Thu, 7 March 2002

Additional information contact:

   Sherry Watts

   IS Research Center

       Email: wattss@unt.edu

       Phone: 940-565-3128

Professor Leon A. Kappelman, Director of the Information Systems Research Center (ISRC) at the University of North Texas, will testify on Wednesday March 13, 2002 before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House of Representatives Committee on Veterans' Affairs.  This hearing is to review progress made by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) on their integrated enterprise architecture, cybersecurity, and several other major technology initiatives.  Dr. Kappelman and the ISRC have been assisting VA in the transformation of how they manage and use technology to serve the nation's 25 million veterans, their widows and orphans.

VA is the largest civilian department in the federal government with a budget of over $55 billion, an annual IT budget of about $1.4 billion, and over 4000 IT professionals among its total population of 230,000 employees.  As operator of the largest hospital system in the USA, VA plays a critical role in homeland security as well.

Additional information about Professor Kappelman and his work can be found at http://courses.unt.edu/kappelman/ and the ISRC's website is located at http://www.unt.edu/isrc/.  The VA Office of Information and Technology website is located at http://www.va.gov/oirm/.  Some additional details are available at: http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20011118S0002, http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0514/web-va-05-18-01.asp, http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0625/cov-va-06-25-01.asp, and http://www.va.gov/oirm/architecture/EA/default.asp.

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