SAC, now an Educause affiliate (www.educause.edu/conference/sac), has traditionally focused on executive leadership development. This year’s conference was aimed squarely at CIOs—both seasoned execs and new directors—with strategic seminars for senior leaders, and sessions offering new tools for those just coming into the IT leadership role.

Each year, though the high-altitude venue offers a sense of retreat, those pesky “back home” concerns bubble up in the conference sessions. This year’s heavyweight topics: security, IT alignment with institutional priorities, assessment, and the role of the university in the information economy. No surprise was the fact that accountability and delivering technology programs on tight budgets were also recurring strategic planning themes. And in his opening address, Richard Detweiler (Distinguished Fellow of the Council on Library and Information Resources) maintained that technology development is easier than understanding the related cultural and organizational consequences of that development. He then offered a broad perspective on the leadership role of IT directors and the impact of institutional technology planning.

Conference sessions covered myriad topics and urged directors to bridge the gap between technology “concept” and communicating effectively with constituencies in order to integrate technology components to serve broader institutional goals. Says SAC Board Chair Joan Falkenberg- Getman, “The idea is to think strategically about how the topics will influence planning and direction.”