Information Systems will continue to support the expansion of the University's distance learning program. In order to bring specialized, high-level support to faculty members to assist them in the integration of technology into their instructional activities, Information Systems has initiated a program of College Technology Coordinators. Each coordinator is co-funded by a college and Information Systems. The coordinator is housed in the college, provides on-site, personal consultation for faculty members, but also reports to the Academic Computing Services group of Information Systems to ensure close cooperation with all centrally provided computing resources and support. The first two coordinators have proven of enormous benefit to their colleges during the past year.
Current plans are for more coordinators to be appointed soon.
During the 1995-96 academic year, renovations of McVey Hall will continue, to provide increased and improved facilities for these two functions. Several staff members have been added to each group by strategically reallocating positions in Information Systems. The Help Desk and ITTC are now working closely together to provide training and support for the computing and communications products and services supported by Information Systems. Standardize desktop computing on a limited number of platforms In an effort to provide the University with the highest quality desktop computing platforms at the lowest possible cost, and at the same time to simplify support of desktop systems, Information Systems has negotiated extremely attractive lease plans and purchase price contracts with HP, IBM, and Apple. It is hoped that, as University users buy new equipment, they will begin to standardize on fewer vendors for their high quality platforms.