University Council on Technology

11/21/97 Minutes

2:30 p.m. to 5:00.p.m.

319 Kent Student Center

Kent Campus

 

 

Present: Catherine Bakes, Johnnie Baker, Lyle Barton, James Boyd, Dave Cannon, Helen Carpenter, Raymond Craig, Lowell Croskey, Peggy Doheny, Rosemary Du Mont, Alan Evans, Paul Farrell (Chair), John Kerstetter, Terry Kuhn, Bruce Petryshak, Pamela Ramey, Roberta Sikula, Steve Tapp, Denise Zelko

 

Absent: David Baumgartner, Barbara Hanniford, Alice Iden, Larry Jones, Pamela Mitchell

In attendance: Michael Lee, Kent Reichert, Jan Winchell.

  1. Dr. Paul Farrell (Chair), welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m.
  2. The minutes of the October 24, 1996 meeting were approved with amendments. Past Council minutes and agendas can be found at http://www.kent.edu/UCT
  3. Informational Items
  1. Paul Farrell distributed the previous advertisement for the position of Director of Academic Computing.
  2. Steve Tapp presented the results of the technology inventory survey conducted among CBU faculty as input to the dean's committee considering the faculty refresh initiative. The results are attached. (Steve supply graph or numbers). A discussion took place about the process and consequences of the faculty refresh. Issues raised included whether the funding for the refresh would remain in the ACT continuing budget, whether the money allocated per faculty members could be used for other purposes such as purchase of disk space, what would happen to the PCs after 3 years, the advisability of retaining equipment more than 3 years old and the consequences for maintenance and support, whether the PCs should return to ACT or be available to the department to reallocate. All these issues were still open for discussion and subsequent decisions. Steve Tapp indicated that the Dell computers in the university agreement came with 3 year warranties and there was no intention at present to maintain them after the warranty expired. Staffing consequences of the refresh were also discussed and Steve Tapp indicated that ACT had 2 positions open which would be used in part to support the initiative. Rosemary Du Mont indicated that she had one position open which was intended for faculty training staff.
  3. Lyle Barton gave an update on the status of Moulton Hall. He indicated that 3 computer classrooms were fully equipped and would be available for scheduling for classes spring semester. The current policy was to allocate these on a first come first served basis. Applications should be made to the collegial dean. There are 10 offices available for faculty to visit and undertake work there. Seven applications have been received. The ATM switch is scheduled for installation next week.

 

  • Old Business

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    1. The report of the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Procedures for Review of the Networking and Information Systems Study (NISS) and the Academic Computing Study (ACS) was distributed (attached). The report was adopted with the amendment that UCT recommends that the committee to conduct the review should solicit input from the university community and should have at least one open session for interested members of the university community to attend. Discussion also occurred about the need for a facilitator for and the timetable for the preparation of the integrated plan. There was considerable feeling that this should be accelerated. The issue of whether the review committee could meet during summer was discussed and the suggestion was made that investigation should be undertaken of the possibility of faculty on the committee receiving summer support for this purpose.
      Given the accelerated timetable adopted, UCT then proceeded to take nominations for the Subcommittee to Review the Networking and Information Systems Study (NISS) and the Academic Computing Study (ACS). Those nominated and approved by UCT were Catherine Bakes, James Boyd, Helen Carpenter, Raymond Craig, Larry Jones, John Kerstetter, Terry Kuhn, Pamela Ramey, Roberta Sikula, Michael Lee, Don Tolliver, and Henry Trenkelbach. Bruce Petryshak, Greg Seibert. Steve Tapp, Lowell Croskey and Lyle Barton were designated as staff support. Terry Kuhn was nominated as chair but expressed reluctance. He was designated to act as initial convener. The matter of appointment of a chair was deferred for discussion with Ilee Rhimes.
    2. Extensive discussion of the faculty refresh initiative having taken place previously no further discussion occurred at this point.
    3. Greg Seibert presented a report on the current plans for Intra-Building Wiring. A list of buildings in priority order had earlier been distributed (attached). The schedule for the project was also presented (attached). Discussion on whether the plan needed to be revisited in the light of the faculty refresh occurred. Greg Seibert and Bruce Petryshak indicated that the currently funded project would result in all academic buildings being networked, although the network in some buildings such as Bowman and Satterfield would not be up to the proposed standard. They indicated that there should be no problem in accommodating the faculty refresh if any changes were needed. The only outstanding issue is that certain buildings will not be fully networked until 1999 and further planning on the integration of the intra-building networking plan and the faculty refresh deployment schedule was required.
    4. There was a brief discussion on the capital priorities and since internal budgetary decisions on this need not be completed until July 1998, by which time the situation may be clearer, action on this was tabled.
    5. The discussion on Building Renovation plans was tabled.
  • New Business

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    1. A discussion of the fact that KentVM would need to be upgraded to be year 2000 compatible took place. The cost involved is that of the staff time to be allocated for this purpose. Other issues raised included the fact that the administrative functions would need the capacity currently used by academic functions, and if research and instructional users were not migrated the system may require expansion sooner. James Boyd indicated that he was undertaking a survey to determine use in the College of Business. Steve Tapp indicated that there were approximately 2100 users in the last year. A brief discussion of the issues involved in any migration occurred.
    2. Open discussion - no further issues were raised.
    3. Schedule meetings for spring semester was deferred.
  • Adjournment

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    A motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m.

     

    c: Provost Myron Henry

    VP Ilee Rhimes

    President Carol Cartwright