Hamilton College President Eugene M. Tobin has created a new senior officer's position at the college and named David L. Smallen to fill it.
Effective July 1, Smallen will become vice president for information technology, the seventh member of the college's senior leadership team. He had been director of Information Technology Services (ITS) since that position was created in 1986 and was director of the Computer Center from its inception in 1974. In 1987, he created the Office of Institutional Research at Hamilton and directed that office for a decade.
"Over the past several years information technology has transformed nearly everything we do on this campus" said Hamilton President Eugene M. Tobin. "As a result, I have become increasingly convinced that Hamilton would be served best if a specific College officer focused on issues of technology. Dave Smallen has the values and expertise that are consonant with the customs and needs of a liberal arts community."
In his new role, Smallen will continue supervising operations in Information Technology Services, while working with his fellow officers to plan for the future development of technology on campus. Most recently, he has teamed with Couper Librarian Randy Ericson to shape a vision for how the College Library and ITS will support students and faculty members in the future.
"Dave understands our academic culture and realizes that technology's needs and opportunities must be evaluated in an intellectual and educational context, rather than being driven by administrative imperatives," Tobin said. In fact, Dave has already contributed to make Hamilton a rich and lively intellectual community in which students and faculty members discover, understand and apply new knowledge. He believes passionately that scholarly and learning communities thrive on face-to-face, personal interaction, and he understands how technology can enhance those experiences."
Smallen is a nationally recognized speaker, writer and leader in the information technology field. In the late 1980s, he served on the board of directors for both CAUSE and EDUCOM, the two national education technology associations that merged to form EDUCAUSE in the late 1990s. At the time of his appointments, he was the first person from a small college elected to the two boards, and the first from a small college to chair the board of directors of CAUSE.
In October 2000, Smallen was honored with the 2000 EDUCAUSE Award for Leadership in the Profession, for "exceptionally effective leadership in campus information technology use and management, and mentoring of other professionals." He currently is the director of the EDUCAUSE Leadership Institute, a program to develop new leaders in the information technology field.
Smallen has been a member of the Hamilton community for nearly three decades;He joined the faculty as an assistant professor of mathematics in 1972, the same year he received his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester. His bachelor's and master's degrees are from the State University of New York at Albany.
In addition to the leadership and vision he has provided to Hamilton, Smallen has mentored many information technology professionals, given over 40 presentations at national conferences, contributed more than 25 articles and chapters in professional journals, conducted external reviews of education technology programs at more than two dozen colleges and universities, and served as a member of several Middle States Reaccreditation teams. He is currently co-director of the COSTS project, an international effort to help institutions of higher education better understand their information technology investments.
Smallen and his wife, Ann, a professor of mathematics at Mohawk Valley Community College, reside in Clinton.
