Dear Colleagues:
As 2025 comes to a close, I want to express my gratitude for your continued partnership and collaboration throughout this past year. Together, we’ve made significant progress in advancing UCLA’s digital transformation, strengthening our technology foundations, enhancing the quality of IT services and deepening engagement across academic and administrative communities. These efforts reflect our shared commitment to building a connected, innovative and service-oriented digital campus that supports UCLA’s mission of teaching, research and public service.
Advancing One IT
We continue to collaborate closely with academic and administrative leaders across campus to share updates on the One IT initiative, address key concerns and gather guidance as we move forward. The initiative remains in its discovery phase, with teams partnering with campus units to collect information on IT staffing, technology and services. This month, the One IT Listening Session Series engaged more than 300 IT staff across campus. Feedback highlighted the importance of clear communication, responsiveness, service quality and the protection of research excellence, along with the need to balance central coordination with local flexibility.
Twelve working groups have now launched, and co-leads have been onboarded. More than 225 individuals have volunteered to participate, demonstrating strong engagement and academic representation in areas of key interest to faculty and researchers. Following winter curtailment, an updated One IT website will debut, offering transparency into governance, discovery progress and working group activities, along with expanded FAQs. These next steps reinforce our commitment to collaboration and a service-oriented IT model that advances UCLA’s mission.
Strengthening Financial Aid and Student Support
The Bruin Financial Aid (BFA) system remains a cornerstone of student support, having processed $518 million in disbursements to date. Our fall term saw the highest impact, with over $335 million distributed through 116,577 disbursements that supported 28,611 unique students. Looking ahead to 2026, the system has already facilitated over $95 million for the winter term and $13 million for spring semester programs.
In parallel, the Division of Graduate Education, Financial Aid & Scholarships, and Digital & Technology Solutions (DTS) continued working closely with campus partners to strengthen graduate and professional financial aid operations. Recent deep-dive sessions for Student Services Advisors (SSAs) and Student Affairs Officers (SAOs) focused on expanding visibility into financial aid data, clarifying key workflows and strengthening cross-departmental communication to ensure timely, accurate and consistent support for graduate and professional students.
Elevating AI at UCLA
The UCLA AI Committee convened for its kickoff meeting on December 17, co-chaired by Chief Data & AI Officer Chris Mattmann and DataX Executive Director Eleazar Eskin. The committee establishes a formal governance and coordination structure to guide responsible, ethical and innovative AI use across campus. UCLA also continues to engage with systemwide partners through the UC Systemwide AI Council, ensuring alignment with University of California priorities and collective AI initiatives.
Safeguarding Our Technology Environment
Phase 2 of the Asset project concluded on December 19, marking a key milestone in advancing campus cybersecurity and compliance. Transition efforts are now underway to shift project responsibilities to operational teams within units that successfully met requirements ahead of schedule. Units with remaining tasks have developed recovery plans and will continue their work into the new year to ensure full completion and sustained progress toward compliance and long-term operational readiness.
Building a Unified Network
The Bruin Connect and Secure program is mobilizing for the preliminary network build and pilot. The team is aligning resources, conducting site walks in select DTS-managed and shared telecommunications rooms (TRs), and completing pilot discovery exercises. In parallel, work continues on the future-state operating model and stakeholder communications to ensure organizational readiness.
Advancing Campuswide Digital Accessibility
The Digital Accessibility Steering Committee convened on November 26, followed by a campus BruinPost on December 12 announcing committee membership and updates from the University of California. The UC Office of the President is currently revising its presidential policy on Information Technology Accessibility, and UCLA continues to collaborate closely to ensure alignment and readiness.
As we look ahead to 2026, our focus remains on building a more unified, secure and innovative digital environment that enables excellence in every aspect of UCLA’s mission. Thank you for your dedication, partnership, and collaboration throughout this year. I wish you and your families a restful winter break and a bright start to the new year.
Best,
Lucy Avetisyan
Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer
