IT Catalyst Program

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IT Catalyst Program

WMU’s IT Catalyst program is an application-based opportunity designed to provide members of the IT community with enhanced engagement, team building, problem-solving, personal growth, and organizational awareness-building experiences. Through these experiences, participants will grow their skills and relationships with the university community and apply their technical expertise to solve critical problems.

Individuals interested in being change agents and advocates for progress can apply for this program annually. Selected participants for each cohort help shape the methods of engagement that will be developed and applied for each term. The program will culminate with completing individual or group projects that align with and advance the fulfillment of elements within the IT strategic plan and institutional mission.

2024 IT Catalyst Team

  • Daren Ray, CRM System Administrator, Office of Information Technology
  • Joshua Enos, Director of Information Technology, College of Health and Human Services
  • Nathan Wollensak, Network Administrator, College of Health and Human Services
  • Tom Livermore, Project Manager IT, Office of Information Technology
  • Garald (Gary) Barton IV, Marketing Manager, Office of Information Technology
  • Alex Roelandt, Director of Information Technology, Haworth College of Business
  • Amy Vance, CRMS Analyst/Trainer, Office of Information Technology
  • Joseph Hill, Computer Support Technician, Office of Information Technology
  • Jason Barnes, Director of Information Technology, Enrollment Management
  • Kate Hennessy, OSP/CAD Telecom Specialist, Office of Information Technology
  • Matthew Burke, Network Engineer, Office of Information Technology
  • Adam Knight, Systems Engineer Senior, Office of Information Technology
  • Joshua Grant, Data Integration Specialist, Office of Information Technology
  • Chris Broomell, Systems Engineer, Office of Information Technology
  • Brandon Hamilton, Telecom Service Representative, Office of Information Technology
  • Bill Feenstra, Director of Information Technology and Director of Simulation Technology, College of Aviation
  • Jacob Neumann, Assistant Director Executive and Field Services, Office of Information Technology
  • Scott Centilli, Director of Educational Technology Services, College of Education and Human Development

Current Project

2024 IT Catalyst Listening Tour

Beginning in June 2024, the 2024 IT Catalyst team will be partnering with the WMUx Market Research team to conduct a listening tour.  The listening tour is aimed at strengthening relationships with campus stakeholders, understanding current challenges and opportunities, and actively solving existing or anticipated challenges through the application of IT expertise and resources.

Goals:

Fuel:  To build and strengthen institutional relationships by demonstrating a genuine desire to engage, understand the needs of stakeholders, and to extend a hand in partnership and solution provision.

Heat:  To boost awareness and appreciation of the members of the WMU IT community and broadcast the variety of solutions and talents that enable WMU to fulfill its mission. Tell our story: What is IT, what are our goals, how we strive to support the needs of WMU and its stakeholders.

Launch:  To identify a single or several IT-related problems to serve as the focus for the collective or multiple teams to adopt and address by the conclusion of the current IT Catalyst session.

Process:

Through a series of scheduled conversations with members of the WMU community, two-three members of the IT Catalyst team will ask you and your colleagues questions to elicit details on the current relationship with IT, the perceived value of current service delivery, outstanding and foreseeable needs related to IT, and details on how to best engage and provide a longstanding, positive rapport with each area.  Your honest feedback and open discussion are strongly encouraged.

Pre-meeting

Sessions will be proceeded by the distribution of preliminary questions and guidelines for discussion.  The intent is to prepare you and your colleagues so you have a clear understanding of the listening tour goals and the types of questions that will be asked.

Meeting

These interactive sessions will focus on listening to you and your colleagues as you share your needs, ideas, and concerns. IT Catalyst members will ask insightful follow-up questions and contribute their own ideas to gain a deeper understanding of the current situation and specific needs. A member of the WMUx Market Research team will be present at each session to capture the ideas, sentiments, and challenges being expressed.

Post-meeting

Following each meeting, a summary of salient points will be compiled and shared with all participants for review, clarification, and confirmation.  If there were needs conveyed for which a solution already exists, those details will be shared either during the session or in the post-session follow-up.

Analysis

The WMUx Market Research team will work with members of the IT Catalyst team to provide an analysis of the findings.  To effectively address requests, we will create a project scoring matrix to categorize and rank them based on importance, urgency, impact, and feasibility.  All findings, anticipated next steps and the status of projects will be shared on this site.