28-MAR-2006 Meeting Summary
Attendance: Art Acton, Yasser Ayad, Joe Bodziock, Marilyn Harhai, Terry Latour, Mike Phillips, Sam Puleio, Steve Selker, Debbie Sobina, Harry Tripp
Subcommittee Membership Review Results
As requested at the January meeting, subcommittee membership preferences were reviewed with UTAC members. No membership changes were requested. Click here to see the current subcommittee membership.
Tech Fee Renewal\Assessment Subcommittee Updates Wireless and Smart Classroom Surveys:
- Drafts of the Wireless Network and Smart Classroom Surveys were shared with UTAC. The committee approved the surveys which will be activated this week. Results will be shared with UTAC later this semester.
- Current Tech Fee Renewal Cycle: Following the process outlined at the January UTAC meeting, renewal forms have been distributed for the original 2003 projects. The subcommittee will complete a review of the requests and have a report ready for UTAC review at the next meeting. One item that the procedures did not account for was the re-distribution of equipment that is replaced with the Tech Fee process. PASSHE policy guidelines for the old equipment are as follows: "Equipment originally purchased with fee revenues that has been replaced or upgraded after three or more years of use may be redeployed to other uses or disposed of at the discretion of the university (redeployment to uses in support of student learning is strongly encouraged)".
Action:
- To manage the redeployment of equipment replaced/upgraded under the Tech Fee Renewal process, UTAC will coordinate a general call for the old equipment. A list of the equipment and an associated request form will be routed through PEC/Deans. Requests will be ranked by the Tech Fee Review subcommittee. All equipment will be provided "as is"; the receiving unit is fully responsible for all repairs and on-going maintenance. Any unclaimed equipment will be sent to university surplus.
Planning Subcommittee Updates
- Focus Groups: Focus groups have been completed with all of the colleges and divisions. Notes will be shared with the Planning Subcommittee and a draft strategic plan will be developed for UTAC review.
- Streaming Media and Podcasting A number of areas are interested in and experimenting with streaming media services. Given the potentially high investment requirements with the hardware, software, bandwidth, and support for this technology, Computing Services is working with the Distance Education Committee to research the current varied approaches and other possible solutions. Similar issues are also being reviewed and researched with podcasting. When that research is completed, work will be completed with the University Tech Planning Subcommittee to prepare recommendations for UTAC consideration for a "preferred solution" for these technologies that can be fully documented and supported for the university.
Technology Fee Updates
As noted at the January meeting, some funding remained within the 2005-06 Tech Fee process due to the set of original projects that were not approved by PASSHE. A significant increase in Blackboard fees was announced in late February, and that increase consumed the majority of the remaining Tech Fee funds. The remaining amount was proposed for Library web and database services. For the Tech Fee projects that replaced the original projects that were not approved, the project selections and priorities were defined by the Provost in consideration of university-level priorities. Some concerns were again expressed by UTAC members about not using the previous Tech Fee project list and the broader committee review process to identify the revised projects. Those concerns will be shared with the Provost. Once PASSHE responds to the last project request, the 2005-06 Tech Fee Proposal reports will be updated on the web site to include the final set of projects.
The 2006-07 Tech Process is in progress. UTAC will review proposals at the next meeting. See Tech Fee website for background information.
Informational Items
- Information Protection Committee: An Information Protection Committee is being formed to review the information security environment at the university and advise PEC on possible policy and procedural issues to ensure effective information protection practices. The committee will include representatives from the Comptroller, Human Resources, Registrar, Financial Aid, Student and University Affairs, and Computing Services areas. A faculty representative was requested from UTAC. M. Harhai was approved as the UTAC representative for this committee.
