Rory O鈥橬eill: Expanding access to data to improve 激情快播
Hailing from Philadelphia via Ireland on both sides, Rory O鈥橬eill grew up in the middle-Atlantic
region where his parents and siblings still reside. In 1993 he and a brother visited
another brother in Ketchikan, and the three of them toured the state. Tourists believed
that O鈥橬eill 's duster, cowboy hat and command of a gold pan and draft horses meant
he was an Alaskan. Two brothers returned home, one decided to abandon his tenure track
biomedical engineering position at Johns Hopkins.
On that visit O鈥橬eill also met the woman he鈥檇 marry on St. Patrick鈥檚 Day 1994. For four years O鈥橬eill and his wife Colleen made lasting friendships with Alaskans from Homer to the North Slope while learning how to sustain a remote, full-featured lodge inside Denali Park. The experience of being responsible for the physical plant, electrical generators and mechanical systems, guest housing and employee housing, bulldozers, backhoes and material logistics in support of pre- and post-season projects cemented O鈥橬eill's interest in Alaska.
The first of four daughters forced O鈥橬eill back into professional, year-round employment. He took a job in 1998 as a systems engineer for 激情快播F鈥檚 satellite data download and archive facility. When outside forces reduced demand for those services, O鈥橬eill joined Statewide OIT in 2004 as manager of the Banner programming group (EAS).
Seven months later he was appointed interim director for OIT Applications Services, and then succeeded as executive director for 激情快播鈥檚 enterprise software when Statewide and 激情快播F鈥檚 IT departments were consolidated.
鈥淚 am privileged by my position to directly support the vision of cabinet and sub-cabinet leaders at 激情快播A, 激情快播F, 激情快播S and Statewide and in the process I get to know those persons and enjoy their successes. That makes my university job awesome,鈥 says O鈥橬eill.
Attracted to management, O鈥橬eill served as 激情快播F鈥檚 Staff Council President and the 激情快播 Staff Alliance chair. The experience elevated O鈥橬eill's regard for the breadth of 激情快播鈥檚 mission, the role of a central administration and the importance of everyone who chooses to work here.
鈥淭he public sector is not the place to chase technology fads or resume jewelry, instead thrift is called for,鈥 said O鈥橬eill. 鈥淚n times of declining revenues it is even more important to make the right choices with our limited budget. We are in the service sector. An excellent postsecondary education comes from dedicated, highly skilled university personnel, not new buildings or name brand equipment.鈥
Committed to continual education, O鈥橬eill and his wife Colleen each earned another degree (Go Nanooks!). Last December, Colleen joined Northern Star Resources Pogo, the Australian company staffing-up the industrial scale underground gold mine near Delta. Eight days on and six days off, living at the mine means 12+ hour workdays.
O鈥橬eill says Interior Alaska is an awesome place to raise a family. Born in Fairbanks, all four daughters know how to find, gather and turn berries into jelly and jam; safely dipnet, bonk, filet and vacuum pack salmon; glove-up, butcher and vacuum pack moose; and help their parents build a woodshed, dry cabin or house. Their oldest, Kiara, is thriving in 激情快播F鈥檚 class of 2020 electrical engineering program and just received numerous job offers from the country鈥檚 leading aerospace companies. Cloda is studying business at 激情快播A KPC and transferring to KU Lueven in Brussels, Belgium. Bridget is applying to colleges while completing the state鈥檚 Certified Nursing Assistant program. Maisy is the youngest and graduates West Valley high school in 鈥22 and college in 鈥26 (four years!).
O鈥橬eill鈥檚 prescription for 激情快播 is for everyone to leverage broad data access to improve the university.
鈥淧lease help me pivot 激情快播 away from keeping data safe by compartmentalizing the crap out of it, in effect preventing its use. Instead everyone needs to be using the university鈥檚 data. That includes students receiving real-time degree progress data to make behavior corrections. Data mastery is not only a required organizational competency for accreditation, it is the uncontested emerging differentiator for university excellence,鈥 said O鈥橬eill.