U Northwestern Ohio Overhauls Portal

The University of Northwestern Ohio is retooling its Web site to provide more online services for its students, faculty, and administrators.

A new portal, planned for a July 1 launch, will provide single sign-on to e-mail, financial aid information, and academic records. It will also provide access to campus announcements, news, and events; let the user search all university Web sites at once, and provide links to campus departments and online services.

The university, which has about 4,000 students, is launching MyUNOH using Datatel's Portal and Microsoft SharePoint. The new site is intended to integrate with the institution's Datatel Colleague enterprise resource planning software.

The integration with other institutional applications will allow the university to segment and tailor messages to students instead of broadcasting them to the entire student body, the current practice.

"From the beginning of the portal project, students were our main focus," said Jeremy Brinkman, director of administrative systems. "They told us that they receive so many irrelevant e-mails that they often overlook important messages. Our students are also gathering critical information by logging into numerous applications, all over the campus network. MyUNOH will quickly eliminate this and save them an immense amount of time and trouble."

In a follow-up phase post-launch, the university will add secure access for staff and faculty to portal sections and implement Datatel Mobile Access to deliver information to Smart phones. "Mobile access is here, expected by the students and faculty, and a trend you just can't ignore," said Brinkman.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • illustration of a futuristic building labeled "AI & Innovation," featuring circuit board patterns and an AI brain motif, surrounded by geometric trees and a simplified sky

    Cal Poly Pomona Launches AI and Innovation Center

    In an effort to advance AI innovation, foster community engagement, and prepare students for careers in STEM fields and business, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona has teamed up with AI, cloud, and advisory services provider Avanade to launch a new Avanade AI & Innovation Center.

  •  black graduation cap with a glowing blue AI brain circuit symbol on top

    Report: AI Is a Must for Modern Learners

    A new report from VitalSource identifies a growing demand among learners for AI tools, declaring that "AI isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a must."

  • glowing shield hovers above a digital cloud platform with abstract data streams and cloud icons in the background

    Google to Acquire Cloud Security Firm Wiz

    Google has announced it will acquire cloud security startup Wiz. If completed, the acquisition — an all-cash deal valued at $32 billion — would mark the largest in Google's history.

  • digital dashboard featuring a shield icon, graphs, a world map, and network nodes

    IBM Introduces Agentic AI Governance and Security Platform

    IBM has launched a new software stack for enterprise IT teams tasked with managing the complex governance and security challenges posed by autonomous AI systems.