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Trouble in Paradise

The Bearkat OneCard is an ID but it is also a debit card. Therefore, Texas laws regarding PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance regulations must be followed.  Have you Xeroxed someone's Bearkat OneCard and filed it away? Do you ever ask to "hold" their ID in exchange for something? Or perhaps, you wrote down the number and put it in a spreadsheet?

Photocopies should NOT be made of the OneCard. Storing a "primary account number," whether in hard-copy format or typed in a document, without first encrypting it is a violation. It can cause trouble for the person whose information is now "floating around" and therefore for you and SHSU as well. Make sure you share that caveat with your student employees.

 

Gone With the Wind

Last month we asked for feedback on software. We need more! The only software specifically requested was Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, Minitab, Visual Studio, AICPA, SAP, SPSS, and SAS.

This list would indicate that we no longer need Photoshop, Research Insight, AutoCad, ARC, InDesign, Maple, Mathematica, and so on. Is that the case? If you still need to use packages other than the eight listed in the first paragraph, we must hear from you to ensure SHSU is buying/renewing the licenses. We also would love to hear from you that you have used software in the past, but it is no longer needed. For instance, Proseries for Windows 1998 is probably not that necessary anymore!

Some of you have expressed concern that software, such as SAS or SPSS, would only be provided to someone in a specific course. That is not the plan. The purpose of this survey is to simply start the conversation about what software matters and determining who the major stakeholders are for help in determining when and whether updates are made.

As the software prices grow, it is even more essential that dollars are put to the best use and that the time spent packaging the software for campus be streamlined. We realize you have been frustrated in the past with the long timeline for purchase, receipt, testing, and implementation of new software. WE would like to shorten that considerably for turnaround for quicker use in your classes. We know you desire 24/7/365 reliability so this will also help reduce the risks of software conflicts.

Please reply back and let us know what software packages you need for your research, administrative work, or instructional use.

Academic software which is not specifically requested by a faculty member by 9/1/09 will be removed (gone with the wind) from the network. Help us make the best use of SHSU's network resources.

 

What's New Pussycat

Continuing on the topic of software, the Fall semester will be welcomed with two upgraded applications on the Windows network.  Adobe's Creative Suite will be upgraded to CS4. Let us know which individual applications you need from the suite;  Photoshop, InDesign, Contribute, or others.  ArcGIS Desktop will be upgraded to ArcInfo 9.3.  Send an email if you would like to be included as a tester of these new applications.  We will subscribe you to our test list and let you know once the software is ready to be tested closer to the Summer semesters.  Make sure to prepare for this software change in your curricula.

 

Back to the Future

Reminder for Faculty: You no longer need your SHSU PIN to use DARS or the Grade Entry program on SamMenu. But if you do want to change your PIN, you can do it yourself online in SamWeb, under Student Records.

Academic department chairs and secretaries: If you have faculty new to SHSU this semester, and/or perhaps not regularly on the SHSU campus, please ensure they have their SHSU usernames and passwords to use the SamMenu program for grade entry.

 

The Delegate

When you add someone as a delegate to your mailbox, even if you only make them a reviewer of your calendar for instance, they will have access to send mail as you.  Fortunately, if you want someone to have access to your calendar without the permissions to send mail as you, you can have that instead.

1. In Outlook, click on the Mail Folders list to show your Exchange mailbox and all the folders in it.
2. Right-click on your Calendar and select Properties.
3. Select the Permissions tab.
4. Click the Add button.
5. Select the person's name you wish to add and click the Add button then click OK.
6. In the Permissions group box, select the appropriate permission in the Permission Level chooser (in this case Reviewer).
7. Click OK.

This can be used on other Exchange items in your mailbox, such as Tasks and Notes.

 

The Blackboard Jungle

Calling all interested Blackboard faculty and staff! We will be having our next Blackboard Users Group meeting on Thursday April 23rd from 2-3pm in CHSS Room C070.

The Blackboard Users Group meetings are great for learning and sharing from/with your colleagues on the front lines who are teaching with Blackboard at Sam Houston State University. The Blackboard Team will be on hand for a brief Q&A session, but this meeting is all about sharing best practices, stumbling blocks and new ideas with each other. 

