RIT’s CIO selected as innovation leadership fellow

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Jeanne Casares

Jeanne Casares, chief information officer for Rochester Institute of Technology, has been selected as a fellow in the new Academy for Innovative Higher Education Leadership.

She is one of two dozen senior leaders—and the only one from New York—from 21 universities selected for the program, hosted by Arizona State University and Georgetown University.

“What I like about it is it’s an academy for innovative higher education,” Casares said. “Innovation is important to our success, and the success of the students, faculty and staff.”

The eight-month program, which began Nov. 13, focuses on preparing the fellows to lead organizational change at colleges and universities.

During four intensive sessions in the District of Columbia and Tempe, Ariz., fellows at the academy will be introduced to the latest thinking and research about change leadership, teaching and learning in a digital age, external challenges facing higher education and the financial sustainability of institutions.

Participants also will apply the principles of “design thinking” to re-imagine the future of higher education and will focus on a real-world project during the program. A mix of seminars, hands-on workshops, design sessions and fireside chats with leading thinkers from various industries will help the fellows prepare for leading innovation at their own institutions.

Casares, who has worked at RIT for six years, said the fellowship comes at a good time, as RIT embarks on its new strategic plan. “I’m looking forward to bringing ideas back to RIT and weaving them into the implementation of that plan,” she said.

“The work of this academy provides an opportunity for university leaders to engage the questions facing higher education, to experiment with creative solutions to meet new needs, and to ever more deeply understand the guiding principles that protect the core mission and ethos of the university,” said Georgetown President John J. DeGioia.