INDIANA, Pa. – Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Chief Information Officer Bill Balint has been selected as University Technology Leader of the Year by EdScoop, an online newsletter for leaders in technology and digital learning, published by Scoop News Group.
The awards, now in their second year, honor the most influential people and projects in the higher education technology community.
Members of the higher education information technology community nominated more than 250 leaders and projects for the awards. The EdScoop team narrowed the list to the top 85, and readers cast more than 240,000 votes to select this year’s winners.
“These leaders are making big things happen in their communities, and pushing our industry forward at a larger scale,” said Jake Williams, the vice president of content and community for EdScoop. “The 50 winners this year are great examples of the innovation and dedication to student success inherent in this field.”
As an honoree, Balint joins technology leaders from more than 30 institutions and 10 private sector companies.
“Bill has an excellent ability to forecast opportunities and to anticipate issues and challenges,” IUP Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Lara Luetkehans said. “His leadership skills are extraordinary, and he has built a strong and talented team that keeps IUP’s information technology infrastructure operating smoothly and effectively,” she said. “He continues to be in demand nationally for his expertise, and IUP is very lucky to have him in the CIO role,” she said. “This honor is very well deserved, and on behalf of the university, I want to offer him our fullest congratulations,” she said.
Balint has been IUP's Chief Information Officer since 2006. He has worked at the university since 1989, a year after he graduated from IUP with a bachelor's degree in management information systems. He started out as a systems analyst and worked his way to his current post, where he helps oversee all technological needs of IUP's faculty, students, and staff. He also serves as Technical Executive, Central Administration IT Team, for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s strategic information management system. He is also a member of the Pittsburgh Executive CIO governing board.
“This honor is a tribute to the IUP IT Services team, and I am humbled to represent this great team,” Balint said. “The wonderful thing about winning this award is seeing IUP represented beside some of the biggest names in higher education, like the University of Texas, Notre Dame, University of Michigan, and the University of North Carolina just to name a few. IUP could only gain this lofty status because it receives outstanding executive support from President Driscoll and Provost Luetkehans."
Balint has presented at more than 70 industry events at the regional, state, national, and international levels, including the Pittsburgh CIO Virtual Executive Summit and the IUP Cybersecurity Day. He has authored, co-authored, or been interviewed for more than 40 publications and websites via written, audio, and video formats. IUP’s IT security awareness program and Balint’s leadership has been recognized in various publications, including Campus Technology, Educational Technology Insights, and CIO magazine and the Enterprisers Project, which is a collaborative effort between CIO magazine, Harvard Business Review, and Red Hat.
Under Balint’s leadership, IUP was selected for the “Top COVID Pivot” award from the Pittsburgh Technology Council during Council's 2020 Tech 50 Awards event.
The Pivot award was created by the event organizers in recognition of stories of local companies' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. IUP was also the sole higher education finalist for the Pittsburgh Technology Council's 2020 Tech 50 Awards in the Non-Profit-Education-Community category.
IUP migrated more than 1,500 courses taught by nearly 650 different faculty members in 10 days in March 2020 when State System of Higher Education universities were required to switch all coursework to remote delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic. The university was able to deliver 3,300 synchronous sessions in the first week of online learning.
In addition to coursework, the university held a highly successful virtual orientation for the first time in university history, with some 1,750 students and families being oriented and tested in a fully online modality.
Balint was honored in 2016 by the Pittsburgh Technology Council and Greater Pittsburgh CIO Group with the Pittsburgh Chief Information Officer of the Year Award (education division) award. He is also a 2015 Pennsylvania Banner User Group Emeriti Award recipient, recognized for his voluntary service to the group. He was a founding member of the user group in 1999.
In fall 2015, Balint coordinated a the first-ever cybersecurity track for the Health, Safety, Security and Environmental Conference and Exhibition, sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago, and IUP has now become a regular part of this international conference.
Both of Balint’s parents, the late Bill Balint and late Shirley Balint; his wife, Amy Evans Balint; his three children, Bill Balint, Brandon Balint and Julie Balint Allen; his father-in-law, Harold Evans; his daughter-in law, Elizabeth Balint; and his son-in-law, Rodney Allen, have all graduated from the university. The 10 alumni, combined, have earned 13 degrees from IUP.