Progress Update from Captain Joe Way's Year-Long Stint at UCLA
In the heart of California, Joe Way, the Executive Director of Digital Spaces at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is steering the university towards a digital future. Way has been in this role for a year now, and his vision for the next few years is ambitious and groundbreaking.
By the end of this calendar year, Way aims to complete recruitment, onboard a program manager or consulting firm by the end of Q1 2025, and enter the proof-of-concept phase for the technology solutions that will be installed in summer 2026. The goal is to position UCLA five to seven years ahead of its peers in higher education and AV, with innovative initiatives such as virtual classrooms, digital twinning, cloud services, API integration, and a single enterprise platform that has never been seen before.
Way's role at UCLA is unique, particularly when compared to a similar position at a private institution. Public R1 universities, like UCLA, are governed by public boards and must comply with state regulations, public reporting requirements, and shared governance involving faculty senates and public stakeholder accountability. This contrasts with the more autonomous, privately governed institutional context of private universities.
UCLA places a high importance on the service provided by AV and integrates it at the executive level. Way's role involves strategy and executive-level collaboration, rather than "stuff." Staff at public institutions are engaged from the top down, creating a sense of pride in working for a state school and being part of a larger UC system.
To ensure alignment with current pedagogical practices, Way created an AV/IT Training Coordinator. This individual works with user adoption and staff training and serves as a liaison to other departments like the teaching and learning center. UCLA's leadership team, including the very best talent in higher education and the AV industry, supports Way in his endeavors.
In his first year at UCLA, Way focused on vision casting and team building. He organised the team into five distinct verticals: academics and administration, live events and production needs, design, architecture, and project management, operations, finance, and signage/comms, and a product manager who reports directly to him. Way also created an AV Sales Manager as a customer liaison for the services sold in their events spaces.
Way's leadership extends beyond UCLA. He serves on the DCIO leadership team and has hosted significant events such as the HETMA roadshow, the inaugural Sustainability in AV global conference, and a Times Higher Education global summit at UCLA. As UCLA continues to lead the way in digital innovation, Way is meticulously crafting an audiovisual governance model and project charter before starting the upgrade project.
UCLA, the #1 public institution in the United States, is poised for a digital revolution under Way's leadership. With a focus on accessibility, legal compliance, scale and diversity of stakeholders, institutional mission and community orientation, and resource and budget constraints, Way is navigating the unique challenges of a public R1 university with grace and determination.
- Joe Way, the Executive Director of Digital Spaces at UCLA, envisions UCLA's digital future to feature innovative initiatives such as virtual classrooms, digital twinning, cloud services, API integration, and a single enterprise platform, aiming to position UCLA five to seven years ahead in higher education and AV.
- To ensure alignment with current pedagogical practices, Way established an AV/IT Training Coordinator who works on user adoption and staff training, acting as a liaison to other departments like the teaching and learning center.
- As UCLA leads the way in digital innovation, Way is meticulously crafting an audiovisual governance model and project charter, utilizing digital signage as part of the overall technology solution to be installed in summer 2026.
- With a focus on accessibility, legal compliance, scale and diversity of stakeholders, institutional mission and community orientation, and resource and budget constraints, Way navigates the unique challenges of a public R1 university, demonstrating leadership in the digital transformation of education and self-development.
