The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) is the nation’s preeminent model for effective collaboration among research universities (18 universities from across the US). For more than half a century, these world-class institutions have advanced their academic missions, generated unique opportunities for students and faculty, and served the common good by sharing expertise, leveraging campus resources, and collaborating on innovative programs.
Created in 2018, the BTAA WIT group is sponsored by BTAA CIOs, including Illinois’ CIO Mairéad Martin, to strengthen recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in IT across the Big Ten. This diverse group has been created to expand connections among members and provide a place for respectful dialogue, timely questions, and broad sharing of best practices and insights.
Each BTAA school is allowed two representatives on the BTAA WIT Steering Committee, and they are appointed by the CIO. Our CIO, Mairéad Martin, works with the Illinois WIT group to coordinate the nominations for those two positions. (Further details about this are included at the bottom of this page.)
While we are limited in the number of people appointed to the BTAA WIT Steering Committee, there are ample opportunities for involvement on sub-committees. Please check out the current ways to get involved on BTAA WIT committees.
Our current representatives:
- Jennifer Anderson, Representative
- Cordelia Geiken, Executive Leadership Team, Past Co-Chair
- Gen Schmitt, Executive Leadership Team, Vice Co-Chair
- Geet Verma, Representative
BTAA WIT Steering Committee nomination process:
As mentioned above, each BTAA school is allowed two representatives on this group, and the Illinois representatives are appointed by our CIO. To provide a broad perspective of IT at Illinois, one of the representatives is from Tech Services, and the other is from the Campus at large.
When current representatives near the end of their two-year term, a call for nominations for to fill the vacancy will be shared in the WIT Teams space and sent to our WIT listserv. Being a BTAA WIT representative is a great professional development opportunity while enabling you to give back to campus.
Expectations of BTAA WIT representatives
- To commit to a two-year term of service
- To be a liaison to the local U of I WIT enabling benefits and activities from BTAA WIT to return and enrich the campus WIT
- To regularly participate in the U of I WIT Leadership team meetings
- To represent both BTAA and U of I WIT on IT Council, in order to promote information sharing from BTAA back to Campus IT leadership to strengthen recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in IT across the Big Ten
- Time commitment: 5-10 hours a month between WIT & BTAA WIT
- Collaborate with the other BTAA WIT Representative
Eligibility & Term Details
- 2-year Term limits
- Term ends August 31st of the second year of service
- Each representative spends one year on IT Council