David Smith will now head the team responsible for the betterment of the LionPATH student system.

The LionPATH Governance Team will be in charge of finding ways to make the new student information system a more effective tool. This includes making it a more efficient system and easier for students to navigate.

Smith is currently the associate dean for advising and executive director of the Division of Undergraduate Studies. His two-year appointment began on July 1.

The LionPATH Governance Team hopes to continue the progress made by the LionPATH Implementation Committee, which was led by University Registrar and Vice President for Undergraduate Education Robert Kubat. Smith wants to build upon the LionPATH system in current use.

“The more seamless we can make interactions in LionPATH, the better we will serve our students, staff, and faculty across the University,” Smith said in a press release.

To get a sense of what users believe would make the system better, the team is collecting input from users  on the LionPATH support websiteabout what is not working well so it can make changes accordingly. An updated version of the LionPATH software, Oracle’s PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, will be released soon, as well, though Smith doesn’t think the new update will disturb users.

“We will bring that into place in a way that’s incremental and has limited disruptions to the community as a whole,” Smith said in a press release. “The new version has features that will benefit us, so the committee will help guide the LionPATH development and maintenance team to determine which functions we should turn on sooner rather than later to make a better more effective system for users across the University.”