Maggie Jesse, Senior Director of the Office of Teaching, Learning & Technology in Information Technology Services (ITS), received the 2017 Information Technology Leadership Award in recognition of her exemplary contributions to the university’s IT community. 

The award, co-sponsored by the IT Leadership Development Team and Associate Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) Steve Fleagle, was presented to Jesse during the annual UI Tech Forum, attended by hundreds of IT professionals May 23 at the Iowa Memorial Union.

Jesse joined ITS in 2006, serving initially as the senior IT director of Instructional Services. Prior to ITS, Jesse was the IT director for the UI Tippie College of Business. She is known for engagement in the IT community, regularly supporting and leading broader campus IT initiatives while serving ITS and the university mission. She met all criteria of the award–engagement, impact, initiative, and professional growth through leadership development–as is evident in her numerous collaborative accomplishments. 

In addition to the IT Leadership Award this year, Jesse was awarded the Technology in Business Schools Roundtable Wiebush Award for outstanding support of operations and administration in 2014, and the UI’s David J. Skorton Staff Excellence Award for Public Service in 2006.

At the helm of the Office of Teaching, Learning & Technology, Jesse leads pedagogy support through the Center for Teaching, as well as the instructional technology needs of the campus, including technology in learning spaces and large-scale instructional technology projects and services.

In addition to being deeply involved in OneIT activities the last two years, Jesse has helped direct several previous and current institutional initiatives, including TILE classrooms and the Learning Design Collaboratory, that will have long-term culture change in teaching and learning at the UI.

Jesse is also very involved in shaping national discussions on teaching and learning technologies. She is a regular presenter at EDUCAUSE and other regional and national conferences. She is a former Chair of the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA - formerly CIC) Learning Technologies Group, and is a member of the BTAA Learning Technology Leaders group, sponsored by the Big Ten CIOs. Jesse is an active strategic leader in Unizin, a consortium of 22 schools working to create a new digital learning ecosystem. She serves on the Unizin Board and the Unizin Teaching and Learning group.