|
|
| Quick Notes
ITS Staff Milestones
Roxane Niezabytowski, Technical Specialist I - 5 years Beth Young, Information Technology Analyst - 5 years Jeffrey Brinkerhoff, Enterprise Systems Specialist - 10 years David Hoalcraft, IT Analyst - 25 years ITS Staff News
 | | Debbie Gardner |
Please welcome Debbie Gardner to ITS! Debbie joined the Enterprise Process Support (EPS) group on January 1 and will provide process improvement and project management services to administrative and academic departments throughout the University. Some of you will know Debbie from her nine years in SU's Office of Human Resources. Prior to coming to SU, Debbie held positions at Telergy Network Services, Intelligent Query Engines, and Solvay Glass of CNY. She holds a BS in Accounting from LeMoyne College. Debbie's initial major assignment will be on the Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) effort, partnering with various colleagues across campus. She is located in room 220 Machinery Hall, and can be reached at dagardne@syr.edu and 443-4929. ITS welcomes Dawn Havill to the ITS Service Center staff. A long-time SU employee, Dawn brings experience and a service focus which we know will allow her to make important contributions to Academic Applications and Service Centers (AASC). In addition to her normal Service Center consultant responsibilities, Dawn will be working on special projects which will enhance campus-wide services such as the Answers knowledge base and the Orange Tracker ticketing system. Dawn will also continue to be involved with the Identity Management project, and serve as an invaluable resource during that project's rollout. Dawn is located in 1-205 Center for Science and Technology and can be contacted at x2551 and dmhavill@syr.edu.
 | | Dave Hoalcraft |
David Hoalcraft is joining the ITS Skytop community. Effective February 1, David will be joining the Enterprise Technology Group (ETG) as a member of the Data Warehouse Team. He will be working on the Data Governance initiative, while retaining his current responsibility for managing certain software licenses for an interim period while we transition this work to a resource in the AASC group. David brings a wealth of knowledge to the Department and the Data Governance initiative. He will be located on the first floor of the Skytop Office Building, and will retain his phone extension (x1144).
ITS Leadership Appointments
On January 20, Chris Sedore, SU's Vice President, Information Technology / CIO, announced his appointment of Jenny Gluck, Eric Sedore and Sam Scozzafava as Associate Chief Information Officers.
Chris noted that this will enhance the organizational leadership of Information Technology and Services and better enable ITS to continue meeting the evolving information technology needs of Syracuse University.
Jenny, Eric and Sam report directly to Chris, and will be responsible for the day-to-day operations, maintenance and ongoing development of the central technology support and services for the academic and administrative functions of the University, including the campus network and Internet connectivity, enterprise academic and administrative systems, telecommunications, and telephone and walk-in service centers.
Functionally, this realignment accomplishes the following:
- Consolidates infrastructure systems and services under Eric Sedore. This aligns the existing ITS Networking, Telecommunications, and Core Infrastructure Services (CIS) groups. Peter Morrissey and Ronald Kurdziel will remain as Directors of Networking and Telecommunications, respectively, reporting to Eric. Eric will continue to provide oversight of CIS in addition to his duties as Associate CIO.
- Brings together support for enterprise applications including development, security, database, data warehouse and middleware under Sam Scozzafava. This aligns the existing Enterprise Technologies Group (ETG) and Enterprise Application Systems (EAS) groups. Erik Anderson will continue in his role as Director of ETG, reporting to Sam. Sam will continue to provide oversight for EAS in addition to his responsibilities as Associate CIO.
- Combines support, learning, media, and web technologies and services under Jenny Gluck. This aligns the existing Learning Environments and Media Production (LEMP) and Academic Applications and Services Centers (AASC) groups. David Tiedemann will remain as Director of LEMP, reporting to Jenny. Jenny will continue to provide oversight of AASC in addition to her duties as Associate CIO.
Continuing to report directly to Chris will be Associate CIOs Andy Clark and June Szymanski, and Chris Croad, Director of Information Security.
