Philip Wright, Brock’s Associate VP of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, is resigning to become director of Information and Instructional Technology at the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto’s downtown campus.

Philip Wright

Wright, who joined Brock in 2008, announced the news to his Information Technology Services (ITS) staff at a meeting earlier today. His final day will be July 19.

An announcement about the interim leadership of ITS will be made in the coming weeks.

During his time at Brock, Wright and his team of 75 full- and 40 part-time staff helped enhance the University’s IT infrastructure and customer service environment in support of academic and administrative departments across the University.

“When I arrived at Brock IT strategic planning was just a list of projects,” says Wright. “We’ve matured our processes as Brock has matured, and we’re now ahead of the curve, having created a structure that can bear the weight when the University turns to it for strategic implementation.”

During Wright’s five years at the helm of ITS, the department restructured five separate IT units into three integrated groups – infrastructure, client services, application and development. His team also initiated a central IT project and administrative support office for planning and budgeting, implemented a project management model for managing IT requests and prioritized funding for instructional and in-class technologies at Brock.

Wright also played a key role in adopting the Kuali research administration system Coeus, an open source software designed for higher education institutions.

“Everyone at Brock appreciates Philip’s contributions to our academic mission,” says Murray Knuttila, Provost and Vice-President, Academic. “He has made a valiant effort to develop strategic directions for IT amid both increasing demands and budgetary challenges. We all deeply appreciate his efforts and wish him the best.”

Prior to coming to Brock, Wright was director of Information and Instructional Technology Services at U of T’s Scarborough campus. He also holds a PhD in philosophy and was a professor at several top Canadian universities, including the University of Toronto and University of Alberta.

“Philip’s strength as a former academic mixed with his IT experience brought a high-level of understanding and knowledge to Brock,” says Brian Hutchings, Vice-President, Finance and Administration. “His ability to problem solve and connect both of these worlds will be missed.”