What's Up With OIT?

Did you know . . .

. . . that since our Spring 2002 newsletter faculty have entered grades on the Web . . . 18,000 additional e-books are on-line . . . faculty and staff are backing up their data on a centralized back-up server . . . 200 PCs have been installed in Alpine and RGC . . . SRSU wireless towers are going up in 6 Big Bend communities . . . Squirrel mail has run off the old Endymion gremlins . . . undergraduate degree plans are entered into SIS and being tested . . . ACR 203 has new furniture (finally!!) . . . a new intercampus and Internet network has been installed at RGC . . . new listserv software is up and running . . . and the SRSU web site got its scheduled annual makeover!!!

Relief for the slooooowww Internet Connection

Internet users on campus have no doubt noticed that summer has not brought any relief to our Internet congestion. For several years, the Texas Higher Education Network (THENet), managed by UT Austin, has been the Internet service provider for Sul Ross, but that is about to change. We are tripling our bandwidth and changing to Southwestern Bell (SBC) under a contract agreement with the State. The first leg of this connection is from Uvalde to San Antonio and is up and running now. RGC users in Eagle Pass and Uvalde are already enjoying the faster connection speeds. During the coming weeks, the remainder of the service for Alpine will be redirected to SBC in Midland.

RGC makes push for on-line course offerings

Blackboard is being launched full-force at Rio Grande College. This summer Juan Barrientos, an RGC grad and current doctoral student at NYU, is working with over a third of the RGC faculty to develop on-line courses for fall. Juan has worked extensively developing web based instruction using Blackboard. Sul Ross faculty, Rhonda Austin and Terry Carson, kicked off the web course imitative with a workshop in May. Our thanks to Terry, Rhonda and Juan for their support of this project--and we wish all the faculty involved good luck with their intensive summer projects!

On-line PDF docs come to an Interlibary Loan near you . . .

Using technology and software obtained through the Library's TIF grant, Mike Robinson, Interlibrary Loan Librarian, has been working to streamline and fully automate the process of receiving journal articles from other libraries via Interlibrary Loan (ILL). With the help of John Sanders of OIT, the on-line ILL request form has been simplified, so that now there is one form for both book and article requests. Also, working with our on-line database vendors, we have been able to incorporate similar forms into all FirstSearch and EBSCO databases, as well as the Physical Education Index. This means that in over 80 databases, a Sul Ross specific ILL form is just a click away from the citations you find.

These new ILL request forms send information formatted according to international standards directly into our ILL requesting software. This speeds processing of new requests, which means requests get sent out sooner. Also, we installed a new version of the ARIEL document scanning software, which has many new capabilities.

One of the most exciting features of the new ARIEL comes into play if the lending library sends us a scanned copy of the article. Before, we printed it off, notified the requester, and they came by the library to pick it up. Now, we are able to send an email announcing that the article has been received, and at the same time, it is posted to a website in PDF (Adobe) format. The email gives the website address, and assigns users a unique PIN number which allows access to the articles from any computer on the Internet. (If you don't have the Adobe Acrobat reader installed on your computer, a download link is available on the website.) Because of copyright restrictions, the article is available for 15 days or 5 viewings, but it can be saved or printed off at any point during that time.

These improvements should reduce the time between when a request is made, and when it is available. Also, it means that articles can be received without coming to the Library. For more information contact Mike Robinson (miker@sulross.edu) or Don Dowdey (ddowdey@sulross.edu).

Web for Faculty . . . SIS for the Web

Web for Faculty is now fully implemented on the Alpine campus and plans are evolving for the rollout at RGC. Faculty in Alpine are able to look up course enrollments, class rosters, and student transcripts and contact information all through a user-friendly web interface. Faculty also entered mid-term and final course grades on-line for the first time this year. Soon, faculty will be able to add and drop students from their courses and run degree audit reports for advising using WFF.

Web for Faculty can be accessed at http://wfs.sulross.edu. Instructions for using WFF are available at this site. If you have additional questions regarding WFF, please contact Patricia Harveson at 837-8669. You need your assigned PIN number to login to the system. If you don't have it or need assistance, please contact the Help Desk at (78) 8765.

COMM 1301

The Title V sponsored component of UNIV 1301 was piloted this spring in COMM 1303. UNIV 1301 is a technology based learning initiative providing freshman seminar techniques in a core curriculum course. Dona Roman, Assistant Professor of Communication and Theatre, had the opportunity to utilize a wireless mobile lab in and outside of the classroom to foster collaboration, utilization of library and internet resources and multi-media production. The course consisted of 13 freshman and allowed all students the opportunity to create computer generated slide presentations, web pages and movies. Their final projects were widely successful and allowed the students to create movie-based projects highlighting their first year of college at Sul Ross. "Working on the final project was the most fun I've had," said Katie Crissman. Echoing this enthusiasm for this technology infused mode of instruction was James Scott, "I had so much fun, I wish I could take this class over again."

