OIT Academic Services

The Director's Office provides leadership and outreach for all aspects of academic information technology at Princeton, and oversees the services provided by the department. The office includes services for digital repositories, collaboration and conferencing technologies, and project management.

The Academic Services department of OIT was created to bring together the groups within and outside of OIT whose principal responsibilities were to support the use of Information Technology in teaching and research at Princeton. As Academic Services' first Director, I am proud to head up a team that includes people with a wide range of skills, all dedicated to supporting use of technology in the academic enterprise.

I started my professional career as an academic. I received a B.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. degree, all from Yale University, all in Anthropology. My field work and dissertation were on the ecology of Rhesus monkeys in Northwestern Pakistan. In the course of analyzing my data, I began to use computers, became enamored, and never looked back. I have at various times been a system's programmer (specializing in IBM mainframe operating systems, and later in Unix and NextStep), an instructor of computer internals, a web page designer, and an occasional college lecturer (in quantitative methods). I still think of myself primarily as an academic, and my role at Princeton as being primarily to ensure that OIT is providing services that address the needs of academics.

I hope you will contact me if you have any questions or comments about any of our services, or if there are things which you need but which we do not appear to provide. We have tried to be comprehensive in putting together this website, but some things may have fallen through the cracks.  You can reach me at:

• phone: (609) 258-6059
• e-mail: serge@princeton.edu

As Assistant to the Director, I manage the daily operation of the Director's Office including the Director's calendar, telephone, and travel arrangements. I provide secretarial services for a number of committees and groups as well as performing general administrative tasks for the department. I also oversee the finances for the Educational Technology Centers, a division of Academic Services and make the arrangements for all departmental events.

Feel free to contact me if you are trying to get in touch with the Director or if you have questions about what Academic Services offers. You can reach me at:

• phone: (609) 258-6903
• e-mail: becca@princeton.edu

I have been with the University since 1999 and am currently Manager of Collaboration & Conferencing Technologies, where I promote the use of systems such as SharePoint, WebSpace, and web and video conferencing. In the past I have managed Education & Outreach Services and Web Services.

My degrees (BA Fine & Performing Arts, MS Systems Engineering) reflect a life-long love of both the arts and sciences. These interests have resulted in a resume that includes such varied positions as special effects designer in the broadcast industry and tenured professor of Computer Science. When not immersed in technology or the arts, I can be found overseeing my small organic farm and caring for family and pets. You can reach me at:

• phone: (609) 258-2949
• e-mail: lavora@princeton.edu

Previously I worked for JSTOR as an employee of Princeton University from 1996 until 2004. JSTOR is a not-for-profit digital library of academic journals. My responsibilities evolved from programming and systems administration to management of all systems administration staff. In 2004 I became the Director of Shared IT for Ithaka Harbors, an affiliate of JSTOR. In that role I was responsible for systems administration, telecommunications, and helpdesk services for multiple not-for-profit organizations including JSTOR, ARTstor, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Ithaka itself.

In February of 2008 I returned to Princeton University in the role of Digital Repository Architect. My current responsibilities include developing strategies for managing digital assets, developing services necessary for implementing these strategies, and helping members of the University community to use these and other services to manage their processes and their data. I can help you decide how best to store, manage, and preserve your data using content management systems such as SharePoint, WebSpace, Blackboard, OnBase, DataSpace, and others. You can reach me at:

• phone: (609) 258-0228
• e-mail: ratliff@princeton.edu

As manager of the department's project office, I am responsible for enabling the success of Academic Services' IT projects. I oversee our project planning and management processes, and help ensure that  projects are delivered on time, within budget and with expected results. I also manage our key projects. As liaison to OIT's Project Office, I help promote Princeton's project management methodology and serve as an advocate for best practices.

I first began my career with the University as a humanities computing specialist and worked on projects such as the Dante Database and the Princeton Charrette Project. I also managed the Faculty Resources Center. After returning to the University in 2007, I managed web development before starting up the project office. You can reach me at:

• phone: (609) 258-9686
• email: marya@princeton.edu