You can help Day Hall make decisions about IT at Cornell.

IT -- Information Technology. That's your e-mail, the accounting data you use on your job and the software you use to crunch the numbers, the database you use in your teaching, student grade records, the network that connects you to all those things, and the hardware that it runs on.

Most of it is changing, driven by new technologies, student expectations and budget constraints. Ted Dodds, CIO and vice president for information technologies, is developing a strategic plan for the next five years (2012-17), to guide capital and operating budgets, technology directions, and professional and career development plans for IT staff.

To learn what's going on and contribute ideas, attend "IT@Cornell: Planning Our Future, Together" Sept. 11 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in G10 Biotechnology Building. The event is open to the Cornell community and is particularly aimed at faculty and IT staff, along with anyone else interested in the future of IT at Cornell. Registration is free and open through Aug. 31. You can attend for the full day or pick selected events.

A morning of keynote addresses from higher education IT leaders Shel Waggener, senior vice president of Internet2, and Diana Oblinger, president and CEO of EDUCAUSE, will lead to an afternoon of discussion.

According to Dodds: "The morning keynotes will focus on the impact of cloud services and the potential for technology to enable new modes of teaching and learning. Cornell is a relatively early adopter of cloud computing. It is one of several ways we are trying to improve utility IT services so that more of the university's IT resources can be allocated to supporting core academic functions in education, research and outreach."

Discussion topics include Research Computing, Adoption of Learning Technologies, Classroom Technologies, Technology Support, Administrative Systems, Mobile Technologies, Student Expectations, New Faculty Expectations, Mobile Technologies for Teaching, Online Learning, and Massive Open Online Courses.

The full program is available at http://www.it.cornell.edu/catc/cms/cio/strategic/future.cfm.

Light breakfast fare, lunch and a wine-and-cheese reception following the afternoon wrap-up session will be offered. A poster session by Cornell providers of learning, classroom and research-related technologies will be open from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Biotechnology Building Atrium.