Updated at 8:58 p.m.

Lawrence M. Levine, the associate dean for information technology and chief information officer, will be leaving at the end of September to become the associate vice chancellor and chief information officer at the University of Colorado at Boulder, effective November 1.

Levine, who was named the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ first CIO in 2005, is responsible for significantly improving the FAS network by reducing the number of outages, bolstering high-performance computing programs, and strengthening plans for the University Desktop program—a standardization of computers among faculty and staff to improve support service.

An interim replacement has not yet been identified, according to an e-mailed statement from FAS Dean Michael D. Smith to faculty and staff. Until an appointment is made, acting FAS Dean for Administration Catherine Gorodentsev will take care of Levine’s responsibilities. Gorodentsev could not be reached for comment yesterday.

At CU-Boulder, Levine will serve on the chancellor’s executive committee and assume a post that had been vacant since the summer of 2007. According to the Denver Post, he will earn $48,000 more than he did at Harvard: a total yearly salary of $250,000.

The position, which will entail overseeing 165 employees and a $28 million budget, has consequently been held on an interim basis by current senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer Ric Porreca, according to CU-Boulder spokesman Bronson R. Hilliard.

In February, CU-Boulder began its search for a permanent replacement and attracted 129 applicants from across the nation, according to Hilliard. But the ultimate decision—which likely ocurred within the last two weeks, Hilliard said—seemed an easy one to make.

“We’re honored to have him...There’s no better research university in the nation than Harvard, and he’s used to satisfying a faculty that has very, very specialized IT needs,” Hiliard said. “We certainly hope that he’ll be the person to take our IT operations to a new level.”

Computer Science Professor Harry R. Lewis ’68, who tried to recruit Levine from Dartmouth in the early 1990s, called Levine’s imminent departure “a real loss,” adding that his new position “certainly looks to me like a promotion.”

Most FAS IT staff workers contacted by The Crimson yesterday declined to comment, citing a policy that requires all media inquiries to be forwarded to FAS IT spokesman Noah S. Selsby ’94.

One individual who worked with Levine called the IT guru an “excellent communicator” who managed a staff of over 150 people.

“He’s a very likable person, very articulate. He’s able to really paint a picture of his vision and frame it in the right way to get people enthused and encouraged about it,” said the individual, who requested to not be named.

CU-Boulder will be yet another academic home on Levine’s resume. Prior to his arrival at Harvard in 2005, Levine worked at Dartmouth’s computing office for 21 years—eventually serving as CIO and associate provost for IT.

“Under Larry, we put together our really strategic plans and really started to think in a longer-term way about where technology was going,” said Rita P. Murdoch, Dartmouth’s long-time director of support and fiscal services.

For example, Levine started to “saturate” Dartmouth’s campus with wireless internet access in a 14-month project in 2001, according to Murdoch.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Levine worked in different IT and computing posts at Indiana University, where he earned a doctorate degree.

—Staff writer Bonnie J. Kavoussi can be reached at kavoussi@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Esther I. Yi can be reached at estheryi@fas.harvard.edu.