Presentation: Empowering Campus IT: Leading Engagement and Change in UMD’s Policy-Driven Network Transformation
Abstract: The University of Maryland has undertaken a complete network transformation, fundamentally changing how approximately 41,700 students, 11,000 faculty and staff, and more than 83,900 devices connect to campus resources each day. Spanning 14 colleges and schools, this initiative is transitioning the university from open legacy VLANs to a policy- and identity-driven network model that defines connectivity by user identity, device posture, and role-based access—strengthening both security and agility across the institution.
At the heart of this transformation lies an engagement challenge: how to effectively partner with more than 50 distributed IT units across campus to ensure the successful adoption of a complex new model. Rather than executing migrations centrally, UMD’s Network Refresh team designed and implemented an engagement program that empowered local IT staff to prepare for and lead their own migrations—supported by structured onboarding, training, a tailored migration process, ongoing collaboration, and support.
This session explores the stakeholder engagement strategy that made this distributed model successful and sustainable. Attendees will learn practical strategies for leading large-scale organizational change through stakeholder engagement and empowerment. Drawing on UMD’s experience, the presentation demonstrates how to design an engagement framework that enables distributed teams to take ownership while maintaining alignment with central governance.
Key Takeaways:
- How to develop scalable onboarding and training programs that promote ownership, capability, and confidence.
- How to sustain engagement and alignment throughout long, complex implementations.
- How to transform stakeholders from passive recipients to active partners in change.
The University of Maryland’s approach offers PMO and project leaders a practical model for driving adoption and strengthening organizational capability for change—especially in complex, decentralized environments.
PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills
Biography: Sandra leads the Network and Infrastructure Services organization, providing build and operational support for the campus network infrastructure, classroom AV systems, in-building network cabling infrastructure, data center facilities management, telecommunication closets, outside network cable plant, data center monitoring, mainframe production services, voice and data support services, and warehouse management of all related networking equipment inventory.