Our faculty presenter for the month of April is Debbie Hatton from the SHSU Department of Communication Studies. Debbie graduated from the University of Texas – Tyler with an Interdisciplinary MA degree in Speech Communication, Theatre and Social History and has since completed course work in Instructional Technology and Leadership.  Debbie has been on the front lines of utilizing Blackboard in her classes since the software was available at SHSU.

 

Great Expectations

In the past, we have placed recycled pc's and Macintoshes back in to offices. Machines which are out of warranty will no longer be recycled through Computer Services for student, staff, or faculty use. Having clients disappointed and frustrated due to the slowness or unreliability of these machines was hurting more than helping.

 

To Sir, With Love

We are repeating a couple of courses this month for those of you whose schedules haven't permitted you attending yet. These include Using Social Media and for staff members, a session is being offered on how to download files from Nell or SamMenu to create and print your campus mailing labels.

The semester is drawing to a close and for faculty we are offering Blackboard Help. Don't wait to call for assistance the week of finals. Act now and find out how to make sure grades come out the way you intend and also determine how to save parts of your curriculum for another time.

Check the Calendar and sign up now to reserve your seat. You may also request one-on-one training or training for your department for some of the campus-specific programs which we have. Just e-mail the Helpdesk.

 

Enemy of the State

SHSU will never try to invade your privacy as was done in the plot of this movie. If you receive an e-mail that asks you to provide your birth date, your country, or your password, just press delete. It will not be a legitimate e-mail and you should never respond at all.

 

It's A Wonderful Life

We are pleased to announce new staff members.

Melissa Asbury will be joining the Client Support department in the Helpdesk. Melissa's been a student worker in the maintenance section and brings a wealth of corporate knowledge from a wide range of IT support.

David Combs is the newest addition to the UCS-Administrative Applications department. David is an experienced database administrator.

Kris Rothe has moved from the Helpdesk to accept a new role as the Banner project manager.

The Information Resources Marketing Coordinator position for Banner has now been filled with a familiar face to many of you. We are delighted to have Stephanie Brim join the SHSU community.

 

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Helpdesk provides support for university equipment and software on the local area network. Each month's update will include the versions of software and minimum requirements for hardware with the new or changed information highlighted and bolded.

• This month we have some printer cartridges available free to your department. Just reply to this e-mail if you can use these.
  • HP Print Cartridges Twin-Pack #21
  • HP Print Cartridges Quad-Pack #21 and #22
• Memory Sticks: Purchase (and encourage your students to buy) flash drives that are USB Mass Storage Compliant.
• Floppy disks (3 1/2" or 5 1/4") should not be used as a storage device for University information.
• Wireless peripherals such as mice and keyboards have proven problematic in the campus environment and should not be purchased and/or installed.
• Operating Systems: The supported version of Macintosh machines will be OS X, version 5 after the Leopard conversion which is underway. The supported version of Microsoft's operating system is Windows XP.
• Software Packages: The supported versions of office suites are Microsoft's Office 2007. The new version of an office suite for Macintoshes is Microsoft Office 2008 and is being packaged for installation on campus machines.
• Hardware Configurations:
  • The minimum requirements for the SHSU local area network support for a PC are a 2.5 GHz processor, 1.5 GB RAM, and an 80 GB disk, with 15 GB free. Our recommended configuration is a 3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB memory, and a 250 GB hard drive.
  • The minimum configuration for a Macintosh on the LAN is a 1.6GHz PowerPC single processor, 1GB RAM, and a 40GB hard drive.
• Computer Services may schedule significant periods of downtime for major system upgrades and maintenance. For your planning purposes, the weekend following each graduation will be set aside for scheduled outages. Additionally, certain systems may be unavailable on Friday nights after 6 p.m. and on holidays. To permit patches and routine updates, managed Macintosh nodes may be automatically rebooted between Friday at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday morning at 8 a.m.

All offers, training, and software above pertain to faculty and staff at SHSU only. If you have any questions, compliments, comments, or concerns, please let us know.

We appreciate your reading this lengthy Update. Reply to this e-mail with the names of a lead character in two of the movies listed as titles above and you will be entered in a drawing for a memory stick for your department's use. We have ten 4 GB flash drives available so your chances are good! Please submit your e-mail entry by 5 pm on 4/4/09.