MINUTES

UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

May 7, 2001

 

Members Present:                            Others Present:

Chairperson Richard Crosby                  Debra Abbott

Vice Chairperson Tom Serwatka               Kathy Hughes

Scott Bennett                               Deborah Miller

Zella Boulware                              John Sharp

Andrew Farkas                               Terry Smith

David Jaffee                                Lance Taylor

Bruce Kavan                                 Tony Turrin

Jerry Merckel

Jeff Michelman

Donna Mohr

Martha Rader

Diane Tanner

John Venn

 

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 Minutes from the 4/2/01 meeting were emailed to the committee members.  He requested that any changes, corrections, additions or deletions be emailed to Marsha Dukes.  The updated minutes will be posted to the web page on Wednesday.

 

b.    Jerry Merckel introduced Terry Smith as the replacement for Scott Runnion. 

 

c.    Lance Taylor reported that he received approval from SGA to close the General Purpose Lab in Building 14 for Summer A and possibly remain closed through Summer B. 

 

d.    David Jaffee introduced Deborah Miller as the new Coordinator of Educational Media and Community in CIRT.

 

2.                Distance Learning Action Team – Presentation

David Jaffee presented a video demo of the new Distance Learning Handbook.  The URL for this handbook is www.unf.edu/dept/CIRT/dlhandbook/dlhand.pdf.  He requested that the UTC members review the site and send any comments to him.  He stated that this will be a regular page off the main page of the Office of Faculty Enhancement page in the Fall. 

 

3.                CIRT Survey

Debra Abbott presented the preliminary results of the CIRT Survey.  She received 119 responses to the on-line survey.  She stated that at this time she has not broken the information down by unit; however, she did state that there were no responses from adjuncts.  She stated that one of the biggest stumbling blocks to the use of technology is time constraints.  She stated that the survey would be on the CIRT website within a few weeks. 

 

4.                Mac Action Team

Zella Boulware reported that Microsoft 2000 is being distributed to the colleges.

 

5.                Academic Technology & Support Services Committee

Bruce Kavan stated that there was no meeting last month since they had no quorum.

 

6.                I2

Lance Taylor stated that there was no a lot of interest from faculty members to write a grant since funding would be pretty slim.  This project is now on hold.

 

7.                Strategic Issues Action Team

Richard Crosby reported that the group had met and were planning to meet again this month once there was a better feel as to the intent of the Legislature.  SIAT will continue to meet and come forward with items to deal with in the Fall. 

 

8.                Education Governance Reorganization

Richard Crosby reported that Mark Workman had made a presentation on this to the Faculty Association.  The Associates Plus Group has formed several subcommittees as follows: Board of Trustees Powers & Duties (chaired by Karen Stone); Internal Policies (chaired by Wendy Morris); Trustee Briefing Book (chaired by Joann Campbell); and Computerized Business Systems (chaired by Richard Crosby).  A master calendar is being developed at this time.

 

9.                Budget Issues

Chairperson Crosby stated that there is no deadline yet for the 2001-2002 budget request.  He stated that the colleges/divisions should be working on technology requests. 

 

10.            General Purpose Lab Configuration

Kathy Hughes reported that Mac Lab II is open 104 hours per week (with both Macs and PC’s).  She needs to determine whether to buy Macs or PC’s and will meet with Donna Mohr and Larry Daniel to discuss the usages of this room. 

 

11.            Bandwidth Issues

Kathy Hughes reported that the usage stats requested from BellSouth are in the mail (she will email it to the UTC members when she receives it).  There was a conversation to agree to the standard of 90% of the time people dialing in get connected.  If this is agreeable, we may be able to cut back 12-15 lines.  The money saved could be applied toward additional bandwidth.  Chairperson Crosby has started discussions with Student Affairs regarding charging Housing for use of bandwidth.  Chairperson Crosby would like to increase our bandwidth to 45 meg (we are currently using 10 meg).

 

12.            Windows 2000 Desktop Rollout

Kathy Hughes reported that a small team of staff have begun testing Windows 2000.  All applications are the same (including Office 2000).  The plan is to begin installing Windows 2000 in June.

 

13.            Enhanced Email for Students/Unix Platform Replacement

Kathy Hughes reported that the University is currently in the process of determining a replacement for the current Unix student computing platform.  They reviewed three platforms (Compaq, Sun & Linux) and have determined that Linux is the best alternative.  Based on this recommendation, hardware will be purchased and be ready by Fall 2001.  She will demo the email package showing what students will be getting at the June UTC meeting.  She will email all this information to the UTC members.

 

14.            Videoconferencing

Kathy Hughes is developing a Draft Videoconferencing FAQ document.  She will email this to the UTC members and get input at the June meeting.

 

15.            Wireless

Chairperson Crosby stated that this technology is coming quick.  He requested that Kathy Hughes do an exploratory review of wireless technology and present this to the UTC at the June meeting. 

 

16.            Other Issues

Chairperson Crosby stated that he plans to cancel the August meeting and will determine whether or not to have the July meeting since it falls during the week of the July 4th holiday.  There may be budget issues to discuss in July. 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 11:35am.