AMHERST — Information technology services at Hampshire College are expected to be handled by a private company, rather than college employees, beginning next month, with a full transition to be complete over the course of the fall semester.

A message to the campus from Hampshire College President Ed Wingenbach last week states that current IT employees are to be moved to Ellucian, a cloud-based software developer and technology services company, starting in July.

The decision to enter into an arrangement with Ellucian comes following an evaluation of the college’s information technology needs and resources, conversations with IT staff and deliberation by senior leadership and the college’s board of trustees.

“Partnering with Ellucian will enhance our IT function for the benefit of our faculty, staff and especially students, provide access to extensive higher education IT expertise, and enable us to address ongoing security threats to our systems,” Wingenbach wrote.

The expectation is to maintain a similar size of on-campus IT staff, which will include a chief information officer reporting directly to Wingenbach, Current employees will be encouraged to transition to being Ellucian employees, and campus positions will only be advertised widely if no qualified internal candidates are identified.

Jennifer Chrisler, the college’s chief advancement officer, said 10 employees currently work in the college’s IT department.

Some additional Ellucian staff will also join the team, providing technological and strategic IT expertise that the college would not be able to offer without significant expansion and costs. Wingenbach observes this is not different from how the University of Massachusetts handles health and counseling on the campus.

“The model is similar to how Health & Counseling Services operate, with staff employed by UMass but integrated into Hampshire College, with a senior director reporting to the VP for Student Affairs,” he wrote.

Chrisler cautions that the contract with Ellucian is not yet signed.

“I also acknowledge that change, even one with the benefits we expect this partnership will bring, is disruptive, and that the transition creates particular anxiety for our IT staff and the many colleagues who work with them,” Winbgenbach wrote. “We are committed to regular and open communication, particularly with the IT staff, as this process moves forward.”

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.]]>