The result was the new Office of Budget, Finance and Information Services. Far from representing a mere name change, the newly-configured Vice Chancellory has undergone a top to bottom reorientation to serve better the needs of the colleges and to position better the University to make the most effective use of current and emerging technologies in the service of higher education. And the emphasis is very deliberately on Information Services and not Systems, in recognition of the fact that systems are merely tools that may be helpful in achieving an objective, not the objective itself. Rather, our goal is to provide services in the new information age, services that all of us are either required to perform by internal and external mandates, or want to provide by virtue of our shared notions of how to improve life for our students, faculty and staff.

The reorganization was particularly well-timed given the federal administration's commitment to a National Information Infrastructure and the Governor's repeated calls for enhancement of New York's technical capabilities. It is an area that holds great promise as well as great pitfalls for us all. Doing it right (whatever the "it" may be) can reap improved services and significant savings. Doing it wrong can waste millions of dollars and embolden naysayers.

Whether it be computer-aided instruction, numerically intensive supercomputing, on-line library services, record imaging, executive information systems, video conferencing, energy management, or "one-stop-shopping" kiosks, these and many more issues are confronting the University and will continue to at an ever accelerating pace. The train is coming down the track and we can either be on it or under it. I say not only do we need to be on it, we need to be in the locomotive and not in the caboose.

As a leader in so many ways in the world of higher education, it is fitting that CUNY position itself to be a leader in the development and application of technology to address human needs. With our diversity, with our size, with our geographical dispersal, and with our breadth of programs, we have the potential for making enormous strides if we work together and listen carefully to each other. And what the reorganization is really all about, when all is said and done, is creating a structure that will facilitate that type of cooperation.

This newly designed newsletter is one of the many steps we have taken to keep the University community informed of developments inside and outside, and to offer each of you a forum for voicing your observations and concerns. Please read it carefully and share your reactions with us. We are about to embark on an incredible journey, I believe. We can choose timidity and sit back while others blaze the trail, or risk some disappointments and, yes, even failures, in exchange for the tremendous rewards that await us. Speaking for myself, I'm getting ready to ride the information superhighway. I invite you to fasten your seat belts and join me.