Dear Colleagues:
As we progress through the winter quarter, I am happy to share highlights of our recent accomplishments in collaboration with campus partners. For more details on each project, please refer to the IT Executive Dashboard.
- The FACET Program reached an important milestone with the launch of the Bruin Financial Aid student portal and the start of award packaging for select student populations for the 2025–26 academic year. Financial aid plays a pivotal role in supporting enrollment, retention, and academic success at UCLA.
- The Bruin Connect & Secure team has sent Trellix compliance attestations via DocuSign through VC Beck's office to all compliant departments. Departments are requested to review and complete these sign-offs by March 11. Efforts to identify and catalog university IT assets are underway, with communications planned to update unit leaders on the timeline and progress made to ensure UCLA meets the UCOP mandate by May 28, 2025. The Network Unification team reviewed the first phase of designs with the Design Review Board (DRB) for feedback, issued a Request for Quotes (RFQ) for network equipment, and is evaluating vendors to support the university's future network infrastructure. Additionally, the team is establishing a Network Advisory Committee (NAC) to enhance campus engagement and collaboration.
- The Email Unification Program has completed a discovery effort to document UCLA’s current email platforms and assess their multi-factor authentication (MFA) compliance across campus. Based on this review, ITS will reach out to individual schools and units as needed to ensure they are compliant with the UCOP May 2025 cyber security mandate.
- The Artificial Intelligence (AI) initiative continues to support 60+ projects from last fall’s Call for OpenAI proposals while developing AI literacy materials for campuswide distribution this spring. Additionally, the Student Products and Digital Foundry teams delivered a strategy and recommendations for AI Assistant Solutions, with a proposed Fall 2025 launch. To support research and administrative needs, the Infrastructure and Digital Foundry teams completed an evaluation of campus data center capacity for hosting Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to support AI applications, identifying immediate opportunities for hosting.
- The BruinBuy Plus Stabilization team remains focused on improving the procurement experience for departments. Sustained low invoice volumes indicate improved processing efficiency, and the team continues to evaluate and deploy new system and service improvements.
I am grateful for your continued partnership in creating an outstanding digital experience for Bruins. I look forward to our ongoing collaboration.
Best regards,
Lucy Avetisyan
Associate Vice Chancellor
Chief Information Officer
Information Technology Services
Resources
For questions or more information on the IT Services portfolio resources, please email ocio@ucla.edu.
