Associate Vice President and Chief Information Officer Steve Fleagle reflects on OneIT’s role in key University of Iowa artificial intelligence initiatives and highlights new technology solutions that are enabling students, instructors, and researchers to succeed.

CIO's Message

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Guidance and training enable campus to embrace the potential of AI

STUDENT SUCCESS

Data and technology tools enhance student learning and experiences

RESEARCH

Tech plays a key role in innovation and discovery

SUPPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURE

OneIT provides strong foundational technologies and expert assistance

"AI is growing rapidly every day, and there’s a need to evaluate these applications to understand how they fit into our environment."

 

"We talked with students and campus offices about where we could create value. We didn’t want to recreate existing tools but instead pull them together and help students get to the right place at the right time."

"We expose participants to different tools but try to focus on enterprise-supported services like Microsoft Copilot that everyone can access. We emphasize data security and privacy, as well as ethical considerations for different contexts."

“The tool can identify students who may need support as early as week four. Giving advisors this data-driven tool can help tailor conversations and give students more time to impact their learning outcomes.” 

Digital chatbot and notifications message alert screen icon and sent to recipient on laptop, Artificial intelligence, innovation and technology.

From new communities to chatbots: team explores role of AI

New AI Support Team works to enhance campus operations, foster collaborative solutions, and inspire innovation
Student and advisors having a conversation

Real-time insights for academic advising

ICON Indicator empowers advisors to identify and support students who may need additional help, supporting a more effective advising experience
Lecture hall of UI students listening to a professor during class

Developing a homegrown course feedback system

Student Perceptions of Teaching (SPOT) tool provides flexibility, enhanced reporting
Office of Student Financial Aid

Leading the way in financial aid change implementation

Pioneering efforts resulted in early financial aid packaging and record enrollment for fall 2024
Students walking on campus looking at their mobile phone

Right place, right time

New mobile app puts personalized resources in students’ pockets
The Linguistics Department “Linguistics Day” event on Friday, April 7 in Phillips Hall, Students’ posters presentations

Charting language proficiency: a new self-assessment tool at UI

Application designed to assist students in self-assessing learning progress provides trajectory of language learning at Iowa
Tyler Bell, a HawkAI course instructor, gives a presentation to course participants about Large Language Models

No experience required

HawkAI courses offer foundations in artificial intelligence and machine learning
Edge of Space Academy student participants discuss their observations during an exercise at the Edge of Space Academy.

Uniting bright minds and innovative technologies

Summer academy students collect data from the Earth all the way to the edge of space
ITS Staff setting up new classroom technology

Enhancing IT infrastructure, classroom technology, and data access

Projects included network upgrades, a new data hub, and upgrades to 64 classrooms

400

Microsoft Copilot Test Flight Participants
Artificial Intelligence

15,000

Financial Aid packages delivered four weeks after receiving 2024-25 results

75 %

of first-year students downloaded the new UI mobile app during OnIowa!

82 %

of Iowa's 32,000+ students receive nearly $500M in financial assistance using a newly built system for award processing

74,433

evaluations submitted through the new Student Perceptions of Teaching tool

13,700 +

downloads of UI's new mobile app for students

60

undergraduate advisors are piloting ICON Indicator for spring 2025
Student Success

1,200

Participants enrolled in HawkAI, the new artificial intelligence training program with foundational and research-focused courses

2.5

weeks spent in Edge of Academy research program, an immersive STEM experience for students

7

compute nodes added to the Interactive Data Analytics Service (IDAS), including graphics processing units purchased for AI model building and tuning
Research

64

UI classrooms received technology improvements

5,172

Fiber strands terminated across campus as fiber optic cables were upgraded or replaced to enhance performance

$ 70,000 +

investment to improve cooling system for high-performance computing workloads

2.2 million

page views on the ITS website

400

Linux servers migrated from CentOS7 to Ubuntu or Rocky Linux

117 +

staff trained to edit the ITS website
Support & Infrastructure