As the fiscal year progresses, WashU IT continues to make strong progress across a broad set of strategic efforts related to the FY26 Goals. While many initiatives are advancing simultaneously across the organization, several areas stand out for the significant momentum and impact demonstrated so far. Together, these accomplishments reflect not only technological progress, but also a shared commitment to building a stronger IT organization and future-ready university ecosystem.
A major milestone on the horizon is the completion of the fifth and final year of the CyBear Secure program in the coming months. As Chris Shull, Chief Information Security Officer, shared, “WashU IT is approaching the end of the program while successfully maintaining a 3.2 NIST maturity level and positioning the organization to sustain that progress moving forward.” Mid-year progress includes modernizing access controls, advancing asset and risk management, deploying a new data loss prevention (DLP) solution, and developing an AI risk management policy that is currently nearing approval. These efforts represent just one part of broader security priorities underway across IT, helping the university remain resilient in a constantly evolving threat environment.
Technology modernization also continues to be a key focus area among many operational and strategic efforts. Network modernization work is advancing steadily, with Greg Hart, Chief Technology Officer, reporting that WashU IT has completed 128 building cutovers to date. A major milestone included the successful migration of the WashU Medicine firewall — a significant risk reduction achievement — as WashU moves toward a more secure and scalable infrastructure. This foundational work supports performance and reliability today while enabling future initiatives that depend on a modern network environment.
At the same time, innovation efforts related to artificial intelligence are accelerating across the university. Greg Hart emphasized that “AI requires an infrastructure shift,” driving important updates to hybrid cloud and data center strategies that support research, clinical workloads, and operational use cases. He noted that WashU IT’s objective is to lead through this transformation rather than operate in a state of reaction. That mindset is already producing measurable outcomes, with 93 AI optimization ideas identified, 48 business cases developed, and 14 proof-of-concept projects underway — marking what leaders described as “a shift from curiosity to measurable impact.” These accomplishments represent just part of a broader portfolio of AI-related work unfolding across campus.
Service excellence initiatives continue to advance in parallel, focusing on improving how IT delivers services and makes decisions. By leveraging AI tools and more structured feedback processes, Amy Walter, Deputy Chief Information Officer for Research, Clinical and Medical Education Technologies, shared that “teams are able to identify recurring customer concerns, service bottlenecks, and trends earlier,” enabling more proactive, data-driven improvements. Efforts to centralize operational insights within ServiceNow, improve transparency through dashboards, and align teams around shared data are strengthening decision-making and collaboration across multiple areas of the organization. Increasingly, service excellence is becoming less of a project and more of a daily practice.
In parallel, the continuous implementation of the IT Operating Model is creating stronger alignment and scalability across the organization. Jen Stedelin, Deputy Chief Information Officer for Academic and Administrative Technologies, reported that 22 quick operational improvements have already been implemented, with 50 additional initiatives actively moving forward. “A key milestone within this work has been the identification of IT service portfolios and the corresponding services they include, establishing a clearer structure for how services are defined, organized, and delivered across the organization.” Alongside this progress, foundational efforts in service portfolio management, demand and capacity planning, and knowledge management are building the framework needed for consistent, predictable execution across IT. “Supporting this transformation, a new ServiceNow strategic portfolio management tool will replace Planview, consolidating intake, resource planning, and project management into a single system of record to improve visibility, streamline processes, and support more informed decision-making,” adds Stedelin.
These highlights represent only a snapshot of the work underway. Across teams and disciplines, WashU IT continues to advance many interconnected goals that support the university’s mission and long-term strategy. The collaboration, creativity, and dedication demonstrated across the organization are driving meaningful progress today while building strong momentum for the remainder of the fiscal year and beyond.
Watch the February 2026 IT All Hands recording and materials for more highlights about other FY26 Goals and their deliverables.