New & Coming Soon

If you thought I.T. is only about electronics, you will be delighted to discover one of our hidden talents--baking!

Please mark your calendars for Monday, May 5! It's time to indulge in some homemade goodies stirred up by the Valpo Information Technology staff!  From 11 to 3 in the Union Main Lounge, you can sample cookies, brownies, bars, and other sweet surprises to support the American Cancer Society's "Relay for Life."

Another way to support the "Relay for Life" is to visit the web site at http://events.cancer.org/valporelay. Click “Donate To A Team,” and then click next to “Search For a Team.”  Type the team name--VU Information Technology--click SEARCH, and then click on the team option at the bottom of the screen. Click on one of the team member names, and then click the DONATE button. If you prefer to use a check, make it payable to American Cancer Society and give it to one of the VU Information Technology team members.

We really appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you at these events!

SUVON Discontinuation Effective May 31, 2008: Valpo's State Universities Voice Network (SUVON) long distance telephone service will be discontinued. The Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System (IHETS) board of directors made the decision to cancel the service. On June 1, dialing 3 will no longer provide dialtone. Though a convenient way to contact colleagues at other Indiana colleges and universities at no charge to individual departments, it recently became a financial burden to the university. This is due to last year's newly negotiated long distance rates, which dropped all calls outside of our local dialing area to under 3 cents per minute.

Web Services is continuing to work through converting all existing Valpo Web sites to the university Web Content Management System. In order to request a slot for your office or department, contact Mark Sharp (6973) or Heather Peters (6844).  Open work sessions are being offered every Friday from 1-3 in CCLIR 261A, if you'd like to stop by and learn more.

The Systems Team in IT is in the process of replacing two separate backup systems - Legato Networker and Symantec Backup Exec with IBM's Tivoli Storage Manager. The system is expected to be in full production by this summer.

The university will soon begin a pilot with CoursEval, an online course evaluation and survey tool. Over the course of the summer and fall semester the faculty will work to prepare the online course evaluations. At the end of the Fall semester many students will complete their end-of-semester course evaluations using the internet instead of the traditional #2 pencil and Scantron “bubble sheets.”

Good news on funding being released for our connection to I-Light. According to the I-Light Operations Manager, fiber construction should be completed this summer: "We anticipate being able to connect the campus to the I-Light network before the start of the fall semester." Details of the connection continue: "The State Budget Agency has agreed to release the funds for connecting the Phase 1 schools to the I-Light network. The cost for the fiber construction along with any associated hardware necessary to get your campus connected will be paid for out of the dark fiber funds. Once connected, Valpo will be responsible for the on-going I-Light connection fee." What I-Light can mean for Valpo will be covered in a future SummIT.

From Randa Duvic and Carol Goss: Thanks to all the efforts of IT programmer Rachel Rivera, we have just launched the new on-line French exam. We have been working closely with Rachel for close to a year now on this project, and we are delighted that the exam is now available.

As is the case with our German and Spanish on-line exams, we will be using this exam for two purposes:  for placement and for program assessment.

FOCUS students will take the French placement exam from home beginning May 1. Those students who do not take it early from home will still be able to take it on campus during their summer FOCUS session in June. Students currently enrolled in French courses will take the on-line "post exam" for the purpose of program assessment before the end of this spring semester.

FOCUS students and current students can find details about the exam online.

Finally, we have a new Spanish on-line exam that we expect to launch in August.