When Shannon McDaniel, newly appointed director of Health Technology Services, first received the job offer, she had a million ideas she wanted to implement.
“When I first got this position, I had so many things that I wanted to get started on,” McDaniel said. “But I had to sit on my hands a little bit and take a take a broader look at what needed to be done first.”
McDaniel began working in IT in 1997, after receiving her master’s in information and communication sciences and transitioning out of retail management. Her most recent position was in the School of Nursing at IUPUI whose IT services were recently aligned with UITS.
“I have always wanted to make a difference on a larger scale, “McDaniel said. “And I just kind of felt like where I was in the School of Nursing, I was only focused in one area and could only help one area and couldn’t make broader changes.”
“I am very appreciative of the time I had at the School of Nursing.” McDaniel said. “I met lifelong friends, and I was provided numerous opportunities to grow and mature my leadership skills and for that I am forever grateful.
One of McDaniel’s priorities going into this new position is working with the newly aligned health schools and divisions to ensure they are well supported.
“A lot of schools just came in with the alignment,” McDaniel said. “So being served by UITS is all new to them. They’re used to having their own individual IT support. Reassuring clients they will continue to receive the same or better support by the same technicians they have built relationships with is important and goes a long way to build trust between HTS and the clients.”
McDaniel’s experience working at IUPUI will be beneficial as she ensures all the aligned units under her work together and communicate with each other.
“A lot of people in UITS have been embedded here for so long, it can be hard for them to see happens on the edge,” McDaniel said. “Being on the edge, you’re more likely to try and figure out something on your own. I would like to help change that by implementing standards across HTS supported entities and eliminating duplication of services. I would also like to make the lines of communication more accessible and open those lines of communication between all the different UITS departments. We are all trying to accomplish the same goals, it only makes sense that we share the knowledge we have and not operate in silos.”
