EdScoop 50 awards

Lois Brooks earns national IT leadership award

UW–Madison Chief Information Officer Lois Brooks has earned national recognition for her work helping define the future of information technology in higher education.

EdScoop, an online higher education IT news publication, announced Tuesday that Brooks was among the winners of the 2023 EdScoop 50 Awards. The awards honor the most influential people and projects in the higher education technology community.

Brooks and 16 of her peers were named “Higher Education IT Executive of the Year” in this year’s awards. The 2023 honorees represent more than 30 institutions and 10 private companies, from large university systems to community colleges nationwide.

“These leaders are making big things happen in their communities and pushing our industry forward at a larger scale,” said Jake Williams, the vice president of content and community for EdScoop. “The 50 winners this year are great examples of the innovation and dedication to student success inherent in this field.”

Members of the higher education IT community nominated more than 250 leaders and projects for the awards, which EdScoop narrowed to a list of the top 85 for the public to vote on. EdScoop readers cast more than 240,000 votes to select this year’s winners, according to the publication.

Lois Brooks has served as UW–Madison’s vice provost for information technology and CIO since 2018. She is active nationally in the higher education community, having served in leadership and governance roles with the Northwest Academic Computing Consortium, Unizin, Educause Learning Initiative and Internet2. She received the 2022 ORBIE award for excellence in IT leadership in the large enterprise category.