Initiatives & Governance

Bucknell University Intelligence (BUI) is our broad, cross-University program aimed at defining, aggregating and enabling more efficient and strategic use of our data. BUI projects are being used to track and benchmark student performance metrics and visualize data in the form of executive and public dashboards designed to illuminate key metrics of the University.

At Bucknell, digital technology powers innovative teaching, research and student experiences. Bertrand Library is home to Digital Pedagogy & Scholarship, an initiative dedicated to helping faculty develop innovative ways to apply digital technology to teaching, creating unique and powerful learning experiences for students. Bucknell students, in turn, are building robust portfolios of creative and scholarly digital work.

Learn more about Digital Pedagogy & Scholarship

Bucknell is a leader in providing access to digital resources, both to its own community and the world. The Bucknell Open Access Policy encourages Bucknell faculty to make their research openly available to the broadest audience possible. The Digital Commons hosted at Bucknell's Bertrand Library give campus community members access to a variety of digital repositories.

Visit the Bucknell Digital Commons

Working toward a safer and more secure digital environment, L&IT has developed two new information security policies that clarify the way that we interact with key systems and University data. Our Data Classification Policy defines the three types of data that exist on our campus — confidential, sensitive and public — and outlines the protections necessary for each class. The Information Security Policy for Mobile & Remote Devices establishes the framework necessary to enable the use of mobile and remote devices, such as home computers, in a safe and secure way. These policies were developed through close collaboration with our faculty and staff governance organizations and have been approved for widespread adoption by senior staff.

View security policies

The Enterprise Systems Advisory Council (ESAC) reviews proposed projects relating to administrative and academic IT functions and IT-enabled processes, evaluates them relative to the Bucknell University strategic plan and the operational needs of the University, and makes recommendations to the assistant chief information officer and the chief information officer with regard to resource allocation and priorities.

ESAC meets quarterly and as needed to:

• Review selected project requests.
• Develop an understanding of those projects.
• Weigh the merits of proposed projects relative to the University strategic plan and the operational needs of the University.
• Recommend a specific set of priorities to the chief information officer.
• Advise the assistant chief information officer on future needs and developments in the area of institutional systems on the enterprise and departmental levels.

More about Enterprise Systems Advisory Council.

The Committee on Library & Information Resources (CLIR) reviews and develops standards and policies relating to library resources and academic technology. CLIR fosters communication between faculty, students and L&IT. Working with the faculty, the Committee on Instruction and other constituencies, CLIR advises the vice president for L&IT and L&IT directors on the adequacy of programs within the University, and assists with the integration of services into University-related academic missions. Through coordination with departmental faculty representatives, the committee identifies opportunities where L&IT can assist in achieving Bucknell’s academic and scholarly priorities, makes recommendations about the allocation of funds for academic technological resources, and provides input to the vice president for L&IT on the L&IT strategic planning process. CLIR seeks to ensure that information technology and library services are appropriately incorporated into all campus-level planning activities.

Ongoing assessment provides evidence of effectiveness as well as feedback for continual improvement and organizational planning. L&IT assesses services and resources to support Bucknell’s mission and educational goals. We strive to use assessment data to drive decision-making as part of our daily operations and strategic planning.

The L&IT Assessment Team:

• Plans and prioritizes assessment activities to ensure that efforts are valuable as well as appropriately timed, so that our users are not overly assessed.
• Serves as a resource to other members of L&IT as they conduct assessments within their particular areas.
• Coordinates the implementation of major assessment instruments.
• Coordinates analysis and reporting of quantitative and qualitative data collected from L&IT surveys and focus groups.
• Reports survey data to the L&IT organization, the campus community and L&IT leadership for follow-up action, as appropriate.
• Explores opportunities to review data from other major campus surveys that may be relevant to the work of L&IT.
• Partners with Institutional Research and represents L&IT as part of University-wide assessment efforts.

For questions about Assessment within L&IT, please contact litassessment@bucknell.edu.