Hello, Warhawks. My name is Sara Deschner, and I am the new Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer for UW-Whitewater. 

I’ve been part of the Warhawk family for 18 years. I arrived on campus in 2006 as a lecturer in Information Technology after working for a manufacturing company as their Director of IT Operations. In 2018, I became the Assistant Dean of the Online Education Technology Center for the College of Business and Economics. 

Now, I’m proud to lead UW-Whitewater’s IT department. In my current role, I work with university leadership to set our technology strategy and to plan infrastructure and services that will best support our students, employees, and community. I am very excited to serve in this capacity.

Listening is a critical part of my job. Whether it’s an idea to improve a university process or understanding how technology (or lack of technology) creates frustration or inefficiencies, I want to hear from you. Let’s find ways to remove barriers to student success. 

The dedicated, talented IT team has been busy. Some of the first projects we are addressing include designing and implementing a more user-friendly guest wireless network, installing new wireless network coverage in the Young Auditorium, performing a comprehensive accessibility audit of our university website, and performing some necessary infrastructure upgrades. 

My goal for IT Services is that we will work closely with the university community to identify ways that we can leverage and transform technology to deliver even more value. We want to empower students through the products and services we offer to be as successful in their academic and co-curricular experiences as possible.