Kivanc Oner

Vice President for Digital Transformation and Chief Information Officer Kivanc Oner is redefining information technology (IT) to support UNLV’s progressive vision. With over 20 years of experience transforming the IT landscape in higher education, Kivanc understands how new technologies impact the industry. As a strategic risk-taker, he’s exploring innovative ways to advance learning, teaching, and research at one of the most diverse R1 institutions.

Working with campus and community partners, Kivanc is driving innovation to shape the university’s customer-centric strategies. Under his leadership, UNLV expanded the number of digital services offering personalized experiences that support a student’s lifecycle. A very passionate advocate about enhancing our students' experiences, Kivanc prioritizes providing campus staff with a 360-degree view of students, enabling tailor-made interactions, building cross-unit collaborations, and optimizing efficiencies to help each student progress in their own academic journey. Kivanc continues to encourage the discovery of cutting-edge technology that enhances the customer experience, while continuing to boost student success, retention, and graduation rates.

Starting his career at another top-rated public research university, Kivanc’s experience in higher education research is an invaluable asset as UNLV expands its cyberinfrastructure for research activity. Joined by campus research leadership, Kivanc is championing efforts to offer more IT services that give researchers a competitive edge to meet the expectations of an R1 university. As a result, the IT research site provides easy access to survey tools, data storage, and security solutions, enabling researchers to continue their important work about real-world challenges locally, regionally, and nationally.

Kivanc understands the importance of building a skilled and diverse workforce that will strengthen the economy. He remains committed to preparing students for a career once they graduate from UNLV. Within information technology, over 100 student employees participate in countless learning experiences, from supporting the campus network, to helping customers with technology issues, and supporting cybersecurity operations. In his nearly 20 years at UNLV, Kivanc has seen students apply the skills they learned as university employees to succeed in their careers at higher education institutions, Amazon Web Services, Google, Apple, MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, and other industry leaders.

Kivanc holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Bogazici University in Turkey and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Central Florida in Orlando. He holds several technical certifications from Salesforce, Oracle, and others.