La Voz

Issue date: 10/23/06 Section: Features

New Vice Chancellor of Technology, Fred Sherman

Monday, October 23, 2006


The Foothill-De Anza Community College District welcomed the new Vice Chancellor of Technology, Fred Sherman on Oct. 2.

"It has been an interesting three weeks. As with any new job there is a lot to learn about the culture of the institutions, the business processes, specific needs, long and short term, as well as the more mundane things such as where buildings and people are located," Sherman said.

As Chief Technology Officer, his main concern is to oversee the deployment of technology services to both De Anza and Foothill College.

This includes support of instructional computer labs, desktops for faculty and staff and audio-visual equipment in the smart classrooms.

Sherman supervises the network which provides interconnectivity for computers across the campuses and to the Internet, the main administrative information systems of the district, telephones and other related systems. Sherman served for over 20 years in the U.S. military and in the aerospace industry as an engineering manager.

He taught part time at three universities and provided counseling services to applicants for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

In reference to his past careers, Sherman said, "In some way they have all been connected through technology. In the military, as a pilot, I was a user of fairly sophisticated technology. In the aerospace industry I worked with teams of scientists and engineers to develop new systems, and now in education, I provide technology services to enhance and support educational programs."

Sherman hopes to continue to support and enhance the great work that the faculty does to ensure student success.

"In any organization, there are always things to be improved and in the next few months, I will spend most of my time walking around and talking to students, faculty and staff to find out what is working well and what areas may need more emphasis."

Sherman will be working on achieving the plans for technology improvements through Measures E and C, which bring funding to the campus.

It will include making the decision to migrate to a new administrative information system that will support student services, financial operations, and human resources.

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