ÃÈÃÃÉçÇø

Contact: Jennifer Hollingshead

Office: (573) 882-0601

E-mail: hollingsheadj@umsystem.edu

Columbia, Mo.—ÃÈÃÃÉçÇø President Elson S. Floyd announced today that he has appointed Gary K. Allen, DVM, Ph.D., to serve as UM vice president for information technology. Allen, who currently serves as chief information officer of the ÃÈÃÃÉçÇø-Columbia, will begin his new duties July 1, 2006.

Allen will report to UM President Elson S. Floyd and will direct the information technology infrastructure for the four ÃÈÃÃÉçÇø campuses, a hospital system, and statewide extension programs, as well as a student enrollment of more than 63,000. Allen also will have overall responsibility for the statewide research and education network (MOREnet) and MOBIUS, which is a statewide common library platform used by libraries, public schools, and the state’s colleges and universities.

Allen will continue his current role as the chief information officer of the UM-Columbia campus with a second reporting relationship to the UM-Columbia Provost. His compensation will be $185,000. The net savings of combining the UM and campus CIO positions is $137,000.

“I am pleased that Gary has accepted the challenge of providing leadership and direction for the entire University in the ever-changing area of information technology,” Floyd said. “He is a proven leader and a strategic thinker who is well respected by his peers across the University and the state. As the CIO for the Columbia campus, he has improved customer service, gotten the most out of limited IT resources, and established sound relationships with faculty, staff and students.”

Allen received his undergraduate degree in agriculture from Mississippi State University. He holds doctorates in veterinary medicine from Mississippi State University and microbiology from the ÃÈÃÃÉçÇø-Columbia. He also was a National Institutes of Health -funded postdoctoral fellow in medical informatics at the UM-Columbia School of Medicine.  Allen is a faculty member in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology in the UM-Columbia College of Veterinary Medicine.

“I am delighted to accept this opportunity to serve as the chief information officer for the ÃÈÃÃÉçÇø,” Allen said. “I look forward in coming months to working with our excellent IT staff throughout the University.”  

Allen has overseen information technology operations for the Columbia campus since August 2004. He also serves as Executive Director of the ÃÈÃÃÉçÇø Bioinformatics Consortium and an associate vice president for information technology for the UM System. He previously served as director of advanced computing environments in the Office of Information Access and Technology Services and director of information technology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at MU.