<Director of Information Technology>

Department:

Applied Health Sciences

Effective Date:

April, 2012

Grade:

USG 14

35 hr/wk

Reports to:

Executive Officer

General Accountability

The Information Technology (IT) Director is the senior IT specialist in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences (AHS) and is accountable to the Dean of AHS (or delegate). The IT Director must have broad knowledge of current and evolving information systems, technology and practice and more extensive skill and knowledge in areas relevant to the disciplines in AHS. The IT Director is responsible for strategic planning, provisioning and management of information technology and multi-media activities in AHS. The Director is expected to participate fully in the provision of these services to faculty, staff, students and researchers in AHS. In addition, the Director is expected to collaborate on all campus-wide IT projects and assume a leadership role in key projects affecting AHS.

Nature and Scope

The mandate of Applied Health Sciences Computing is to support the teaching, research and service activities of the faculty, staff, students and others affiliated with the Faculty. These activities encompass a wide variety of operations including (but not restricted to) strategic planning, hardware acquisition and maintenance, all aspects of software systems, security, network services, teaching and learning services, research. Integration into, and co-ordination with, the existing University of Waterloo information systems environment is a critical component of these activities. Close collaboration with IST and other Faculty computing units is essential to the success of IT-related processes and activities in AHS.

The IT Director serves as a focal point for all information system and technology activities in the Faculty. The IT Director is responsible for: personnel both in, and loaned to the Faculty, systems maintenance and upkeep, strategic planning, software and hardware acquisition and maintenance, network and cabling services, security, education, and consulting. The IT Director is expected to not just participate fully in campus-wide IT projects (such as the Learning Management System, Web Content Management System, Active Directory project and the like) but to initiate action and take a leadership role in the success of such projects.

Statistical Data

AHS Computing directly maintains the following hardware: a Faculty/Staff Administrative Solaris Server (for web support), a number of Windows Servers ( for active directory support, Symantec End-point Protection, Windows Update, a SAS server, a SQL server and other research machines), an ancillary FreeBSD server (for software distribution in the student computing labs), a Remote Desktop service (for remote student access), a Network Appliance storage server, four Waterloo Nexus student labs, six wiring closets (with connections for over 500 workstations), over 400 networked Windows and Apple workstations, and a wide range of specialised scientific data collection devices in the research areas.

Software and applications supported include: productivity tools (Microsoft Office), Internet tools (servers and clients for mail, web, news and ftp), statistical software (SPSS, SAS, nVivo), scientific computing (Labview, NIAD), graphics packages (Photoshop and CorelDraw), virus tools (Symantec Endpoint Protection and Microsoft Security Essentials), database applications (Access, Microsoft SQL), programming languages (C, Perl, Basic), printing tools (including accounting software), and others as are in use in the Faculty.

AHS is made up of two Departments, one School, several major research centres and a number of smaller research centres. There are approximately 60 full- and part-time faculty members, 120 staff (includes research staff), 1600 undergraduate students and 400 graduate students.

The current complement of staff in AHS Computing is: the IT Director, three full-time IT Specialists and one Co-op student assistant.

Specific Accountabilities

To manage Applied Health Sciences Computing, including supervision of staff as may be assigned to work in this Office by the Faculty or by Information Systems and Technology.
To provide training and professional development opportunities to IT Specialists in AHS to assist in the achievement of their career path objectives.
To direct the training and professional development activities
To ensure that all information systems and technology in the Faculty are maintained in accordance with their function and in accordance with the direction as set out by the AHS Information Systems and Technology Committee (AHS-IT), Computing Technology and Services Committee (CTSC) and the University Committee on Information Systems and Technology (UCIST). This includes fully functional, networked services for all faculty, staff and researchers in the Faculty.
To ensure that a fully functional, networked student computing environment is available to all students in Applied Health Sciences and that the environment is compatible with systems in other faculties.
To advise and make recommendations on all information technology purchases (hardware and software) in the Faculty and to advise to Information Systems and Technology (IST) on purchase of equipment affecting the Faculty.
To direct and provide instruction to faculty, staff and students in information technology usage by planning and organizing seminars and preparing other documentation and material for Faculty use.
To direct the development of software for instructional and research purposes. This task involves working directly with faculty members to write or adapt programmes for educational and scientific needs.
To represent AHS on internal IT committees, such as the AHS IT Committee and the AHS Web Committee. To represent AHS on campus-wide committees, specifically UCIST, CTSC, Web Advisory Committee (WAC), Waterloo Nexus Advisory Group (WNAG), Campus Network Services Committee (CNSC), and others as assigned by the Dean (or delegate).
Other duties as may be assigned from time to time by the Dean (or delegate).