Posted August 14, 2019
mpowering greatness in others is at the heart of every technical solution the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has made, and this could not be more evident from the technology transformation that has taken place over the past four years under the leadership of Dr. Curt Carver. It is no surprise that the University of Alabama at Birmingham was keen to enlist Carver to spearhead IT operations with his impressive career history and dedication to student and staff wellbeing. Carver previously worked as the Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and CIO at the University System of Georgia. Prior to that, during his time at the US Military Academy at West Point, he rose through the academic ranks from instructor to full professor, before becoming Vice Dean, serving as deputy to the Chief Academic Officer. Whilst in this role, Carver also participated as an American Council of Education fellow at George Mason University, visiting 40 other universities across the United States, gaining a holistic view of task management across various universities.
He has been with UAB since 2015 and, under his leadership, the university has had over 420 ‘wins’. Carver defines a ‘win’ as a concern raised by the community, which is met with solutions that are validated as successful by staff and students, while in line with the strategic plan. Averaging around 100 wins a year, Carver could not begin to list all of the achievements, but shared with us some from the 2017 and 2018 reports. This year marks the university's 50th anniversary, which has seen the University of Alabama at Birmingham ranked number one amongst young universities (those under 50 years of age) in the United States and 11th in the world.
"We are trying to empower greatness in our students, faculty, and researchers and clinicians," explains Carver. "That means removing obstacles preventing them from accomplishing their research and teaching tasks, and trying to figure out mechanisms to co-author solutions to not only achieve their goals, but to create a competitive advantage for them compared to other universities." Carver emphasizes the need to build strong partnerships with students to create solutions that do not only "comply or satisfy, but delight their expectations.” “These are solutions that they feel that they are a part of,” he comments.