Mar 15, 2016

Dr. Christine Haska Awarded Innovations In Networking Award for Outstanding Individual Contribution

Christine Haska, Ph.D., vice president of Information Resources and Chief Information Officer (retired), Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), Monterey, California is being honored by the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) with the 2016 Innovations in Networking Award for Outstanding Individual Contribution.

At NPS, she led the efforts to develop two five-year strategic plans for Information Technology, she established the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, and worked with colleagues at the Naval Academy and Naval War College to set up the Navy Higher Education IT Consortium.

“NPS students and faculty are able to use leading edge tools for research and push beyond previous boundaries. These tools and techniques evolve quickly, and NPS Information Technology Department is capable of keeping pace with these changes to support our faculty and students because of the firm foundation that Dr. Haska built during her time here. We have been the leaders in IT technologies throughout Department of Defense because of Dr. Haska,” said Joseph LoPiccolo, CIO and Director of Information Technology, NPS.

Dr. Haska oversaw the Monterey Peninsula DoDNet, a regional infrastructure linking five local Department of Defense organizations. She led NPS’s efforts to become a CENIC member and worked with colleagues at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center to connect them to the CENIC network. She retired from NPS in fall 2013.

“Dr. Christine Haska is one-of-a-kind. Her foresight and innovative spirit identified the need for military educational institutions to operate in a more open and capable network environment, in contrast to what military networks could offer. The endeavor to deliver this capability took more than 10 years and involved out-of-the-box thinking that brought city, county, and higher educational institutions together with the military to craft a solution. The results have been a game changer for the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) in Monterey. Students and faculty are able to use authentic materials for language and culture education and to incorporate mobile devices that have enhanced the delivery of language education. We would not be able to meet our mission without the efforts started by Dr. Haska many years ago,” said Terri Brutzman, Deputy Chief of Staff for Information Technology and CIO, Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center.

Most recently, Dr. Haska led an initiative to connect the major health care institutions in Monterey County to the CENIC network, on behalf of Community Health Innovations, an organization dedicated to advancing highly reliable, evidence-based healthcare delivery in Monterey and surrounding counties.

“I was so pleased to learn that Christine Haska will be receiving the Innovations in Networking Award. Christine’s leadership was single-handedly responsible for the addition of Monterey County’s healthcare institutions into CENIC. The enhanced speed and functionality of our network will allow for advances in patient care for years to come,” said Steven Packer, M.D., President and CEO, Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.

Among Christine’s many accomplishments in Monterey County was bringing together the city, county, education institutions, and health care organizations to leverage network resources for the benefit of the government, education, and health communities. Furthermore, Christine built numerous partnerships between these diverse communities and CENIC in her role at NPS and as a member of the CENIC Board of Directors.

“Besides Christine's vision and ability to get things done when paths A and B become blocked, she is one of this best "connectors" of people who should know each other and be working together to accomplish the mission,” said Dianah Neff, Chief Information Officer of Monterey County.

“Christine’s work on behalf of NPS, ensuring that it continues to be a research leader, her path-breaking work in bringing the Defense Language Institute into the CENIC community, and her leadership on the Monterey Bay Peninsula, most recently by bringing the major healthcare institutions onto the CENIC network, are each remarkable accomplishments. Collectively, they are an unparalleled,” said Louis Fox, President, and CEO of CENIC.

Innovations in Networking Awards are presented each year by CENIC to highlight the exemplary innovations that leverage ultra high-bandwidth networking, particularly where those innovations have the potential to transform the ways in which instruction and research are conducted, or where they further the deployment of broadband to underserved communities in California.

About CENIC • www.cenic.org
CENIC connects California to the world—advancing education and research statewide by providing the world-class network essential for innovation, collaboration and economic growth. The nonprofit organization operates the California Research and Education Network (CalREN), a high-capacity network designed to meet the unique requirements of over 20 million users, including the vast majority of K-20 students together with educators, researchers and other vital public-serving institutions. CENIC’s Charter Associates are part of the world’s largest education system; they include the California K-12 system, California Community Colleges, the California State University system, California’s Public Libraries, the University of California system, Stanford, Caltech, and USC. CENIC also provides connectivity to leading-edge institutions and industry research organizations around the world, serving the public as a catalyst for a vibrant California.

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