MEMORANDUM
TO: Sidney Ribeau, President
Elizabeth Wood, Library
Neocles Leontis, Faculty Senate
FROM: Ron Lancaster
DATE: May 14, 2003
RE: Annual Report for the Information Technology Committee
The Information Technology Committee is one of the few standing committees that meets throughout the calendar year. We met
sixteen (16) times during the last twelve months. Each of our meetings begins with the approval of the minutes of the previous
meeting, plus reports by the Executive Vice President, the Chief Information Officer, and the Director of Information Technology
Services. Various agenda items made up the remainder of each meeting. In the last year, we had discussions or reports on the
following:
- a revision of the committee's charter
- ITS budget and the impact of the University's budget problems
- disaster recovery plan
- BGSU web initiatives
- acceptable use policy
- classroom computing support and the classroom technology plan
- vendor selection for Windows desktops and laptops
- administrative systems review and recommendations
- Digital Media Task Force
- Microsoft campus license agreement
- BGSU Strategic Plan for Information Technology
- Information technology and the BGSU Academic Plan
- proposed new email policy for students
- IT user survey
- review of ITC lab configurations
- StudentTech
- TECS Program (Instructional Media Service)
One of the major accomplishments for the year was the completion of the BGSU Strategic Plan for Information Technology. The
this plan was the result of more than three years of work by ITC. The final version was presented to the Faculty Senate by
me and by David Border, a former ITC chair.
In recent months we have been working on a user service to assess the IT needs on campus and the level of user satisfaction.
This has been on the agenda for the last few months and a subcommittee has produced several revisions already. We hope to
have the work on the design of the survey complete by the end of the summer term.
The above list of agenda items demonstrates that we recommended a number of policy statements during the year, including the
acceptable use policy and student email policy. We also have our approval to requests from the CIO regarding a new Microsoft
campus license agreement and for approval of alternate vendors for campus Windows-based microcomputer systems.
We are also trying to use technology as an aid in the functioning of the committee. In addition to using a listproc allowing
communication among members, we have recently established a Blackboard community to allow bulletin boards for discussion of
various topics. Our web site contains information about the committee, including all minutes. http://www.bgsu.edu/organizations/itc
At the end of the year, I was elected chair of the committee for 2003-2004 and Elainie Lillios was chosen as secretary. Our
next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 12. Among the issues we hope to address during the coming year are the following:
- Completion of the IT user survey initiative
- Personal ownership of computers by students
- Issues for wireless technology
- Color printing and print accounting
- Authentication for microcomputers
- Electronic portfolios for faculty
- Automation in Career Services
- Standardizing BGSU's web presence
