FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 10, 2001 CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 DRAKE APPOINTS FIRST CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER Paul M. Morris, who has served as chief information officer at Tufts University and Emory University, has been named chief information officer of Drake University. He starts the position next week, becoming Drake’s first-ever chief information officer. Morris is responsible for providing leadership, planning and management for all areas of information technology at Drake. He supervises academic computing, administrative systems, data communications, information technology security systems, training and user support. "We are delighted that Paul Morris has agreed to join the Drake University leadership team," said Drake Provost Ronald Troyer. "He has the experience and personal qualities that we need. I am confident that he will help us successfully address a number of technology issues. We are fortunate to be able to find someone with his background to be the first CIO at Drake University." Morris holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Cambridge University, an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and a Ph.D. in management science from the University of London. He has 18 years of management experience in information technology as well as seven years experience as a faculty member at universities in the United Kingdom and the United States. His understanding of how to use information technology to improve both research and teaching led him to serve as chief editor of a book titled "Valuable, Viable Software in Education: Cases and Analysis," which was published in 1994 by McGraw-Hill/Primis. Before joining Drake, Morris was special advisor to the provost of Emory University on information technology issues. He formerly served as vice-provost for information technology and chief operating officer of the Information Technology Division at Emory. He also was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Southeastern Universities Research Association from 1998 through 2000. Morris has been an information technology consultant and worked at Tufts University as executive director of Computing and Communications Services. In addition, he has held information technology positions at the Wang Institute of Graduate Studies and Northeastern University, where he served as assistant professor of business administration and later as manager of computer services for the College of Business Administration. He previously taught at Kingston Polytechnic College, now Kingston University, in Surrey, England.