/news-archive/tag/arkansas-department-of-information-systems/ 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Wed, 20 Feb 2019 14:36:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /news-archive/2019/02/20/bowen-jennifer-davis-chief-privacy-officer/ Wed, 20 Feb 2019 14:36:16 +0000 /news/?p=73465 ... A law degree is helping Arkansas鈥檚 chief privacy officer navigate uncharted waters]]> Ever since she was a little girl, Jennifer Davis, Arkansas鈥� first chief privacy officer, dreamed of becoming a lawyer.聽 鈥淟aw school has been something I always wanted to do, but life gets in the way,鈥� said Davis, who lives in Bryant. 鈥淚 had a family young; I had a job; I had an undergraduate and a master鈥檚 degree. I had success, but I was lacking a sense of fulfillment.鈥� Davis graduated from 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in information science and later from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville with a Master of Science in operation management. She worked at some of the best companies in the state, including Dillard鈥檚, Lockheed Martin, and Acxiom. She found a passion for protecting personal data after someone stole her father鈥檚 identity in 2006. The identity thief went to another state with two non-photo pieces of identification and was able to get a driver鈥檚 license in her father鈥檚 name. 鈥淭his person had been arrested for driving under the influence, worked under my dad鈥檚 name, and had several hundred thousand dollars in medical expenses,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淭his spanned five years. Debt collectors found my dad, and all these discrepancies showed up on his credit report. It took a long time for us to get that cleaned up, and it was very difficult to file a police report.鈥� She also never gave up her dream of law school. 鈥淚 had considered law school again after I finished my undergraduate degree, but I always assumed that it was a full-time program where you don鈥檛 work,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 had a family and a job and responsibilities, so it wouldn鈥檛 have been possible without Bowen鈥檚 part-time program.鈥� When Davis found out about the William H. Bowen School of Law鈥檚 part-time program, 聽she took it as a sign that it was time for her to go after her dream. With the encouragement of her husband, Dwayne, Davis started at Bowen in 2009 when her daughter, Taylor, was a senior in high school. Although she recalls being 鈥渢errified鈥� when she first started, Davis quickly found a new group of friends and loved the new style of learning. 鈥淭hey told us at the beginning of law school to look around because these would be some of the best friends we would ever make in our lives, and that is absolutely true,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here is a small group of us, and while everyone has gone their separate ways, we are still very close all these years later. One of the best parts of law school is the people. I have called on several of my professors for resources and assistance over the years.鈥� She recalls one of the lectures from her first week of law school – that she was going to learn to think like a lawyer. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know what that meant at first, but changing the way you think is one of the most important things about law school,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he public speaking, the writing, and the analytical thinking skills, it all helps us be better professionals. You can鈥檛 turn it off. It just becomes who you are.鈥� While at law school, Davis found success and earned top paper awards in intellectual property and real estate transactions. She also served as online editor of the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Law Review and worked as a research assistant for one of her favorite professors, Lynn Foster. She also served as a law clerk for Gill Ragon and Owen; Kutak Rock; Friday, Eldredge, and Clark; and the Arkansas Department of Information Systems (ADIS). 鈥淲hile I enjoyed working in firms, I knew it wasn鈥檛 for me.鈥� Davis said. 鈥淚 got hooked up with the Department of Information Systems through the government careers panel at Bowen. I almost didn鈥檛 go, but I took my lunch hour at Acxiom to go over and meet with the ADIS general counsel. That meeting was fortuitous. That introduction shaped a lot of what I wanted to do after law school. I really like working in government, dealing with legislative and administrative aspects.鈥� After graduating from Bowen with honors in 2013, Davis worked as a law clerk for the Arkansas Department of Information Systems while she prepared for the bar exam and then awaited the results. After being admitted to the bar, she worked for ADIS for one year as a state systems specialist followed by four years as an attorney with the Arkansas Department of Education, where she advised the education commissioner and state Board of Education regarding laws, rules, and procedures while representing the Department of Education in ligation matters. As the state鈥檚 chief privacy officer, Davis is responsible for ensuring agency compliance with laws governing privacy and access to protected data and to assure that the use of technology does not erode privacy protections related to disclosure of personal information. Because Arkansas is only the eighth state in the country to hire a chief privacy officer, Davis has a lot left to discover about her new role. Her law school education helps her explore the unknown regions of the job. 