Vice President and Chief Information Officer Curtis A. Carver Jr., Ph.D., has been nominated for National CIO of the Year in the Inspire CIO Orbie Awards.

Carver, who was honored with the 2021 Leadership Award from AlabamaCIO, is one of six nominated technology executives in the nonprofit/public sector category.

Carver’s nomination shines a light on the collaborative work of UAB units and UAB IT throughout and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Building on a robust technology infrastructure strengthened during Carver’s tenure as CIO, UAB was able to transition quickly to a remote academic and work environment in March 2020.

In addition, UAB IT worked with partners across campus on technology to help fight COVID-19 — including the GuideSafe™ COVID exposure notification app; the informatics system for COVID re-entry testing for college students statewide; and the Healthcheck symptom survey.

UAB IT also helped the university pivot to hybrid classes with installation of lecture capture technology in more than 150 classrooms.

Post-pandemic, UAB IT has been working on digital transformation projects, such as launching a student and employee mental health app, overhauling systems including Oracle and BlazerNET, and redesigning the UAB app.