Lightweight what???

"I need to email a report to Dr. Who over in the Science Department, but I don't know his address. Now where is that web page that has the address lookup? I thought I bookmarked it, grrrrr! There has to be an easier way!"

Sound familiar? Well, we are working on an easier way. It's called LDAP (short for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). When completed, the LDAP directory will contain an electronic version of the campus phone directory complete with email addresses. It will also be easy to use, since your email client will use it automatically to look up addresses and complete them for you. You will also be able to look up office phone numbers and office addresses via LDAP.

When tests are completed this summer, we will have simple instructions posted showing the "how to" for setting up your email client. As always, the helpdesk will be available to give you further assistance if needed.

New Resource for Students and Advisors

The OnCourse or Degree Audit project is moving from concept into reality. Bob Cullins and Becky Urquidez have built almost all undergraduate degree plans for the current catalog and they are being tested now by each school. OnCourse is an advising and reporting tool that quickly and easily tracks a student's academic progress with a degree audit report. The audit reports will be available through SIS, Web for Faculty, and Web for Students. The system is available now for testing and is expected to be fully available to faculty and students this Fall.

The OnCourse project team includes, Bob Cullins, Registrar; Patricia Harveson, OIT; Linda McAnally, Professional Studies; Arturo Galindo, Student Support Services; Rob Kinucan, ANRS; Warren Koepp, Arts & Sciences. Special thanks to Becky Brown, ANRS; Carol Greer, A&S and Betty Novak, PS for their participation and assistance as degree plan testers and "graduation checkout" experts.

Sign those receiving reports!

Off to a great start, Accounting and Purchasing are concentrating on their annual summer clean-up--gearing up for the end of the 2002 fiscal year. Laura Lannom and Patty Roach are clearing up encumbrances which do not meet the 3-way-match (Purchase Order/Invoice/Receiving Report). So, if you have goods and have not signed that receiver, there is no time like the present!!

Also, big changes are in store for FRS administrators as GASB 34/35 state reporting requirements become effective in the fall. Never a dull moment . . .

Don't nerds have anything better to do?

Since last fall, the computer virus calls have diminished to almost nothing at the OIT Help Desk. This is credited to John Sander's attachment scripting on the Sul Ross email server AND to your own efforts in helping us stamp out these attackers!! However, remain diligent--more computer virus calls have resurfaced at the Help Desk in recent weeks. It seems that one virus in particular has been creating a lot of confusion throughout computer networks.

Certain variants of the W32.Klez virus (which spreads via email attachments) send out emails on infected computers with random sender identities that are selected from the Microsoft Outlook address book. Therefore, notices to the sender about the virus are misdirected. Symantec gives this scenario on their website:

"Linda Anderson is using a computer that is infected with W32.Klez.H@mm. She is not using a antivirus program or does not have current virus definitions. When W32.Klez.H@mm performs its emailing routine, it finds the email address of Harold Logan. It inserts Harold's email address into the "From:" portion of an infected message that it then sends to Janet Bishop. Janet then contacts Harold and complains that he sent her an infected message, but when Harold scans his computer, Norton Anti-virus does not find anything--as would be expected--because his computer is not infected."

If you are using a current version of Norton Anti-virus and have the most recent virus definitions, and a full system scan with Norton Anti-virus set to scan all files does not find anything, you can be confident that your computer is not infected with this worm. (Contact the help desk (78) 8765 for information on keeping your Norton current).

We have seen this scenario and similar ones play out quite a few times here on campus in the last month, but despite all of the alarms, the Sul Ross campuses are still faring quite well in regard to virus activity. . . knock on your mouse pad.

A Banner day coming???

Executive Committee and the Information Systems Council are looking ahead to future needs for the administrative systems. Our software vendor, SCT is encouraging IA+ schools like ours to consider migrating to their Banner system. The primary advantages of moving to Banner are its 24/7 uptime capability, fully integrated 'Person' file across all modules, web browser access, and the conversion processes that are already in place for IA+ customers. A group of council members will be traveling to Dallas in July to participate in the 'Road Show of the Best of Banner' to gather more information on the product.

A Reminder

You can schedule one on one training for maintaining your departmental web pages. Contact Patricia Harveson, patrica@sulross.edu or Tom Graf, tgraf@sulross.edu to schedule your first or a refresher session.

Final Word . . .

I would like to acknowledge all those that have contributed to the production of this edition of the newsletter: Special guest columnists Don Dowdey and Dona Roman; Tom Dickinson; Patricia Harveson; Liliana Mason; Brenda Pilley; and John Sanders. My thanks to all.

Tom Graf
Chief Information Officer