search
Donate

News

Ohio University makes ‘significant’ cuts to IT staff in a move to address rising expenses and realign operations

By:
Posted on:

< < Back to

ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Ohio University has eliminated what was described as a significant number of information technology positions in a move to reduce expenses and realign operations.

Ohio University's Cutler Hall on the first day of the semester.
Ohio University’s Cutler Hall. [Aaron Payne | Ohio Valley ReSource]
The job eliminations and other changes were announced today in emails to IT staff by Chris Ament, the chief information officer at Ohio University.

Ament said the cuts were necessary because costs for software, services and personnel have outpaced funding.

He also noted that as “demand for IT services and the pace of digital transformation continue to grow,” his department “must create capacity to invest in new capabilities with the resources we have.”

Ament said many of the remaining positions are being realigned to serve the areas of greatest need as other services are reduced or eliminated.

Many open IT positions were also eliminated, which Ament said closed more than half of the funding gap and limited the number of staff cuts.

At the same time, more than a dozen IT positions created or preserved under the reorganization were posted today on the university’s job site. Applications for most of these positions are limited to OU employees, including those whose positions were abolished today.