UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE MINUTES
March 12, 1998

Introduction of New Committee Members
Barbara Denison introduced Becky Koop, the new Chair of the University Library Committee. Paul Hernandez introduced Peter Cheng, University Internal Auditor, who replaces Teresa Timm as the committee member from Business and Fiscal Affairs.

Updates
Telesuites - The committee's recommendation not to pursue an agreement with Telesuites was accepted and approved by the Provost. The Kettering Center will be installing a pilot, single conference room and will be operating as a revenue-generating unit. The expenses for this project will come from either their operating budget or reserves. There will be no University funds going into the project.

Distance Education - The Distributed Learning Committee was appointed and given their charge to draft a strategic plan for distributive learning at Wright State that will support and promote distance learning activities, address issues, and make policy recommendations in the following areas: Faculty responsibilities, copyright, curriculum, administrative, marketing, evaluation and quality assurance. They will meet for the first time on Friday, March 13.

Turnpike Phase 3 - Janet Achterman has given several presentations to the Finance Committee of the University Foundation Board requesting a partnership to provide financial support for Turnpike Phase 3. Last Friday at a meeting of the University Foundation Board, the full committee unanimously voted to give Wright State $500,000 towards the implementation of Phase 3 Turnpike which will begin in July, 1998. This $500,000 will be used mainly to upgrade routers, hubs and install several ATM switches. Other avenues are still being pursued for the balance of $1,500,000 still needed.

Chief Information Officer Proposal - Dr Fleischauer will discuss this with the committee at a future date.

Y2K Presentation
Bill Beck, owner of Computer Technology Solutions, Inc., a consulting firm in Columbus, Ohio, gave a demonstration of a Y2K workshop which has been held twice at the University (with a third workshop scheduled for March 17). This workshop was developed to assist faculty and staff assess whether they may have Year 2000 technology problems within their departments. At the first two workshops, approximately 50 critical applications were identified as being non-compliant. These applications were prioritized and each department will then be able to develop its own internal "fix it" plan. Local vendors are available during the workshops to discuss possible solutions to many of the identified problems. A summary report will be submitted to the University following the last workshop on March 17. Paul Hernandez has been charged with updating the Board of Trustees on the progress by all of the colleges and departments regarding Y2K compliance. All University-supported software verified by CaTS as Y2K compliant will be updated on the CaTS Web page.

Update - RFP for Financial Systems Assessment
In August, the UTC subcommittee studying the feasibility of electronic forms recommended that an assessment of the existing financial systems was needed first. Once the decision was made to hire an outside consultant to perform the assessment, an RFP was completed in December. The objective of this project is to make an informed decision about the future of Wright State's financial systems, whether to expand and enhance the existing system or to replace the system. With the approval last week by the University Cabinet, Blackwell Consulting Services was chosen to complete this project. The estimated cost is $250,000 - $300,000 and should be completed by the end of June, 1998. The UTC will receive a status report each month.

Discussion of Responsible Use of Information Technology Policy
Victoria Montavon presented a draft developed by a committee made up of Victoria, Paul Hernandez, Bonnie Mathies, Noel Nussbaum, Joyce Corbin, Sally Clayton, Melinda Beverly and Henry Ruminski to make users (including faculty, staff and students) aware of the responsible uses of University resources, to provide due process when policies are not followed and to employ the existing judicial system used by the University. The committee will recommend the Wright Way Policy #3002 be replaced by this new document. The UTC members discussed sections of the draft, making changes in some sections. Once UTC has approved the final document, it would be reviewed by legal counsel, Lynnette Heard, Council of Deans, the University Cabinet, and the Board of Trustees. It was suggested by Tom Sav to have the Faculty Senate review the document, also. The time frame for approval is by the end of Spring Quarter before the Board of Trustees breaks for the summer. Once the document is approved, UTC will discuss how to best disseminate the information. The UTC formally endorsed the spirit and need for a policy and review process.

New Business
Paul Hernandez presented a document entitled "Desktop Operating Systems: Development and Direction". Paul pointed out this does not refer to Macintosh workstations. As operating systems continue to evolve and more become available, CaTS will be unable to support every system. This document explains the systems which will be supported and those that will not. Paul asked the committee to review this information and discuss it further at the next meeting.

Paul Hernandez proposed a motion that all University handbooks be put on the University Web page. The committee approved this proposal.

The next scheduled meeting of the UTC is Thursday, April 9, 1998 from 3 - 5:00 p.m. in Student Union E157.

The minutes of all future UTC meetings will be posted on the CaTS Web page.