Community-Driven IAM Learning with Internet2’s InCommon Academy

A Q&A with Jean Chorazyczewski

The InCommon Academy provides professional development and training options for the research and education communities who implement identity and access management (IAM) with Internet2’s InCommon solutions and guidance. In the six years since the InCommon Academy was established, its educational priorities have reflected community needs and values — from securing seamless collaborations for researchers, to adapting to new modes of connected learning, to reaching new levels of global interconnectedness.

As InCommon Academy’s director for more than two years, Jean Chorazyczewski has joined the conversations of the IAM community and guided the development of programs that bring together and inform IAM leaders and their teams. Here, we ask Chorazyczewski how the InCommon Academy serves IAM learning for the R&E community.

 

Mary Grush: Why is identity and access management critical for research and education? What drives InCommon Academy’s value for the R&E community?

Jean Chorazyczewski: To the first part of your question, IAM is, at its heart, the gateway to everything in research and higher ed IT. It’s both mission critical and uniquely complex in the R&E space. For example, IAM is how institutions onboard new students each year. It’s how they enable faculty and staff to access teaching and learning platforms. It’s how they grant access to visiting guests and scholars and how they provide secure access to services for those researchers who collaborate across institutional boundaries.

Universities must manage students, alumni, faculty, staff, and guests, as well as non-human entities like processes, APIs, and systems that factor into an IAM ecosystem. Keep in mind that any one person at an institution can have multiple roles — staff persons can also be alumni, or a student can also be an employee. Someone behind the scenes must manage all of those identities and all of that complexity — and IAM is not only important; it’s also different at R&E institutions than it is in other industries.

IAM is not only important; it’s also different at R&E institutions than it is in other industries.

IAM has become mission critical for our R&E communities. As our current InCommon steering committee chair put it, it has become as essential as electricity in modern higher ed. Solid IAM is the foundation everything has to build on.

Solid IAM is the foundation everything has to build on.

Grush: And InCommon offers both its IAM expertise and services to the R&E community, with training provided by the InCommon Academy?

Chorazyczewski: Yes. InCommon, which is part of Internet2, is here to empower inter-organizational collaboration. InCommon provides tailored IAM solutions, specialized tools, and guidance. The InCommon Academy supports these efforts with IAM learning experiences in the R&E space.

Grush: With all that’s at stake with IAM for the R&E community, Internet2 must place significant focus and effort in the InCommon Academy.

Chorazyczewski: Yes it does. Back to your question: What’s driving InCommon Academy’s value for R&E? Our community is deeply familiar with all of the challenges around identity and access management and what’s at stake when it’s not running smoothly. InCommon and InCommon Academy will continue to evolve our programs, guidance, and services in direct response to what we hear from the R&E community in IAM.