Campus Briefs
NEWS
THAT D'ES COMPUTE. Adding to their renowned Center for Computation and
Technology, Louisiana State University will soon receive a new IBM (
www.ibm.com)
supercomputer. Dubbed “Pelican,” the powerful system will explore climate
modeling and coastal erosion. The new system replaces an older, outdated model
called Casper, which may now become a ghost.
TV WORTH WATCHING. MIT (MA)
has joined the Open Student Television Network (
www.ostn.tv),
a hosted IP television service that offers student-produced broadcast programming
over Abilene, Internet2’s high-speed backbone network (
www.internet2.edu).
OSTN is a national initiative of student television stations that work together
to build a digital channel of student programming.
NOT SUCH A BOOB TUBE. Another
channel worth tuning into comes from
Princeton University (NJ). University
Channel (
uc.princeton.edu)
offers lectures and events from colleges and universities to stream or download,
as well as podcasts and an RSS feed.
READIN’, WRITIN’, AND VIDEO
EDITING. This fall, 300 Los Angeles-area high school students are returning
to school much more digitally literate, thanks to a program that was offered over
the summer at
UCLA. Students worked with industry-standard tools like Adobe
Video Collection (
www.adobe.com)
as they honed their skills with digital media.
TRULY OUTSTANDING. Educause
(
www.educause.edu) has announced
its annual awards, which recognize exemplary achievement in higher ed IT. Those
awarded include: Ron Bleed,
Maricopa Community Colleges (AZ), for excellence
in leadership; Annie Stunden,
University of Wisconsin-Madison, for leadership
in the profession; Clifford Lynch, Coalition for Network Information (
www.cni.org),
for leadership in public policy and practice. We heartily concur. Complete award
listings can be viewed at
www.educause.edu/PressReleases/1175?ID=1224.
MY, MY. At the
University of Miami, students will be welcomed back
with a recently revamped portal, MyUM. Personalized and 24/7, of course. Move
over, MyUW and other “My” portals!
FIREFOX FANS. The popular
Mozilla (
www.mozilla.org)
browser is getting a big thumbs-up at
Indiana University. Better security
and a fairly good pop-up blocker are hitting home runs for the Firefox browser
(
www.firefox.com) at IU.
OUT WITH THE OLD. Jacksonville State University (FL) is replacing
its 30-year-old information system with SCT Banner (
www.sungardsct.com).
Costs are estimated at $11.4M, and the process may take 10 years. But say good-bye
to the old system!
NEW PROFESSION, NEW DEGREE. At
DeVry University
(CA), the newest degree program in the works is a bachelor’s in Game and
Simulation Programming. The degree program will be added to DeVry’s career-related
offerings in March 2006.
PEOPLE
Provost post awaits Washington and Lee's Burish.
Thomas G. Burish, president of
Washington
and Lee University (VA) has been elected provost at the
University of Notre
Dame (IN). Burish served for three years in his post at Washington and Lee
University. Prior to that, he was the longest-serving provost in the history of
Vanderbilt University (TN), holding that post for eight years.
A NEW
IT POST FILLED. At
Indiana University Southeast, Larry Mand will become
vice chancellor for Information Technology and Community Engagement. The new position
combines communications and IT in accord with the institution’s strategic
plan. Mand will serve as the university liaison for a range of economic development
activities in the region.