UCLA Digital and Technology Solutions makes its debut, ready to empower innovation

Just days ahead of her five-year UCLA work anniversary, Lucy Avetisyan was center stage in front of an audience of more than 400 people at the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center. It was a moment she had envisioned and tirelessly worked toward since starting her role as associate vice chancellor for information technology services (ITS) and chief information officer (CIO).

"I want to officially welcome you to Day One, the start of something bold, exciting and deeply meaningful for all of us," said Avetisyan at the April 23 all-staff event that brought members of UCLA's central IT organization together for a day of celebration, learning and networking.

"Today isn't just about gathering in a new space. It's about stepping fully into a new identity. As of today, we are no longer IT Services. We are UCLA Digital and Technology Solutions. We've grown from being service providers to being strategic partners. From fixing what's broken to building what's possible."

How UCLA's Digital and Technology Solutions came about

"The launch of DTS is a first-of-its-kind undertaking among the 10 University of California campuses, involving numerous stakeholders from UCLA and support from the UC Office of the President," said Avetisyan, who received the 2022 CIO Award from the Tambellini Group and a 2022 EdScoop 50 Award from the Scoop News Group for her broader contributions to the field.

In addition to strengthening the foundation of campus technology and advancing UCLA's five-year strategic plan. the establishment of DTS will also help reduce operational complexity, strengthen collaboration and empower innovation with technology, she said.

"We are embracing a bold new vision where technology is no longer just a support system," said Darnell Hunt, UCLA executive vice chancellor and provost. "IT is a strategic driver of our mission. It powers how we teach. It fuels how we conduct our research. And it shapes how we serve communities - here in Los Angeles and around the world."

In 2020, Avetisyan became UCLA's associate vice chancellor for ITS and CIO, with a mandate to develop a digital campus roadmap by identifying IT service gaps that hinder performance, limit service excellence and slow UCLA's digital progress compared to its peers. Following the announcement of the organizational transformation, hiring for the new DTS department occurred in waves over the past 18 months, with the most recent team members coming on board in March 2025.

"We understood from the gaps that a new structure and operating model would be required," said Jennifer Ferry, associate chief information officer for strategy, planning and operations, adding that the division was not something that could organically transition over time. "It required a complete departmental redesign to meet the demands of UCLA's evolving technology landscape and align with the university's broader goals."

How Digital and Technology Solutions will benefit Bruins

Using the knowledge and insight gained and communicating their findings to 250 stakeholders across campus in nearly 30 sessions, Avetisyan and her team got to work on making data-driven decisions to remedy decades of IT underinvestment, untapped innovation and unrealized savings.

"By modernizing systems and simplifying operations, technology becomes seamless, allowing Bruins to explore new ideas, expand solutions and drive meaningful change," said Avetisyan. "Technology should empower people, not stand in their way. This shift ensures that UCLA is equipped with the right digital solutions for today while building a strong foundation for the future."

For students and faculty, this means secure and accessible digital experiences that continue to support engaging teaching, learning and collaboration. Staff and faculty will see improved tools, products and workflows that will make it easier to work efficiently and stay connected. In addition, they will experience a more strategic approach to collaboration, ensuring technology solutions align with and accelerate UCLA's broader goals, said Veronica Garcia, deputy chief information officer.

"When systems work better, people can focus on what really matters - exploration, discovery and progress," Garcia said.

As part of building its senior leadership team, DTS welcomed the University of California's first chief data and AI officer, Chris Mattmann, and introduced generative artificial intelligence technologies to the campus, including ChatGPT Enterprise, M365 CoPilot and Google's GeminiChat for use by the campus community.

According to Garcia, the benefits of creating and launching DTS have been vast and impactful. The team leveraged its talent during the recent Los Angeles wildfires to establish a real-time UCLA evacuee dashboard mapping campus databases with CalFire evacuation data to identify staff, faculty and students who were impacted by evacuations. This information was then used to generate unit-specific information for senior leadership to provide targeted outreach and support to affected individuals.

"Our role is to ensure that as UCLA's digital environment grows, security remains a constant foundation," said Drake Chang, UCLA's chief information security officer. "By protecting both individual and institutional data, we're enabling Bruins to innovate, collaborate and thrive with confidence."

Building on that commitment, DTS has modernized more than 200 critical applications, led cloud migrations that increased agility, and streamlined IT services, reducing redundancy and improving experiences for students, faculty and staff. The team has also reimagined UCLA's digital workplace - introducing new collaboration platforms, automating complex workflows and enhancing cybersecurity protocols to protect UCLA's data and mission, all while supporting more than 65,000 users across campus - at scale, in real-time and under increasing demand.

"As UCLA's technology needs to grow over time, Bruins will have greater access to intuitive, secure digital tools that support everything from classroom experiences to administrative workflows," said Avetisyan. "To meet these needs, DTS is committed to driving a new era of innovation, modernizing systems, strengthening digital infrastructure and harnessing the power of data and AI to fuel UCLA's continuous ascent, spark new possibilities and help shape the future of our university."