OPINION

For Class of ’09 Computer Viruses Are Nothing New or Unusual

By Terry Calhoun

Instead of “hardening of the arteries,” public affairs director Ron Nief, of Beloit College, likes to talk about “hardening of the references.” That’s a polite way to say that some of us get so fixed in how we view the structure of our world that we’re sometimes unable to get into the mindset of our students.

Most entering freshmen this year were born in 1986. So, Beloit College once again shares its annual Mindset List; to shake us up a bit, and to remind us that the “references” we structure our worlds by are not the same as those of our incoming freshmen. For example: To our freshmen class, “’Heeeere’s Johnny!’ is a scary greeting from Jack Nicholson, not a warm welcome from Ed McMahon.”

IT NEWS

Universities Getting 'Black Eye' on Information Security?

Some say universities are the source of half of IT security breaches, others say only 20 percent. In general, though, this articles says that "[T]here's a lot of hand-wringing in universities these days. Those in the IT departments are starting to tell administrators, 'See, I told you so, we have to have better control.’" (Boston.com) Read more

One of the Problems with Looking . . . Is that You Find Things

The University of Colorado is implementing a risk assessment program for sensitive servers on campus, following an earlier breach. Early in the course of the assessment, they found another, older breach that had not been previously known. (Colorado Daily.com) Read more

New Plans for an Old Number

Some say that there's little use trying to protect Social Security numbers. Others worry about what the unforeseen consequences will be of the proposed national driver's license. Will it be useful to campuses? (Christian Science Monitor) Read more

The End of the Paper Syllabus

At the University of Wisconsins-Oshkosh, professors have been told to that for educational and financial reasons, they are to put their syllabi on line and not hand them out on paper, as traditionally done, on the first day of class. There's a bit of disagreement about it. (Inside Higher Ed) Read more

RESOURCES

Ruby on Rails

A new, "full-stack, open-source Web framework for writing real-world applications 'with joy and less code' than most frameworks spend doing XML sit-ups" - the live applications already created from it are very cool and useful. (Ruby on Rails) Read more

DEALS, CONTRACTS, AWARDS

Datatel Sells Five Institutions on ERP System

Datatel, Inc. (www.datatel.com) announced deals with five institutions of higher learning for its Colleague ERP system. The five institutions are: Carlos Albizu University (FL), Becker College (MA), Nichols College (MA), The University of Winnipeg (Canada), and Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington, DC).

LiquidMatrix Announces Deal with College

LiquidMatrix (www.liquidmatrix.com), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Datatel, announced that Gustavus Adolphus College (MN) has selected LiquidMatrix ActiveAdmissions, along with the company’s design services, to help meet enrollment goals. The private four-year college also selected LiquidMatrix ActiveAlumni to build and maintain alumni relationships.

Jenzabar in Deals with Grace College and Franciscan U.

Jenzabar, Inc. (www.jenzabar.net) announced that Grace College and Theological Seminary (IN) is implementing Jenzabar's Internet Campus Solution (JICS) Web portal and Learning Management System (LMS). Jenzabar also announced that Franciscan University of Steubenville (OH) will deploy administrative and online capabilities of the Jenzabar EX ERP system combined with Jenzabar's Learning Management System (LMS) and Jenzabar's Internet Campus Solution (JICS).