Technology Happenings in Higher Education
CT Briefs
:: NEWS
COMPUTATIONAL THINKING.
Carnegie Mellon University (PA) and
Microsoft have
established a new center that will support
research into emerging areas of
computer science, particularly those
that influence thinking in other disciplines.
Funded by a three-year, $1.5
million grant from Microsoft, the
Microsoft Carnegie Mellon Center for
Computational Thinking will engage
researchers from diverse disciplines to
address real-world problems, starting
with topics such as privacy, eCommerce,
multicore computing, and
embedded medical devices. Read
more.
FAST MONEY. At Hardin-Simmons
University (TX), a new, fully automated
student loan processing system is
speeding a procedure that once
required about 95 hours to make funds
available to students. With the new
process, students typically can access
the funds the same day. The university
is currently the only higher ed institution
in the state of Texas able to make
this claim. The school’s Technology
Services department worked with the
Financial Aid office and software
provider Datatel to
customize the service.
SHORT AND TO THE POINT.
At Philadelphia University (PA),
tutorials ranging from less than 30
seconds to just a few minutes, featuring
voice and on-screen explanations,
are helping campus users through
sticky help desk questions and course
technology problems. The tutorials,
from Atomic Learning, cover some 100 applications
commonly used in higher ed.
MAKING ACCESSIBILITY A
CERTAINTY. As part of its Accessible
Technology Initiative, the California
State University system will
implement software from HiSoftware to monitor the
accessibility of CSU websites, web
content, and web applications for people
with disabilities. “CSU has a strong
commitment to full access for all, and
is engaged in a systematic approach to
ensure the accessibility of information
technology on CSU campuses,” explains CIO and Assistant Vice Chancellor
of IT Services David Ernst.
BOISE STATE was one of three institutions to participate in Oracle’s hosted beta program for Campus Solutions 9.0.
POST-ACQUISITION
EVOLUTION. Like many institutions,
Boise State University (ID) was
thrown into nail-biting mode with the
January 2005 news of Oracle’s acquisition of PeopleSoft.
Since then, the school has not only
remained a customer, but has also participated
in a hosted beta program for
Oracle’s Campus Solutions 9.0, and
has decided to upgrade to that software,
released in December 2006. “We
were delighted to find that [Oracle had
really done things right], and many of
the new features will allow us to retire
customizations that we created and
have maintained for years,” writes
Steve Grantham, Boise State’s coordinator
for data quality and reporting.
Read more.
TEXTING WITH GATORS. Students
at the University of Florida can
now receive text messages on their cell
phones as part of UF’s formal communication
plan. Through a free service
called Mobile Campus, the university offers
instant text messaging to keep students
up-to-date on everything from emergency
weather alerts and class schedule
changes, to the latest trivia contest on
campus. As a part of UF’s agreement
with Mobile Campus, students can limit
the number of sponsored or advertising
messages they receive from the service
to two per day.
:: PEOPLE
Pattie Orr, VP for IT and
dean of libraries at Baylor University (TX)
NEW EXEC SPANS IT AND
LIBRARIES. Baylor University (TX)
has named Pattie Orr VP for IT and
dean of libraries. Orr will lead a
university-wide
IT organization
that
provides
administrative
and academic
technology
services and
infrastructure, as well as library
services. She replaces Rebecca
King, director of information systems
and services, who served as
interim CIO, and William B. Hair III,
associate dean and director of
the university libraries, who served
for the past year as interim dean
of libraries.
For daily higher ed news, go to campus-technology.com/mcv/news/
