Five security breaches came to light at OU in April, May and June. A break-in on a server that supported alumni relations exposed personal data belonging to about 137,000 people and 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.

In his new role, Ostermann will lead the university's central IT group, which oversees computer, infrastructure and security policies, and manages central e-mail, telephone, computer networking and administrative data services.

Ostermann said in a statement that he will focus on laying the groundwork for a permanent CIO and that his top priorities will be to strengthen data security and to involve faculty, staff and students in setting IT priorities.

"As a member of the CIO search committee, I've become very familiar with the challenges and opportunities facing the IT group," Ostermann said. "I am looking forward to working with them to continue the good progress that Bill and the staff have made. There's a great deal of consensus about what needs to be done."

Ostermann could not be reached for comment.