Tufts was named one of the Top 100 Agile Companies for Information Technology (IT) by CIO magazine at an awards ceremony in Colorado this summer.
According to CIO's description of the award, the magazine selected IT departments that benefited the entire organization of which they were a part. Tufts' digital library and geographic information systems were given special mention due to the projects' enhancement of teaching and research.
"Many people from all the schools and central administration at Tufts have been working very hard ... to build an IT capability that will enable the University to achieve new levels of excellence," said Vice President of Information Technology (IT) Bruce Metz, who represented Tufts at the ceremony.
"The CIO 100 award is a wonderful form of recognition for everyone's efforts and terrific confirmation that we have in fact achieved that goal," Metz said.
The award singles out IT departments that are especially "agile" in developing and implementing new technologies, keeping employees' skills sharp, and structuring, spending and staffing so as to meet the ever-changing needs of IT.
Tufts was recognized for its agility for both the employee and project flexibility of Tufts Computing and Communications Services (TCCS) and the budgetary flexibility of the University's IT council, which determines budgets as needs emerge.
This is Tufts' second award from CIO, according to Director of University IT Infrastructure Leslie Tolman. The first was for the Tufts University Science Knowledgebase, a "multimedia knowledge management system," she said.
Every year for the past 17 years, CIO Magazine has recognized organizations around the world that exemplify strategic excellence in IT. This year's Agile 100 organizations were chosen for their ability to "respond quickly to changing business environments" and have "demonstrated measurable results in how they used IT to enable and support agility in their organizations," according to the magazine.
The recipients were selected out of over 300 applicants, and Tufts was one of only four other educational institutions chosen, including Harvard Business School and the University of Pennsylvania. Other winners range from small startups to the U.S. federal government's General Accounting Office.
"The mix of attendees provided a wonderful opportunity to find out about some of the common issues we are all dealing with in our organizations, share ideas and solutions, and come away with a better perspective about the state of information technology," Metz said.
"There were over 500 chief information officers (CIOs) and other senior executives from corporations, government organizations and institutions of higher education attending," Metz added. "It is unusual to get this type of cross-industry attendance at a single conference."
Tufts received the award on Aug. 24.
