Department Summary:

Information Technology Services (ITS) supports the innovative use of technology to enhance the experience for students, faculty, and staff in support of Drake’s mission. https://www.drake.edu/its/

Job Summary:

The Director of ITS Campus Relations is responsible for overseeing the administration, management, and coordination of the ITS campus relations team. This role involves ensuring the delivery of high-quality desktop support services, providing direction and support of academic software and technology, and maintaining classrooms and collaboration spaces. The Director establishes strategic direction, collaborates with stakeholders, optimizes service and performance. They collaborate with academic and administrative leaders to promote effective technology adoption. Additionally, the Director develops operational policies and procedures, ensures new hardware and software are thoroughly tested and deployed. The ideal candidate should have strong technical expertise, leadership skills, and effective communication abilities.

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in applicable field or equivalent combination of education and experience.

5 years or more experience in managing technical teams in higher education or similar environment.

Ability to engage with and manage a wide variety of high priority projects simultaneously.

Experience in managing and developing vendor relationships, including the facilitation of formal request for proposal, quote, and inquiries

Solid knowledge of computer hardware and software, especially in an educational environment.

Excellent customer support skills, interpersonal skills, and communication skills, including ability to convey complex issues with users who may have varying levels of technical expertise.

Must exhibit multicultural competence, possessing the skills and experience to work with diverse individuals.

Preferred Qualifications:

Master’s degree in applicable field

Experience working with students and faculty.

Demonstrated experience in designing classroom technology

Familiarity with computer and software inventory management and best practices.

Job Duties:

• 40% - Management: Responsible for the overall administration, management, and coordination of the ITS Campus Relations Team, delivering desktop support services and resources, and ensuring the successful maintenance and operation of academic and end-user technology. The Director addresses customer complaints and escalations, oversees hiring, performance management, and professional development of personnel, and directly supervises the Assistant Directors, LMS Administrator, and the classroom technology team. Additionally, the Director develops and implements operational policies and procedures, and oversees the optimization of the university's academic applications and classroom technology - (Essential)
• 30% - Planning: Establishes and implements strategic direction and priorities for the Campus Relations units of ITS, in coordination with the Deputy CITO. This includes aligning workload with institutional priorities, ensuring effective collaboration with stakeholders, and evaluating and recommending improvements for academic and desktop support applications. The Director is also responsible for identifying, tracking, and analyzing key customer service metrics, providing reports to management, and identifying trends. Implements new and improved campus relations processes to support efficient and customer-focused operations and service. As member of the ITS leadership team, participates in strategic planning and management of departmental resources, and develops new and improved methods for providing service to university stakeholders. - (Essential)
• 20% - Coordination: Collaborates with ITS staff and administration to optimize service and performance of the Campus Relations units, managing relationships and expectations relating to academic technology and desktop support across all stakeholder groups. Ensures effective coordination and collaboration between Campus Relations and other ITS units. Works closely with faculty, deans and other stakeholders to create effective and supportable classrooms and collaboration spaces. Promotes effective technology adoption and university-wide implementation by testing new hardware, software, and related procedures prior to campus-wide deployment to ensure desired results are achieved. Confer with ITS peers and colleagues to identify personal computing requirements, implement, configure, test, and maintain client-facing equipment, and support mobile computing needs. - (Essential)
• 10% - Performs miscellaneous duties as assigned: Exhibits a willingness to learn new tasks and welcomes new challenges. Demonstrates initiative toward proactive problem resolution of service needs. Asks questions before beginning unfamiliar tasks. Proposes innovative or best practice solutions to improve service or resolve problems. Makes decisions that are strategically viable and tactically useful. Promotes an institutional perspective and fosters professional achievement of self and colleagues. - (Essential)

Salary and Benefits:

At Drake, we are proud to offer our employees, their spouses, and eligible dependents a comprehensive benefits package, which includes a wide range of core benefits, perks, and discounts. If you are exploring a job with Drake University, we invite you to spend a little time with our Drake Benefits Guide 2025. One of our popular policies provides a tuition waiver for Drake employees, their spouses, and eligible dependents. Drake also participates in not one, but two tuition exchange programs available to dependent children. Tuition Benefits