鈥淢y role as the chief privacy officer involves working with all the agencies in the state,鈥� she said. 鈥淏eing in law school and having such a variety of classes makes it easier to understand what the other agencies do. My real estate classes, for example, help me understand when I am talking with the real estate commission. A lot of the professors are local experts. Having them here and having access to them has been an asset while working in state government.鈥� For anyone who is considering law school, Davis has the following advice. 鈥淔or anyone who is contemplating law school, they should do it,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 had a great time at Bowen. I have a picture at my home of my law school graduation that I keep on my dresser in a frame. I see it every day, and I am always reminded by how much I love my family and how much I loved my time at Bowen. It was one of the best decisions I ever made, and I am glad my husband finally convinced me to do it.鈥� In the end, Davis is thankful for her law degree, which she uses in every aspect of her professional and personal life. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there is any role in which someone with a law degree won鈥檛 use their degree. You use it in everything, personal and professional,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淚 monitor legislation from a privacy perspective and a legal perspective. When we bought a house, I understood every waiver I signed.鈥� ]]> /news-archive/2017/11/02/chief-data-officer-arkansas/ Thu, 02 Nov 2017 14:03:05 +0000 /news/?p=68424 ... 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Institute fills chief data officer role for state of Arkansas]]> The Institute for Chief Data Officers at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will fill an important role to help protect and maximize big data within the state of Arkansas.聽 The Arkansas Department of Information Systems has contracted the Institute for Chief Data Officers, led by Executive Director Dr. Richard Wang, to serve as the state鈥檚 chief data officer. Wang also serves as a professor of information science at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Chief Data Officer and Information Quality Program. “The College of Engineering and Information Technology is proud to host the Institute for Chief Data Officers as it combines aspects of our mission to provide groundbreaking research and address the needs of our community,鈥� Dean Lawrence Whitman said. 鈥淭he public is served when the university’s research serves the community, both corporate and government. We want our state to use state-of-the-art practices in its use of data and to be a leader in this area. I am pleased that the iCDO is accomplishing this.” The state’s chief data officer position was created by Act 912 of 2017, which was sponsored by Rep. Austin McCollum, R-Bentonville. The act requires the director of the state Department of Information Systems to select a chief data officer as well as create an 18-member Data Transparency Panel that the chief data officer will chair. The Institute for Chief Data Officers will help the state analyze the state鈥檚 data needs, perform a feasibility and cost study on the development of a statewide data warehouse program, and evaluate and identify data that can be published. Wang wants to facilitate inter-agency data agreements and increase statewide data sharing and transparency. 鈥淲e have to make different data from different systems talk to each other,鈥� Wang said. 鈥淒uring my first 100 days as CDO, I want to host the inaugural Arkansas CDO forum so we can begin the discussion and exchange of ideas to achieve project outcomes beneficial to the people of Arkansas.鈥� Another central goal for Wang is the exploration of public/private partnerships whereby Arkansas can become a national example of an effective data-driven government to better address priority public needs. This approach would also create greater value for the taxpayer dollar through better allocation of existing data to meet the needs of Arkansans, Wang said. In recent years, state, city, and county governments have seen the value in adding a chief data officer to the workforce. Colorado was the first state to add a chief data officer in 2010. Arkansas becomes the in the U.S. to employ a chief data officer. At the Institute for Chief Data Officers, Wang and his employees are working to train new chief data officers and perform seminal research on the topic. The institute leads multiple certificate programs throughout the year. 鈥淚 want Little Rock and central Arkansas to be the center of data in training and conducting research on big data and chief data officers,鈥� Wang said. 鈥淲e are leading the path to promote the idea of chief data officers.鈥� The need for chief data officers is increasing. According to the Stamford, Connecticut-based information technology research company Gartner, will have a chief data officer by 2019. 鈥淚 believe that chief data officers are here to stay,鈥� Wang said. 鈥淲hen chief data officers show successful business results, that is when companies will demand a CDO. Our job at the Institute for Chief Data Officers is to envision a chief data officer in every major organization globally in the public and private sector.鈥�]]>