MINUTES
UNIVERSITY
TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE
March
5, 2001
Members Present: Others
Present:
Chairperson Richard Crosby Debra Abbott
Vice Chairperson Tom Serwatka Keith Hufford
Scott Bennett
Kathy Hughes
Zella Boulware
Bob Jones
Andrew Farkas
John Sharp
David Jaffee
Lance Taylor
Bruce Kavan
Tony Turrin
Jerry Merckel
Donna Mohr
Martha Rader
Rick Roberts
Fred Sudler rep. Jeff Michelman
Diane Tanner
Chairperson Crosby convened the University Technology
Committee meeting at 10:05 a.m. in the COBA InTuition Conference Room.
1.
Announcements
a.
Chairperson Crosby stated that the 2/5/01 UTC Minutes
are attached to today’s agenda. Please
review and provide any corrections or additions by Wednesday, March 7th.
b.
Chairperson Crosby encouraged all UTC members to attend
the welcome reception for Dr. Herbert today at 3pm at the Boathouse.
c.
David Jaffee stated that Deborah Miller has been hired
as a full-time employee in CIRT as an Educational Media Coordinator.
d.
Chairperson Crosby will forward to UTC members a copy
of a Chronicle of Higher Education article which shows that based on a study
of computer workstation used by students and employees, PC’s are operating
at one to ten percent of their capacity.
e.
Chairperson Crosby will notify the UTC members of the
meeting date/time for discussing surveying pc’s.
2.
Presentations and Demos:
a.
Unix System Replacement/New Student Email
Kathy Hughes reported that
this demo had been shown at three separate open forums (to which faculty,
staff and students had been invited). The
new Osprey platform should have much greater capacity, modularity and flexibility.
The timeline is as follows: design-March/April;
purchase-May/June; implementation-August.
The new Unix environment will also incorporate the new student email
package. A broad-based review including
faculty and students will be conducted.
b.
Proposed New Web Page
Kathy Hughes showed the proposed
new home page and secondary pages. There was a recommendation to make the
home page more three-dimensional as well as change the color schemes on the
secondary pages.
c.
New Web Applications
Keith Hufford presented the
new Grade Applications program that will be piloted jointly by the College
of Business Administration & College of Computing Sciences & Engineering.
The committee members suggested that it would be nice if not only past
terms but the future terms for which enrollment is in progress were accessible.
3.
Distance Learning Action Team
David Jaffee reported that
the Action Team had not met; however, he had met with the individual sub-teams.
They are putting together a Distance Learning Handbook that CIRT is
developing to be web based. This will be demo’d to the UTC prior to the
end of this semester.
4.
Mac Action Team
Zella Boulware reported that
the Action Team had met and would like to voice strong support for continuing
efforts to acquire additional bandwidth. The new version of Macintosh Microsoft Office 2001 will be available
for distribution March 15th. The American Institute of Graphic Artists and UNF are sponsoring
a News Media Conference at UNF on March 16th. There is no charge and all are invited to attend.
The Action Team is also considering a “Did You Know” blurb for publishing
to the Macintosh user community to keep them informed.
5.
Academic Technology & Support Services Committee
Bruce Kavan was not available
to give the Committee report. Lance
Taylor stated that he has been invited to attend a meeting of this Committee
in April to outline services provided by Computing Services.
Chairperson Crosby stated
that at the last Faculty Association meeting, there was a proposal brought
forward by this Committee that “The University shall provide technical support
and resources for the three software platforms current in use for developing
web-based courses – WebCT, Lotus Learning Space and BlackBoard.” This was sent back to the Committee for further
review.
6.
Strategic Issues Action Team
Chairperson Crosby stated
that the Action Team had met and talked about the educational governance transition
and how it would affect the charge to this group. They talked about disbanding the Action Team,
but decided it was not a good idea as this time. They will continue scanning for pertinent issues
to be discussed. Attached to today’s
agenda are issues brought forward by the Faculty Association’s Strategic Planning
Committee. Chairperson Crosby requested
that UTC members think about additional issues of strategic importance
and forward them to any of the members of the Action Team:
Richard Crosby, Jeff Michelman, Jerry Merckel, Donna Mohr, Tom Serwatka
or Diane Tanner.
7.
Education Governance Reorganization
Chairperson Crosby stated
that the Final Report to the Legislature was to be posted to their web site
by March 2nd; however, at this time, it is not available.
Chairperson Crosby mentioned
the Times Union article over the weekend that the State should expect shortfalls
and cutbacks. UNF funding levels for
2001-2002 may have impact on technology budgets but we really won’t know until
the Legislative session is over. Lance
Taylor has spoken will all SUS counterparts regarding what they are going
to do in terms of financial administrative systems. Many are acquiring software from various vendors.
Lance and Leslie Mizell will be joining the University of Florida on
their visit to the University of Tennessee/Knoxville at the end of March to
review their SAP Solutions software. They
may also visit the University of Michigan to review their PeopleSoft solution. These financial administrative systems include:
finances, accounts payable, Human Resources, payroll, budget, property
inventory, etc.
8.
I2
Lance Taylor reported that
this action team had been put into “limbo” because of the high cost of I2
access and the low number of Masters I member institutions (3% of 12 membership)
relative to Research I and II member institutions (92% of 12 membership).
He stated that thanks to Zella Boulware, he has found out about a new
NSF grant opportunity. He met with Jim Collom who is contacting faculty
to seek their interest. He plans to
reconstitute the Action Team with the following new members: Gary Fane, Zella Boulware, Stuart Chalk, Lance
Taylor, Layne Wallace and David Lambert.
He stated that the maximum amount of the grant is $125,000 and this
would only be funded for two years.
9.
All Users Policy Revision
Attached to today’s agenda
is an updated version of the All Users Policy prepared by Lance Taylor. The new language states “circumvention of this
policy through the manual inclusion of all (or a broad subset) of the names
and/or distribution lists in the campus email address book is prohibited.”
He has met with Dan Dundon (the originator of this policy) who is in
agreement. Following discussion, the UTC recommended moving this revised policy
forward to Dan Dundon with the changes.
10.
Currency
Attached to today’s agenda
is an updated version of the Currency spreadsheet showing what’s scheduled
for replacement and what’s been spent to date.
Kathy Hughes will update and send out a revised version before the
next meeting. This will be a topic
for discussion at the April meeting.
11.
7% Budget
Attached to today’s agenda
is a proposed expenditure plan for the 2001-2002 7% Tuition Fee. This will be a topic for discussion at the
April meeting.
12.
Future Issues
a.
How long should we continue to provide free dial-up
services?
b.
2001-2001 Budget Request Process.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:50am