Public CIO - December 2008/January 2009 - (Page 27)

vently shaping its future and strivand virtually none offer the type of Tuition Cost per Course ing to dispel preconceptions about graduate-level certificates granted (Academic Year 2008-2009): the IRMC being a “tech school.” by the IRMC. DoD military and civilian — Free “When the office of the CIO first Because the college is a DoD emerged, we were more about techinstallation, enrollment is free only Non-DoD federal departments nology,” he said. “But now we’re for Defense Department military and agencies — $1,100 about so much more — innovation, personnel and civilians. Roughly Industry and Commercial — $1,995 transformation and optimization. If 70 percent of the student body is Advanced Management Program — we were to allow ourselves to dwell made up of DoD personnel (with a (Federal: $10,500; Private Sector: $16,500) solely in the technical realm, we’d 2-to-1 civilian/military ratio); the Number of Seats Filled Annually — 3,500 be doing our students a great disother 30 percent is non-DoD federservice.” Although formally named al employees, public-sector profesdirector in 1999, Childs’ influence within the school was felt sionals, private sector and international students. Non-DoD much earlier, as he was IRMC’s dean of faculty beginning in personnel — federal, state and local government employees 1991. Prior to setting foot at the college, he honed his pedi— pay $1,100 per course (and those with a signed memogree as an academic provost through decades of trailblazing randa of agreement at the IRMC Registrar’s Office pay even experience in military and civilian educational institutions. less), and private industry pays $1,995. IRMC certificates Never content to rest, Childs continually challenges his consist of four to eight courses (either as five-day resident staff to assess, define and refine the school’s mission focus, courses or a 12-week distributed learning option for each each time emerging with a renewed sense of purpose and course), so a public-sector government student can attain a potency. Childs has consistently clung to the notion that the certificate for less than $10,000. (Please note: The Advanced school isn’t a technical institute, but a business school that Management Program has a different structure and slightly improves the fabric of government leadership and a service different tuition.) organization that sublets its vast intellectual capital for those seeking appropriate knowledge. “I no longer see us Not a Technology School as merely a graduate school,” he said. “More and more, we One reason for IRMC’s broad appeal is its capacity to are a service organization with the potential to impact CXO reinvent itself against the backdrop of a core mission that offices worldwide.” hasn’t changed appreciably since it was created. Its elemenChilds has taken this idea of service organization to new tal purpose is to prepare leaders to utilize the power of and innovative heights, commoditizing and exporting the information and IT. For as much as this mission establishes IRMC’s subject matter expertise to a growing domestic and academic boundaries, it also offers inherent latitude, as the overseas student base. Because he understands the intrinsic traits that make for a federal CIO are the same traits that connection between U.S. and international CXO competenmake for a good government leader in general; the college cies, he has embarked on an aggressive program of capacity refers to these as CXOs. building, advising countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, For example, things like strategic planning, organizational Sweden, the UK and Singapore, all of which are moving development and change management — all competencies to establish similar professional institutions. Moreover, prescribed by the Federal CIO Council — are elements comhe is using the power of the private sector — the likes of mon to both IT and general managers, and offer the colSprint, CISCO, BAE Systems and many others — to expose lege sufficient leeway in terms of revisiting and remaking students to emerging technologies. The fruits of this its curriculum. As Mary McCully, chair of the Information partnership can be seen in any one of the school’s several Strategies Department, explained, “We strive to go beyond computer and simulation labs, which include workstations, vocational stovepipes and develop courses that make the static displays and scale models sporting all varieties of CIO someone who can reach across all management tiers and applications and hardware. really transform the enterprise, not just manage its IT.” By opening these laboratories to market leaders, Childs The driving reason behind the college’s 20-year growth and can acquaint his students with today’s technology, not dated relevance lies in its enlightened faculty and brash conviction systems with long-expired capabilities. “See this?” he asks, of Senior Director Robert Childs. A walking amalgam of pointing to a plastic box that looks more like a toy than both tactician and strategist, he oversees the mechanics of a a bona fide piece of IT. “It’s the $100 laptop. Even federal sprawling campus — both physical and virtual — while fer- www.public-cio.com [27] http://www.public-cio.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public CIO - December 2008/January 2009

Public CIO - December 2008/January 2009 Contents Contributors Introduction Tense Times Insider Threat Twenty and Counting Labor of Love Putting Process Into Play Crossover Appeal FastGov CIO Central Security Adviser CIOs Pluck BlackBerry Phones From the Field Straight Talk

Public CIO - December 2008/January 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.