Educause appoints Virginia Tech CIO as board chair

Educause, the nonprofit association focused on advancing the use of technology and data to support higher education, on Friday announced it’s appointed Virginia Tech Chief Information Officer Sharon Pitt to serve as chair of its board of directors.

Pitt is joining the board at the same time that she is officially joining the Virginia Tech administration. The university named her to oversee its information technology operations in late November.

“I am delighted to be returning to my alma mater and the university where I began my IT career, and honored to be taking on a leadership role at Virginia Tech and for Educause,” Pitt said in a press release.

Pitt earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Virginia Tech and holds a graduate certificate in higher education administration from George Mason University. She served in IT leadership roles at Brown, University of Delaware, Binghamton University and George Mason University.

Virginia Tech is currently transforming its IT operations, an effort Pitt is responsible for leading. The project to reshape and strengthen the university’s IT operations, career pathways, security and services began in 2022.

“By bringing the IT Transformation office under Sharon’s leadership, my goal is to facilitate the coordination of the IT Transformation initiative with the day-to-day operations of the Division of IT,” Virginia Tech Chief Operating Officer Amy Sebring said in the release.

The university is also changing its licenses with Google and Microsoft and migrating its phone systems from Avaya to Zoom’s Phone and Call Center.