The technical skills of the technology support staff have not kept pace with advancing technology. There is no professional quality Help Desk service. There are inadequate training and documentation for information technology. The network backbone lacks capacity, speed, and reliability. Some faculty, staff, and administrators lack access to the network.
Local networks lack consistency in software and services.
Dial-in service to the University network is limited and unreliable. The University lacks hardware and software acquisition, upgrade, and replacement policies. Before developing recommendation to address these issues, the committee participated in an intensive education effort in which the committee identified current trends and directions for information technology in higher education. In developing their recommendations, the committee focused on five key trends in higher education. A mobile computing environment, where all members of the University community can access network services from anywhere at any time, both on campus and off.