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Southern State’s IT Team Wins Cloud Leadership Award

  • 01/10/18

HILLSBORO, OH – Southern State Community College in Hillsboro, OH, has been named a recipient of a Cloud Leadership Award for moving self-hosted technology services to the cloud, as well as embracing additional cloud services to address many strategic needs of the college.

“As a small community college with limited resources, receiving this award was very special...but after viewing the list of winners and honorable mentions we realized just how special it really was to be among them,” says Brian Rice, SSCC’s executive director of Information Technology Services. “Technology is a core component for any modern organization today, and our technology team has been working hard since 2015 to really evaluate our environment and make foundational improvements that allow other departments and areas of the college to build from. Receiving this type of validation and recognition is just such an honor and greatly appreciated by the entire team.”

Projects implemented at Southern State include a new mobile student app, upgraded campus student ID system, classroom and event scheduling software, adoption of a new learning management system, and even a mobile telepresence robot that allows students to visit campus or attend class from anywhere in the world. The college is also slated to implement a new human resource management system as well as an advanced cloud-based “real-time” threat security platform, and just kicked off a new initiative for a student engagement platform to guide students toward instructional programs based on customized interests and career assessment tools.

E&I Cooperative Services announced the winners of its inaugural Cloud Leadership Awards during the EDUCAUSE 2017 annual conference reception held November 2 in Philadelphia. Sponsored by Adobe, Cisco, Microsoft Azure, and CDW-G, the Cloud Leadership Awards honor the achievements of higher education institutions that have used cloud solutions for the benefit of students, teachers, administrators, and staff. A total of 24 awards across six categories, along with 18 honorable mentions, were given from nearly 100 nominations. Southern State was one of only two community colleges to receive this prestigious award, and was recognized as a winner in the Innovation category.

“Technology is a critical area for our members and across the educational landscape,” says Tom Fitzgerald, CEO of E&I Cooperative Services. “Cloud solutions have become especially important on campuses across the country. We commend these higher education institutions for their innovate efforts in this area, and are pleased to share with our members the achievements of these institutions so more can realize the positive impacts, increased efficiencies, and cost-savings behind cloud solutions.”

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