Beyond disruption
2026 Recap
IT Day brought York's IT community together to explore disruption and change from every angle. From the state of higher-ed as a sector and the realities of service delivery, to the ever-burgeoning opportunities of AI and a chance to hear from the students we serve.
Revisit the talks you attended, discover the ones you couldn't make and ruminate on all the wisdom our colleagues shared.
Navigating Upheaval, Building Agility
Dawn Ressel
Senior Director, Research Advisory Services · EAB
9:00–10:00 a.m. · ACW 206
What it takes to build agility in higher education amid uncertainty, changing expectations and disruption. Revisit Dawn Ressel’s opening keynote.
PI Before AI: From Process Intelligence to AI-Driven Transformation
Leonard Chow, Gary Taylor, Milan Padukka
10:30–11:15 a.m. · ACW 106
A process-first approach to AI: use process mining, decision mining and simulation to find where automation can create measurable value before choosing the technology.
Accelerating Development with GitHub Copilot
Domenico Bruce, Patrick Thibaudeau
10:30–11:15 a.m. · ACW 205
How York is enabling GitHub and Copilot access, with live examples of AI-assisted development and projects delivered through IIAT.
Guiding Disruption – Impact Estimation for Technical Change Arguments
Jonathan Crum, Gautam Janardhanan
10:30–11:15 a.m. · ACW 002
Make stronger cases for technical change by estimating its effects on cost, complexity, risk, effort and institutional priorities.
Network Security Posture and Future Roadmap
Mansoor Khan, Karandeep Singh
10:30–11:15 a.m. · ACW 209
An overview of York’s network security architecture, current protections and the initiatives shaping future resilience.
Sustainably Scaling a World-Class Learning Experience
Jeff Pinto, Emily Rooks, Stephanie Allen, Lindsay Page
10:30–11:15 a.m. · ACW 104
Behind Schulich’s threefold BBA growth: rethinking infrastructure, learning platforms, assessments and the services that make authentic learning possible at scale.
Oracle AI Vector Search
Zhun Jack Yang
11:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m. · ACW 106
A technical introduction to semantic search inside Oracle Database 26ai, including vector embeddings and examples across images and mixed document formats.
UIT has landed on MARS!
Patrick Thibaudeau, Luke Gagliardi, Jeremy Rende
11:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m. · ACW 205
An expedition through MARS, UIT’s platform for building secure internal applications, featuring PHOBOS and the proposed AIDE governance pathway.
Modernizing the Student Journey: From Prospect to Admission
Dhruv Bansal, Daniela Tejeda (Salesforce), Jessica Morgan
11:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m. · ACW 002
How Education Cloud, Marketing Cloud and a modern applicant portal can support targeted outreach, improve the admissions journey and strengthen conversion.
From Netdisco to Nautobot
Mina Fahim, Dong Donald Zeng
11:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m. · ACW 209
A hands-on tour of the shift to Nautobot for network discovery and operations, covering port records, port states, queries and VLAN configuration.
Improving Day-to-Day IT Asset Management with BlueTally
Rick Sambhi, Jeff Ciprian, Prabhjot Kaur
11:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m. · ACW 104
How CTS uses BlueTally for inventory accuracy, device lifecycle tracking, warranty management, reporting and Jamf/Intune-connected workflows.
Building an Operational Analytics Platform on Databricks
Ping Li, Mikki Marte, Milan Padukka
1:15–2:00 p.m. · ACW 106
Turning Halo operational data into trusted analytics using Databricks pipelines, medallion architecture and process-mining dashboards.
Cybersecurity landscape & best practices with 1Password
John Rainan (1Password) · Moderator: Jean Chan Kong
1:15–2:00 p.m. · ACW 104
Practical ways to strengthen browser-based security, phishing resistance, passkey adoption and developer secret management.
Career GPS: Advice from York’s IT Leadership Team
Reem Ibrahim Ali, Brenn Kha, Ramon Kagan, Patrick Thibaudeau, Erin Skopitz · Moderator: Brad Strom
1:15–2:00 p.m. · ACW 206
An open conversation about career growth, mentorship, leadership and the choices that shaped the journeys of York’s IT leaders.
Beyond the Prompt: Getting More from Copilot Chat in IT Workflows
Vanessa Capogreco, Adam Di Prospero
1:15–2:00 p.m. · DB 2027 / 2032
Move beyond one-off prompts to reusable Copilot workflows, shared prompting practices and an understanding of when to use agents.
Student Panel
York University student panellists
2:15–3:00 p.m. · ACW 206
Students reflect on campus technology and share what helps—and what gets in the way—of learning, accessing services and getting support.
Stop Looking for the Right Answer
Stephen Friedman
Director, Schulich Teaching Innovation Studio · Adjunct Professor, Schulich
3:30–4:30 p.m. · ACW 206
How to work with complex problems where the answer cannot be known in advance. An invitation to experiment, question assumptions and think differently about change.
Moving forward together
Thank you to our speakers, organizers, volunteers and everyone who attended the day, shared their ideas, curiosity and expereince. The journey continues; always forward, always up. We cannot to see you all at IT DAY 2027!