MINUTES

UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

December 3, 2001

 

Members Present:                                            Others Present:

Chairperson Richard Crosby                           Terry Smith

Scott Bennett                                                  Kathy Hughes

Kathy Brown                                                  Bob Jones

Vice Chairperson Hank Camp                        Deb Kaye

Andrew Farkas                                              Kim Luther

Larry Daniel                                                   Janice Nowak

David Jaffee                                                   Lance Taylor

Diane Tanner                                                  Phil Turner

Jerry Merckel                                                          

Jeff Michelman                                           

Judy Perkin

Rick Roberts

 

Chairperson Crosby convened the University Technology Committee meeting at 10:05AM in the College of Business Administration InTuition Conference Room.

 

1.                  Announcements

a.      Chairperson Crosby announced that additional bandwidth has been added and there should be better response time.  Lance Taylor stated that the ITN is on the street and evaluations should begin after the first of the year. 

 

2.                  Distance Learning Action Team (DLAT)

David Jaffee reported that the DLAT meets monthly.  An information session on instructional technology was planned for all day on Saturday, December 1st; however, there was not sufficient response and the session was cancelled.  He also stated that the Distance Learning Handbook is being revised to include additional sections and an archive has been set up on papers and manuscripts related to distance learning.  He handed out a coversheet of a paper on “Innovations in Online Learning:  Moving Beyond No Significant Difference.”  He suggested that everyone take the time to read this (\the URL  is http://www.center.rpi.edu/PewSym/mono4.html). 

 

3.                  Mac Action Team Report

Because Zella Boulware is not able to attend today’s meeting, this report will be postponed until the next UTC meeting.  Chairperson Crosby also reported that he is in the process of looking for a new chairperson for this Action Team.

 

4.                  I2 Action Team Report

Lance Taylor reported that there is a new membership category called “sponsored participants.”  This essentially means that an institution could collaborate with a member (e.g., the University of Florida) and get this service at a cheaper rate.  He will continue to update the UTC on this.

 

5.                  Academic Technology & Support Services Committee Report

Kathy Brown reported that since they have all new members on this committee, they are inviting various units on campus to speak to the committee and bring them up to speed. 

 

6.                  IT Planning for New Buildings – Phil Turner

Chairperson Crosby introduced Phil Turner, Director of Facilities Planning, to discuss how we should plan for IT in new buildings.  Phil first stated that he like things planned up front.  It takes four to five years to get buildings from the idea stage to the occupied stage.  A building program is the most important document in that it states exactly what you want to build and how you want to furnish and equip the new building.  He stated that the IT section of the building program should be updated on sometimes as often as a quarterly basis due to the ever-increasing changes in technology.  There was a recommendation that the faculty who are going to occupy a new building be involved in the planning. 

 

Hank Camp stated that he is looking at space utilization on campus.  He said that a total of four portable buildings will be gone for the Fall term and we need to more efficiently use the classroom space that we now have.  He also stated that the system of scheduling rooms needs to be looked at more closely. 

 

7.                  Student View of Campus Technology

Because neither of the UTC student representatives were able to attend today’s meeting, this issue will be postponed until the next meeting.

 

8.                  Email for All Students

Chairperson Crosby stated that Deb Kaye, Kim Luther & Janice Nowak are attending today’s meeting to discuss a proposal to send out mailings electronically rather than through the Post Office (thereby saving postage and duplicating costs).  They have been invited to discuss the implications of this proposal to the network server and the further concerns regarding needs for additional hardware and disk storage.  They each discussed proposed mailings for their departments.  Other UTC members stated that this could be used in their individual departments.  Chairperson Crosby stated that Lance Taylor has drafted a policy (attached to today’s agenda). 

 

Chairperson Crosby stated that an Action Team may need to be formed to discuss this issue further.  This action team would deal with what is current capacity of the system, an inventory of the system to where where money can be saved, what kinds of policies need to be put in place, etc.  He will appoint a team this week after consultation was various groups of people. 

 

9.                  Network Acceptable Use Action Team

10.              Information Technology Security Action Team

Chairperson Crosby will discuss all these of these issues together.  The two Action Teams have been formed.  He will be providing the charge to both groups at their first meetings.  Information on both Action Teams is attached to today’s agenda.

 

11.              Access/Lockdown Review

Dan Endicott has been working on the Access/Lockdown Review (agenda item #11).  He will be talking with each Associate Dean, involving the University Police Department, the Locksmith, Computing Services and other departments on campus to see what they are doing.  He will also be looking at security in classrooms and labs.  Kathy Hughes reported that 44 Sonic alarms for the classroom projectors have been ordered. 

 

12.              Currency

Kathy Hughes reported that due to budget cuts, we now have 25% less funding for currency.  She stated that they were able to purchase faculty/staff desktop replacements; however, she is scaling the list down to meet the 25% cut.  Chairperson Crosby requested that Kathy re-do the list and send it out to all UTC members.  This should also show what we were allocated and what we lost.  This will be discussed again at the January 2002 meeting. 

 

13.              Other Issues

Chairperson Crosby stated that Lance Taylor and some of his staff had met with Charlie Bear to discuss energy saving measures.  One of the items discussed would be to have computers go into a “sleep” mode when not in use for a certain number of minutes.  They are looking at how to communicate this to the UNF community (probably through the Campus Update). 

 

The next meeting will be held on January 7th, at 10:00am in the College of Business Administration InTuition Conference Room.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 11:25am.