"Hamilton's leadership position in information technology services can be traced directly to Dave Smallen's vision and understanding for how these resources support teaching and learning," said college President Eugene M. Tobin. "Those on campus who have worked with Dave over the past 26 years recognize that this prestigious award is richly deserved."
Smallen has been a leader in the technology management profession for more than two decades, in a career characterized by a focus on partnerships and collaboration. In the late 1970s he provided Hamilton, a small liberal arts college, with large-scale university computing resources by forging a connection to Cornell University. In the early 1980s he became a leader in two highly regarded national associations, Educom and CAUSE. He led both the Educom Computer Literacy Initiative and the Educom Higher Education Data Sharing Project (HEDS). As a member of the CAUSE Board he championed the formation of the professional development activity that evolved into the EDUCAUSE Institute, and he currently serves as director of the Leadership Institute.
In 1988, while serving on both the CAUSE and Educom Boards, he was a member of the committee that created the original "CAUSE/Educom Evaluation Guidelines for Institutional Information Technology Resources," an important step in developing benchmarks for educational institutions to use in evaluating their IT commitments. His most recent work in this arena, the COSTS project for understanding the true costs of information technology support services (with Colgate University CIO Karen Leach), has attracted the participation of over 100 institutions.
Smallen has mentored and worked cooperatively with many IT professionals over the years, especially his colleagues in the Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges (CLAC) in which he has played a leading role. He shares his work and energies freely. His numerous professional publications, conference presentations, and on-campus consultations and accreditation visits have influenced the infusion of technology into the academic community and born witness to his rare combination of vision, reasonableness, persuasiveness, humor and common sense.
Responding to Smallen's selection for this award, EDUCAUSE President Brian L. Hawkins noted that "Dave Smallen has been an important voice for IT in higher education for nearly 20 years. In addition, his voice for small colleges has been instrumental in shaping the directions of Educom, CAUSE, and now EDUCAUSE. His contributions are numerous, most recently as the very effective director and part of the faculty of the Leadership Program of the EDUCAUSE Institute."
Recognition activities will take place in Nashville on October 12 at the EDUCAUSE annual conference, a forum for more than 5,000 professionals involved in the management of information resources in higher education. A $2,000 contribution that accompanies the award is being made in Smallen's name to the Steven Daniel Smallen Memorial Scholarship at Mohawk Valley Community College. The scholarship, given in memory of a talented young naturalist and artist, is awarded annually to students who show academic promise, need and community service.
The EDUCAUSE Award for Leadership in the Profession is part of a program that honors professionals for leadership in several areas. Others recognized this year are: for lifetime Excellence in Leadership, Ira H. Fuchs, vice president for research in information technology at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; for Leadership in the Profession (the second award in this category for 2000), Jerry Niebaum, assistant vice chancellor for information services at the University of Kansas; and for Leadership in Information Technologies, Jeffrey I. Schiller, network manager at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Winners are selected by the EDUCAUSE Recognition Committee, consisting of higher education technology professionals selected for their breadth of experience and understanding in their fields.
Descriptions of the awards and winners are on the EDUCAUSE Web site at http://www.educause.edu/awards/.
With membership of more than 1,750 colleges, universities, and education organizations and more than 180 corporations, EDUCAUSE is one of the preeminent associations addressing the complex issues that attend the incorporation of information technologies and resources into the higher education mission and functions. The association has offices in Washington, D.C., and Boulder, Colo.
The Leadership Award program is sponsored by SCT, an EDUCAUSE corporate member and Platinum Partner.
