Ohio Department of Higher Education Chancellor John Carey recently appointed Paul Schopis as the sixth permanent executive director of the Ohio Academic Resources Network (OARnet).
Schopis previously served as interim executive director of OARnet, a charter member of ODHE’s Ohio Technology Consortium, located on the west campus of The Ohio State University.
Schopis leads an organization of more than 50 professional engineers, relationship management professionals, support staff and students. In his previous position as chief technology officer, Schopis developed the strategy and implementation of OARnet’s optical fiber network, data center services, virtualization offerings and cloud computing initiatives. He led the team that designed OARnet’s network, one of the nation’s leading statewide, high-speed networks for research and education, and was involved in all phases of its creation.
Schopis holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physical science from The Ohio State University.
OARnet was created in 1987 to “provide communications links from [the center] at Ohio State to the campuses of member Ohio academic institutions.” Today, OARnet provides Ohio's education, public broadcasting, health care and government communities with technology solutions, such as its statewide, 2,400-mile, 100 gigabit-per-second, fiber-optic network.
