Rate My Professor Timothy Chester

Timothy Chester serves as Vice President for Information Technology at the University of Georgia since 2011, where he leads Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS) in delivering campus-wide IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, high-performance computing expansions, wireless connectivity enhancements, and AI-focused data centers. He has managed critical initiatives such as the $2 million investment in high-performance computing, responses to system outages like Athena and eLC, and adaptations for remote learning during the pandemic. Chester aligns IT with institutional research for improved data analytics and stakeholder services, elevating the CIO role to vice presidential level, a model he also implemented at Pepperdine University. His leadership emphasizes IT's strategic role in university policy and operations, including hosting data conferences on AI and advanced analytics.

Prior to UGA, Chester was vice provost for academic administration and chief information officer at Pepperdine University from 2009 to 2011, and CIO there from 2007; earlier, at Texas A&M University, he served as project leader in Computing & Information Services from 1997 to 2003 and chief information officer for the Qatar branch campus. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Tyler (1991), master’s degree (1995), and Ph.D. in sociology (1999) from Texas A&M University. Chester has published articles on leadership strategy and organizational change in higher education IT. He led the TechQual+ project for nearly a decade, a survey used by over 100 institutions to assess and improve IT services. His contributions earned the 2016 EDUCAUSE Community Leadership Award, recognition in the Georgia CIO of the Year ORBIE Awards, and a 2011 Campus Technology Innovator Award. He chaired the EDUCAUSE Quarterly editorial board (2007-2008), served on the Internet2/EDUCAUSE Network Council, presents at EDUCAUSE events, and teaches in UGA Terry College of Business MBA and graduate programs.