CONNECTING WITH . . . DAVID PECK
Get to know APU community members involved in the Eiro Project, the university’s adoption of an innovative web-based software system.
David Peck
Associate Vice President for University Relations
A man of many talents, he’s the associate vice president for university relations for APU. Slightly less well-known, he’s an avid back-country skier and published author of a book about airplanes, written at age eight. He works hard to promote community at APU, especially when it comes to this project. Meet David.
What do you do at APU?
I provide leadership to how the university presents its image through
advertising, publications, public relations’ and the university’s
website.
How have you been involved in the Eiro Project?
During one of the summer vision casting sessions, an overview of what we hoped
to accomplish with the project was presented to the APU community. I caught a
vision at that point of the scope of opportunity that the Eiro Project would
provide us with as it related to changing our business processes so as to
effectively utilize technology. I also saw how comprehensive the project was
going to be and felt there was a significant need for University Relations to
create a relationship with the project team so that we could help with the
communication and branding of Eiro.
What kind of challenges does this project bring?
The simple fact that we have to take another look at our business practices is
a huge challenge, but also an opportunity. It’s easy for us to get
comfortable doing something the way we think it needs to be done, but this
project is giving us an opportunity to redo that.
Another challenge that is turned into an opportunity involves the way that different departments and offices on campus have begun to work together to create shared meaning, and ultimately, success together. We have been a bit siloed due to our previous system; this project enables us to step out of that individualistic focus and begin working as a cross-functional team — and that’s pretty amazing.
What are you hoping will come out this project?
Relationships have always been critical to this place. My vision is that the
Eiro Project will create a tool that is dynamic enough to allow the sharing of
information about people so that when we interact with individuals they’re
a name and not a number.
What’s the coolest part of this project for you?
The coolest part of the project for me is trying to create community online
through the portal so that someone feels just as good interacting online as
they do in person.
It’s 10 a.m. on a Saturday morning. What are you most likely doing?
I’m probably doing one of two things: studying for my doctoral program, a
Ph.D. in media psychology, or mowing the lawn.
What does this new system mean for APU?
It means that we’re able to better use information in a way that values
customer interaction. This system helps us capture information about people
once and allow a broad audience to better understand how to best interact with
that person. I think of the show Cheers, where everyone knows your name, and I
think that should be a standard at APU.
Anything to add?
I think that this is one of most difficult projects we as a university have
tackled, but at the same time, I think that the rewards will be significant if
we can be patient with each other, trust each other, and give each other a
little room to make mistakes and then adjustments as we go through this
process.
