Freund assumes new role

Spencer Freund has been named Special Assistant to the President and Associate Vice President for Technology Resources and Project Planning. The position reports to Vice President for Capital Planning and Resource Development Matt Altier. Freund has agreed to continue his current duties as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs/Telecommunications while the campus conducts a search for a new Chief Information Officer.

In his new capacity, Freund will serve as a telecommunications consultant to the higher education community, develop grants and contracts, initiate technology-related agreements, and pursue new information technology initiatives in support of the University's Destination 2010 initiative. And he will initiate and manage ventures with Colleges, publishers and the Hornet Bookstore related to e-learning and e-commerce activities. Eventual plans call for expanding those efforts into a self-sustaining "IT Knowledge and Innovation Zone."

Freund has been at the University since 1984 and has served as Director of Media Services; Director of Computing, Communications and Media Services; Assistant Vice President for Administration/Telecommunications; and, since 1997, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs/Telecommunications. He was a driving force behind the recently completed Academic Information Resource Center, which brought the University's technology departments under one roof.

Freund was the principal author of the CSU system's Minimum Baseline Standards, which are now used throughout the system, and he contributed to the development of the CSU system's Telecommunications Infrastructure Planning Guidelines. He was on loan to the CSU for two years as part of the Systemwide Internal Partnership and the California Education Technology Initiative. He has also been active in establishing partnerships with K-12 and community college programs and with the state government.