Mike Erickson is the Chief Information Officer at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, having served in that role since the fall of 2014. As the CIO, he provides institution-wide leadership for information technology strategy and implementation, including academic, research, and administrative technologies. Erickson strongly advocates for a collaborative, engaged, and integrated partnership between the IT organization and university community, reflecting the interwoven nature of technology across all aspects of the academic enterprise. He is an advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion, and access and serves as a member of the Mines Men Advocating for Gender Equity and is proud to be an ally to the LGBTQ+ community at Mines.
Erickson is a strong advocate for and an active member of the EDUCAUSE community. He currently serves as Chair of the 2019 Annual Conference Program Committee. He has previously served on the Recognition Committee, the Hawkins Leadership Roundtable, as Chair of the Core Committee of EDUCAUSE Connect 2014, chair of the program committee of the West-Southwest Regional Conference in 2013, and has presented at both regional and annual conferences. Erickson is a 2005 graduate of the EDUCAUSE Leadership Institute and the inaugural 2013 Leading Change Institute (formerly Frye Institute).
Prior to serving at Mines, Mike was Associate Vice President for Information Technology / CIO at Emporia State University (Emporia, KS), from 2008-2014. Erickson is actively involved in the research and education community, including EDUCAUSE, Internet2, and local and regional efforts. In addition to his work with EDUCAUSE, he currently serves as Vice-Chair of Internet2’s InCommon Steering Committee. He has previously served as member and past chair of the Regents Information Technology Council (RITC) for the Kansas Board of Regents, and the Board of Directors for the Kansas Research and Education Network (KanREN), and was an active member of the Kansas Partnership for Accessible Technology (KPAT). Previous to his tenure at Emporia State University, Erickson was the Assistant Director for University Computing and Telecommunications Services at Wichita State University (Wichita, KS) with responsibility for Technical Services and Operations.
Erickson has a B.S. and M.S in Computer Science from Wichita State University with a breadth of areas of emphasis including Electrical Engineering and Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration at the University of Kansas.
For many institutions, technology has become a strategic and mission-centric consideration. Yet most prevailing IT funding models are based on practices that do not reflect the changing landscape or the necessity of continuous investment.