I want people to build enough expertise and confidence that their next opportunity is bigger than the job they started with. Sometimes that means they stay with me for a long time. Sometimes it means I have to be genuinely happy for them when they move on.
Both count as success.
- Build
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Make the thing. Make it work. Then make it sustainable. The 200-classroom hybrid upgrade. The five-day pivot to remote in March 2020. The ePortfolios platform that became Chapman’s institutional Tenure & Promotion review system.
I like projects that solve a real problem, have a clear finish line, and leave people with something they can actually use.
- Serve
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Faculty know who to call. The team knows why it matters. Good service isn’t just answering the ticket. It’s understanding what the person is actually trying to accomplish, then getting them there with as little friction as possible.
What the faculty member is trying to do with the technology is usually more interesting than the technology itself.
1,200 faculty
trained during the five-day pivot to remote
3,000+ courses
migrated in less than a week
200 classrooms
upgraded in a $2M capital project
11 staff
across three functional teams
Institution-wide systems
including Canvas, ePortfolios, AI tooling, classroom technology, and faculty support
Campus-wide initiatives
including the AI Task Force, Faculty IT Technology Advisory Board, accessibility initiatives, and faculty development
Three groups, eleven people.
Instructional Technology
4 · FTE
Canvas, AI tooling, faculty learning design, and all the little things that help teaching work when the technology underneath it is complicated.
Media Services
5 · FTE
Classroom support, event production, and the live infrastructure faculty rely on when there is no “try turning it off and on again” window.
Classroom AV Design
2 · FTE
Hybrid-room engineering and the long arc of campus AV: spec, build, refresh, repeat.
“Jana’s leadership skills were a major factor in the success of the university’s pivot to temporary online delivery. Jana and her team received a special award from the faculty in recognition of their efforts — something that had never happened during the history of the university.”
“From our early days supporting the university’s learning management system to her leadership as Assistant Vice President of Educational Technology, Jana has always had an incredible ability to balance strategic vision with genuine care for the people around her.”
The teams build the things. My job is to make sure they can.
- Can do the work.
- Can make decisions.
- Can tell me when I’m wrong.
- Can take the next opportunity when it comes along.
- And, ideally, can build something better than what I would have built myself.