Securing Data for Enhancing Student Success

John Rathje, Vice President, Information and Technology, and CIO, at Kent State University

John Rathje, is the Vice President of Information and Technology, and CIO, at Kent State University. A seasoned leader with over four decades of experience, he has the expertise to solve challenges in AI, and cyber security. Rathje ensures a cyber-safe environment, promotes collaboration, and enhances student access through personalized assistance and advanced analytics at Kent State University.

As the Vice President, Information and Technology, and CIO, at Kent State University, what are your key roles and responsibilities?

Today’s industry landscape presents both opportunities and challenges when it comes to addressing matters related to AI, privacy, and cyber security. As part of my role, I safeguard our organization, its people, intellectual property and data for faculty, staffs and students from bad actors or potential threats. Each day at work brings forth a different experience, and my ability to strategically adapt to difficult situations is accountable to various domains that I have worked spanning entrepreneurship, healthcare to higher education.

What keeps you at night when it comes to some of the major predicaments in the industry?

Cyber security is a growing concern today. I constantly oversee the safety of our processes and defend and protect our environment. Another challenge we face is providing an exceptional digital experience for students, staffs, and researchers. It involves meeting expectations and presenting a user-friendly digital environment that would reduce complexity, enhance productivity, and support positive behavior for improving overall experience.

“My focus is on enhancing student success beyond academic excellence and graduation for providing financial, social, and mental health support”

I believe providing digital experience is totally dependent on collaboration between different departments in an organization. To achieve this feat, we need to put in efforts to bring people, processes, data, and technology. Data classification and its level of accessibility also plays a vital role in shaping our architecture. To achieve responsible and ethical data use,we work on both functional and technical architecture.

What are some of the strategies that you adopt to prevent data breach?

We adopt different strategies for ensuring a cyber safe environment within our university. First and foremost, we emphasize on implementing governance groups supporting specific domains of functions and value, while also integrating privacy and security elements within groups. This also enables us to prioritize security from the outset, encompassing user interface design, functional security, and toll protection.

Secondly, we also conduct awareness campaigns to educate people about best practices in cyber security. We adopt a multifaceted approach to foster communication and awareness of technology and policies among employees for creating a secure environment.

Please shed some light on the recent projects that you have implemented at Kent State University?

Presently, my focus is on enhancing student success beyond academic excellence and graduation for providing financial, social, and mental health support. Our approach involves implementing programs and technologies for comprehensive engagement. We understand unique needs of students and deliver personalized assistance with timely alerts.

Another endeavor that we are working on is related to enhancing student’s insights using enterprise data lake and advanced analytics including machine learning. These tools can be used to predict outcomes and identify the most suitable actions in administrative and academic realms for improving student outcomes.

In your experience, what will be your piece of advice to the peers in the industry?

We need to remain prepared for anything, and acknowledge ongoing disruptions and rising digital expectations. Since the work patterns and workplaces will keep on evolving; strategic thinking, design, and scaling technology with time is also necessary to level up your game in the space.

 

Financial

Digital Experience

AI

Healthcare

Machine Learning