More information will be available at the next ITS All-Staff meeting, at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 in room 500 in the Hall of Languages. |
|
|
IT Professional Development
Staff on the cutting edge
Publications
Conferences & Forums
Chris Sedore was a presenter at the Columbia University Green Data Center Winter Workshop on January 7 at Columbia University, New York, New York. The workshop was hosted by Columbia University Information Technology and focused on how University IT and Facility organizations can work together to improve energy use in Data Centers. The workshop included speakers from Columbia University, NYSERDA, IBM and NYU. Chris's presentation on SU's Green Data Center walked through the layers of the operation, including the facility layout, power, cooling and virtualization, and discussed elements of design and efficiency at each layer.
Colleen Van Camp attended Multi-Hazard Emergency Planning for Higher Education Training, provided December 7-9 by FEMA's National Incident Management System (NIMS) at the University Sheraton Hotel. The goal of the training was to provide institutions of higher education with knowledge and planning strategies to better protect lives, property, and operations within the context of comprehensive emergency management. One of the benefits of the training was the tabletop exercise simulation of operating an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) during a disaster. In addition to SU, seven other institutions participated in the training. In addition to Colleen, the SU team included Allan Breese, Anthony Callisto, Douglas Freeman, James McCumber, Sara Miller, David Pajak, John Rossiter, John Sardino, and Bridget Yule.
June Szymanski attended a webinar, Spotlight on Cloud Computing: Cloud Contracting, with speaker Steven McDonald, General Counsel, Rhode Island School of Design. June also completed an SU course, MIS 375-Management of IT Contracting, during the Fall semester.
|
|
IT Out and About
Connecting with the campus and beyond
Kathy Kinney and Andy Clark, on December 1st, spoke to Professor Steve Sawyer's IST 445-Managing Information Systems Projects class about Project Management at SU (and other services provided by EPS to the University community), contemporary issues in project management, expectations and suggestions related to project management as a career, and then addressed student questions.
|
|
ITidbits Facts and figures about IT @ SU
The seven days ending January 20, 2011 saw almost 23,000 unique devices connect to SU's wireless network, of which more than 5,000 were mobile devices.
 There are at least 1,962 email-integrated mobile devices that connect to the SU Exchange email system. SU-owned mobile devices (total of more than 640) represent less than half of the total number of wireless devices used to access SU systems. |
|
Turning Point Now SU's "Clicker of Choice"
Preferred vendor pricing agreement entered into by SU
In the fall of 2010, the Senate Committee on Instruction looked into concerns about students having to purchase multiple brands of clickers for different courses. In its annual report to the University Senate on December 8, 2010 the Committee presented on "Student Response Systems (aka Clickers)", and unanimously endorsed a motion to make Turning Point the clicker of choice at SU, beginning this spring semester. Since then a preferred vendor pricing agreement was entered into by SU and Turning Technologies for the Turning Point line of clickers.
ITS has been providing support for TurningPoint (TP) clickers since 2008, when TurningPoint software was added to ITS PCs in Registrar Classrooms. ITS implemented the Turning Technologies building block in Blackboard, allowing for student registration of response card (clicker) ID numbers for tracking purposes, as well as exporting to the Blackboard Grade book students' results as recorded using TurningPoint devices.
Selecting Turning Technologies as a preferred vendor allows ITS to concentrate on one set of products for which to provide improved services, including the installation of TP receivers in the PCs in all Registrar Technology Classrooms, more focused training on TP clicker issues, and coordination of support to faculty using TP clickers via an intern funded by Turning Technologies.
Only a handful of continuing courses will use iClickers, another brand of clicker (ANT 349, CHE 116, PHY 211 and PHY 212). Once these courses are done the final time this spring, the move to TurningPoint clickers will be complete.
ITS has worked with Turning Technologies on transitional issues to facilitate the move to a one-clicker environment at SU. These include TP's provision of:
- iClicker buy back @ $7 per unit
- Turning Point mail-in $10 rebate on the purchase of a new TP clicker
- Free receivers for ITS to install in Registrar technology classroom PCs
- Free receivers for instructors, if needed
- TurningPoint trainer-led orientation sessions at SU
- TP telephone/online support
The University Bookstore in the Schine Student Center, on behalf of Turning Technologies, bought back iClickers January 18-21 and will do so again April 28- May 13.
