OPINION

Katrina: What Can We Do to Help; This Time and the Next?

By Terry Calhoun

Well, this year it’s not digital viruses hitting higher ed hard, it’s a hurricane – right as the students returned or were about to. It’s nightmarish to imagine your server room under 30 feet of water; or with its interior exposed to wind and rain because a large tree fell on it. What IT staffers and others are experiencing at Tulane University and other places can only be imagined right now. But we’ll be hearing more, for sure.

It’s time for higher education IT folks to come up with a plan for an always-on Internet-based resource for assistance to institutions that have met with disasters. Nearly four years ago, immediately after 9/11, my employer, the Society for College and University Planning, had some success with an email list that connected lots of people on many campuses, including some on the affected campuses in New York City. Read more

IT NEWS

Purdue University Plans Academic Podcasts

The new program, called "Boilercast," is starting with podcasts of large lectures, but any professor can request to be set up with the same automated distribution of lectures. (Podcasting News) Read more

UC Merced Touting ‘Technology-Dense’ Campus

Each student's ID card has an RFID chip and is linked to debit accounts that can even be used in the laundry which, by the way, can be monitored via the Web so that you don't walk down with a load to find all the machines full. (The Modesto Bee, Modesto, CA) Read more

Colorado State University Implements 'Clean Access'

And, as usual, some students are annoyed at the extra work they have to do to gain and keep access to the network. (The Rocky Mountain Collegian) Read more

Vanderbilt Libraries to Charge for All Printing

The change was forced by many off-campus groups, even businesses, using library printers to print out huge documents. Now everyone pays 4 cents per page. (Vanderbilt Hustler) Read more

RESOURCES

Chief Architects Forum

The federal government's Wikki-based forum is the shared voice of the enterprise architecture community. It shares its findings, including working definitions and best practices on this useful website. (Chief Architects Forum) Read more

DEALS, CONTRACTS, AWARDS

There's a Ruckus at Syracuse University

Syracuse has become the fourth university in New York to select Ruckus as its students official digital entertainment provider. (BusinessWire) Read more

Intelliworks Signs Up University of Oklahoma

Intelliworks (www.intelliworks.com), a Customer Resource Management (CRM) software vendor in the higher education market, announced this week that the University of Oklahoma (OU), signed a multi-year agreement to license the Intelliworks Relationship Manager for its CRM solution. The Intelliworks Relationship Manager will be used to manage student profiles, class size and diversity goals.

Jenzabar Inks University of St. Augustine

Jenzabar (www.jenzabar.net) announced this week that the University of St. Augustine selected Jenzabar's Internet Campus Solution (JICS) to provide Web-based services to its students.