UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

MEETING MINUTES

December 9, 2004

Attendees: Paul Hernandez, Terry Anderson, Larry Fox, Steven Foster, Bonnie Mathies, Jeff Vernooy, Jim Vance, Dan DeStephen, Barbara Denison, Carol Holdcraft, Ray Hill, Chuck Taylor, Greg Kojola, Terri Klaus, Carol Rader, and Brenda Mobley.

Approval of Minutes

Minutes of the October meeting were approved as written.

Provost's Faculty Computer Initiative

Due to prior commitment, Provost Hopkins was unable to attend this month's meeting. Chuck Taylor announced the Provost will again fund the FCI project. The revised guidelines recommended by the UTC sub-committee last year will be used to determine the distribution of the funds. The recommendation was to distribute funds on an FTE basis to each college with the individual college then determining its own needs. The dollar amount will be announced at the January meeting with funds being distributed at the February meeting.

CaTS Updates

A. Paul Hernandez announced WSU was officially connected to the Third Frontier Network on November 30. This last mile connectivity will enable WSU to have the capability to increase its bandwidth over time without having to purchase a larger pipe to transmit our Internet I & Internet II data. We will also be able to lower our cost for this gigaman connection over our previous connection by 75%. This contract will be in place for 10 years. Overall from a state perspective, the project stayed very much on time and on budget considering the complexities of building the nation's most advanced statewide fiber optic network for education and research.

B. Terry Anderson reviewed the changes due to the recent upgrade in WINGS on Saturday, December 4, 2004. Some of the enhancements are as follows:

1. Chat application upgraded to a Java-based application to improve performance and portability
2. Targeted Announcements updated dynamically for added system users
3. Browser support for Safari and Mozilla
4. Support added for Messenger Express integration
5. Course Studio and Group Studio:
   a. Course Consolidator - allows faculty to group any number of courses into one singly managed course
   b. Chuck Taylor announced that additional college representatives are needed for the faculty sub-committee of the Portal Advisory Committee. This sub-group reviews and makes recommendations for the Course Studio project.
   c. Group Creation and Population - allows system administrators to set up a group for members of an imported group
6. Book Marks Plus - this channel supports multiple instances so that users can place their own bookmark channels on different tabs and maintain separate sets of links within each
   

C. Larry Fox gave an update on the assessment to supplement the wired network on campus with a wireless network. The CaTS staff is making very good progress on this project. The final recommendations and cost will be reported to the Provost by the end of January, 2005.

CTL Updates

Dan DeStephen distributed a report on the status of upgrades to electronic classrooms and the addition of more electronic classrooms.

Software for Text Only Files

Jeff Vernooy requested that consideration be given by the Provost for the purchase of new software which enhances University websites for accessibility by students with disabilities. Information on this product, including costs, was distributed at the meeting. Jeff suggested the formation of a committee to review the software and make recommendations for funding this project.

Announcements

A. Paul Hernandez reported that new pricing for SPSS over the next five years will be increased by approximately 50%. SAS costs will remain the same.

B. Jim Vance issued a strong protest that the University PC vendor selection was made without input from the faculty in the College of Science and Math. CaTS representative's response to this statement was to remind the members of the standard university process by which a vendor is awarded a contract for services provided. The University Purchasing Department releases an RFP with required specifications to all interested vendors. Bids are accepted for review and the contract is awarded based on the price and specification requirements. These records are available for public review in the Purchasing Department.