For more information on ITS support of TurningPoint products, please contact the ITS Service Center at help@syr.edu or (315) 443-2677.
|
|
Tech Updates
Keeping current with software, systems, issues and devices
Green Data Center lands a new supercomputer
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Syracuse University $791,000 to build a new supercomputer that will enable scientists from around the world to explore the universe in ways not currently possible. The computer cluster will be housed in SU's new Green Data Center. Duncan Brown, Assistant Professor of Physics in The College of Arts and Sciences is principal investigator for the supercomputer project. Joining Brown on the supercomputer project are co-principal investigators Tomasz Skwarnicki, Professor of Physics; and Christopher Sedore, SU's Vice President for Information Technology/CIO. Get the details at Inside SU.
Wireless Update
Over the winter break NWS (Wiring) kept busy upgrading several locations on campus to the latest 802.11n technology. Kimmel, Marion, Boland, Brockway, Hinds Hall and Flanagan Gymnasium now boast increased performance for throughput and cell quality. The work in Flanagan was part of the Network Master Plan and brings new, 100% wireless coverage to the facility.
SU is ranked second most influential college on Twitter
Klout, a company that measures influence across the social web, recently ranked Syracuse Unversity number 2 in a list of "The Most Influential Colleges on Twitter". Congrats to SU's Social Media team! Find out more at Inside SU.
|
Color printing now available
Students can use their print quota account to make color prints
Over the winter break the Learning Environments team installed a new HP CP4025dn as ITS's first public color printer. Located in the ITS Service Center off the Milton Atrium in the Center for Science and Technology, the printer delivers professional-looking printing (up to 1200 x 1200 dpi) on 24 lb. (90g/m2) paper, 20% heavier than the paper used in standard public black-ink printers. Color copies cost 50 cents per page. Duplex printing is available. (Duplex color sheets cost $1 each.)
Students who want to use the printer should connect to:
LE-PQ-ITS_Public_Color_$.50_per_page
For more information about student printing on campus, visit the ITS website. |
Identity Management project makes headway
New system anticipated by end of 2011
The next generation Identity Management project continues to make progress. Current estimates are that the new system will be ready for go-live at the end of 2011. While the project has taken longer than planned, since the existing system adequately supports SU's basic needs it was decided to extend the timeline for the new system in order to deliver needed and desired additional features.
Here's a summary of where the project stands:
- Interfaces to principle authoritative sources are complete (Peoplesoft and ESF systems);
- Affiliation processing (resource eligibility) is in progress, and will include recognition of multiple affiliations and deprovisioning.
- Resource connectors for Active Directory, Exchange, SUMail and the Enterprise Directory are developed and are currently being tested.
- Delegated Management Console (DMC), the application that will be used by department staff to manage accounts and their resources, is being integrated with affiliation processing. Basic user functions for associates (formerly known as guests) include "one-stop-shop" for creating new accounts, sponsor swap and bulk renewal.
- Self-service includes features needed to support a more robust set of account security measures, such as replacement of the PIN with a temporary password, annual password changes, and an image-based self-remediation for forgotten passwords for non-employees.
Integration testing is expected to occur over the summer, and there will be opportunities for sneak previews of the system by campus representatives who will be involved in that testing. Additionally, a search is being launched for an IT Analyst to fill the position being vacated by Dawn Havill, who has accepted a position in the ITS Service Center. She will remain involved in the project as part of her new role, which is partly intended to extend the Service Center's presence and expertise in projects affecting account and access management.
For more information contact Cindy Hoalcraft (x4809 or clhoalcr@syr.edu) or Steve Leonard (x3243 or sleonard@syr.edu).
|
|
|
|
IT Connections is published monthly by Information Technology and Services at Syracuse University. Please submit story ideas and news items to Chris Finkle.
|
|
|
