At the University of Tennessee, Bible has been responsible for all aspects of IT, including the implementation of a comprehensive IT security plan, strategic assessments of IT and a new system that consolidated e-mail and electronic calendars. He also fostered a partnership between University of Tennessee faculty and the nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory that created a network for advanced research projects.

Ohio University fired the two IT staffers last August and began a complete overhaul of its central IT organization following five data security breaches last April, May and June -- including one that exposed personal information on 137,000 alumni that went undiscovered for more than a year. A similar incident on a system at the school's health center may have exposed Social Security numbers, dates of birth, patient IDs and clinical information on nearly 60,000 people connected to the school.

The two IT workers appealed their dismissal, but their firings were upheld last November by the school's provost. A grievance committee that reviewed the breaches recommended that the two fired IT workers be rehired and given apologies by the school, but their recommendation was rejected by the provost.

Before becoming interim CIO at the University of Tennessee, Bible served as assistant vice president for statewide services in the Office of Research and Information Technology. He has worked at the school for 12 years in the areas of IT, technology transfer and laser applications research and development. He is named as co-inventor on 10 U.S. patents in the laser technology field and has been involved in supporting the start-up of two companies based on those technologies, according to the university.