Biography

Dr. Sean Hauze serves as Chief Operating Officer for the IT Division at San Diego State University, where he oversees the strategic alignment of operations, resources, and execution across a dynamic technology landscape, with a focus on operational maturity that enables sustainable growth, effective service delivery, and innovation at scale. He directs IT Finance, HR, and Strategic Operations, managing budget planning, organizational design, and resource allocation to promote financial stewardship and institutional agility. As leader of the Project & Portfolio Management Office, he ensures that high-priority initiatives are strategically aligned, efficiently executed, and measured for outcomes.

His leadership spans data governance, service-level accountability, and performance management, leveraging dashboards, reporting tools, and continuous improvement frameworks to enable transparency and evidence-based decision-making. Through organizational change management and strategic initiative planning, Dr. Hauze drives the development of resilient systems and scalable services that meet the evolving needs of the university.

Sean also teaches doctoral-level research methods and evaluation for the Department of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and advises doctoral candidates in the Claremont Graduate University/San Diego State University Joint Doctoral Program in Education. Previously, Sean was Technology Director for The Grauer School in Encinitas, California, and 3D Data Specialist for Google.

With over 15 years of wide-ranging academic technology professional experience, Sean led campus-wide learning management system and enterprise-level software transitions; co-led San Diego State University's transition to virtual instruction during the COVID-19 global pandemic; authored and co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed academic journal articles, book chapters, and refereed conference proceedings; delivered dozens of invited talks and academic conference presentations; and obtained over $2 million in federal and state grant funding.

Sean received his Ph.D. from the Claremont Graduate University (CGU)/San Diego State University (SDSU) Joint Doctoral Program in Education, with a focus in Higher Education/Student Affairs. Sean also completed a M.Ed. in Educational Technology at SDSU, and his B.S. in Architecture at University of Colorado, Boulder. Sean collaborates on a variety of grant projects, including through his role as co-PI for the STEM Guitar Project (NSF Award #1700531).

Education
B.S., Architecture – University of Colorado Boulder (CU)
M.Ed., Educational Technology – San Diego State University (SDSU)
Ph.D., Education – Claremont Graduate University (CGU)/San Diego State University (SDSU) – Joint Doctorate