January Tech News Edition 26.1 - January 7, 2026
Top News EITS Accomplishments for 2025: In 2025, EITS successfully completed more than 300 projects aimed at strengthening student and academic technologies, improving business operations, and supporting UGA’s research mission. Among the key achievements were the launch of the Creative Engagement Wing in collaboration with the Office of Instruction and University Libraries, which provides innovative spaces and resources for teaching and learning. EITS also enhanced the university’s data center by upgrading its core infrastructure to better handle the growing demands of academic and research activities. Additionally, the team worked closely with the University System of Georgia to plan for a new, unified Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, which will streamline administrative processes across campuses. Looking ahead to 2026, EITS will complete the campus-wide transition to Microsoft Teams Phone, replacing traditional phone systems with a modern, integrated communication platform. The team will also support new initiatives for the School of Medicine and School of Nursing, advance the university’s Digital Accessibility Program to meet federal requirements by April 2026, and play a key role in enabling UGA’s artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives to enhance research and innovation. State of IT Scheduled for February: Dr. Timothy Chester will deliver his annual State of Technology at UGA address in the spring semester. This event provides important updates and insights about technology at the University of Georgia, including current initiatives and future plans. The exact date and details for attending will be announced soon. For additional information, contact Stacy Boyles. New Digital Accessibility Services Hub Launching in Early Spring: The EITS Digital Accessibility Services Team will launch the new Digital Accessibility Hub website in early spring 2026. This site will serve as a central resource for training and support on digital accessibility and will include a feature for reporting accessibility issues across UGA’s websites. The launch is part of a broader effort to comply with the new federal digital accessibility policy, which takes effect on April 24, 2026. For more information about the Digital Accessibility Hub, contact the Digital Accessibility Services team. Access to W-2's in OneUSG Connect: UGA will send W-2s for the 2025 calendar year to employees in January 2026. If an employee has previously consented to receive their W-2 electronically, they can access their W-2s through the OneUSG Connect Self-Service portal in January. If they are unable to connect to a UGA campus network and need assistance accessing their electronic W-2, contact One USG Support for assistance. A paper W-2 will be sent to the home address in OneUSG Connect for those who did not consent to electronic delivery.
UPCOMING
DATES
January 6: Ally for eLC accessibility Q&A session at 11:00 a.m. January 9: GACRC Webinar at 11:00 a.m. January 23: Deadline to verify and claim departmental MyID accounts January 12: Classes begin January 16: Last day for Drop/Add January 19: Martin Luther King Jr. Day - No Classes
IT SERVICES IN ACTION January GACRC Webinar - Research Computing Resources at UGA: The Georgia Advanced Computing Resource Center (GACRC) provides UGA researchers with access to high-performance computing, artificial intelligence tools, and large-scale storage resources. To help faculty and staff learn more about these services, GACRC will host a virtual informational webinar on January 9, 2026, at 11:00 a.m., led by Dr. Guy Cormier and Dr. Jessica Kissinger. The session will give an overview of GACRC’s infrastructure and available computing resources, as well as explain how to request a Sapelo2 user account. Participants will also learn how GACRC supports computational needs across a wide range of research disciplines. Register for the Zoom webinar on January 9. For questions, contact Dr. Jessica Kissinger. Google’s Gemini 3 Now Available in UGA’s Google Workspace: UGA students, faculty, and staff now have access to Google’s newest and most advanced AI model, Gemini 3, securely integrated within UGA’s Google Workspace. Gemini 3 is Google’s most powerful tool yet, capable of working with text, images, audio, code, and other types of data. Building on earlier versions, Gemini 3 offers smarter reasoning, better analysis, and enhanced coding features to help users work more efficiently and creatively. For more information about Gemini 3, visit our EITS Knowledge Base or contact Justin Sackett. Qualtrics Cost-Sharing Program Begins in January 2026: To support departments that wish to continue using Qualtrics after December 2025, EITS has implemented a cost-sharing program. The deadline to opt in was May 1, 2025, and participating departments have already received recommendations for survey clean-up. Beginning December 22, 2025, users will need to log in to Qualtrics using UGA Single Sign-On (SSO). Starting in January 2026, Qualtrics access will be limited to cost-sharing program participants only, and UGA SSO will remain required. Current faculty and staff who are not part of the cost-sharing program will retain access through December 2025 and have received guidance on transitioning to alternative survey tools. After this time, they should use QuestionPro as their primary survey tool. For more information, contact the EITS Survey Tools Team. Verify and Claim Your Departmental MyID Accounts by January 23: Departmental MyID accounts are used by units, colleges, and departments to run automated processes and serve as contact emails for departments or programs. EITS conducts an annual verification to ensure each account has a current owner classified by Central Human Resources as a full-time faculty or staff member. This process also confirms that associated account details remain accurate. The 2025 verification process begins December 1, 2025, and concludes on January 23, 2026. Account owners will receive an email prompting them to complete the verification process through TeamDynamix, with follow-up reminders sent until the process is complete. Accounts not verified by January 23, 2026, will be disabled. For more information, contact Kristi Wall. GACRC Teaching Cluster for Spring: A dedicated high-performance computing cluster for teaching will be available during the Spring 2026 semester, supported by the Georgia Advanced Computing Resource Center (GACRC). This teaching cluster is designed to help instructors integrate advanced computing into their coursework. Faculty in Franklin College should note that the cluster includes two multi-GPU compute nodes reserved exclusively for Franklin College courses, providing enhanced capabilities for classes that require intensive computing power. Faculty members interested in learning more about the teaching cluster and how it can support their courses should contact Guy Cormier.
CHANGES & MAINTENANCES Spring Network Maintenance Date Announced: The spring 2026 network maintenance will be on Sunday, March 8, 2026, from 4 a.m. to midnight. Students, faculty, and staff should expect intermittent service outages throughout the day. EITS conducts biannual network maintenance each fall and spring to support the university’s infrastructure and ensure sufficient bandwidth and internet capacity. For questions, contact Rayid Tartir. Biannual UGA SSO Upgrade Planned for March: UGA’s single sign-on service (UGA SSO) will undergo scheduled maintenance in March 2026. This upgrade is necessary to move the service to the latest version and apply important security updates. To prepare for the upgrade, EITS will pause moving any new applications into production UGA SSO after February 20, 2026, until the maintenance is complete in March. UGA SSO upgrades are conducted twice a year, in March and September, to ensure reliability and security. For more information, contact Wes Merrill. FY26 User Access Verification Preparation Begins: In preparation for the financial state audit for FY26, EITS will conduct a verification of all user accounts for several systems. The FY26 verification will kick off in March and will include Banner systems, the UGA Financial Management System, the UGA Budget Management System, OneUSG Connect, and UGAJobs. This year’s verification process will feature an updated user interface and a more streamlined workflow. More information on this year’s verification will be forthcoming in the spring. For more information, contact Stacy Boyles. Unified ERP Update: The Unified Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Project intends to replace the current institutional systems for human capital management, financials, and student information, improving the experience for students, faculty, and staff; streamlining core business processes; and unifying technology into a single, Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. Project Coordinators have now been identified for each major unit and “change champions” will be identified in January. These individuals will be key in ensuring robust, two-way communication through each unit over the course of this project. A change network is also being established including faculty and staff across UGA in the areas of Faculty Affairs, Finance, Human Resources, Reporting, and Sponsored Projects. Over 200 Business, HR, and IT leaders from each school, college, and unit attended the integrations forum on December 5. Updates and information about project activities will be shared on the UGA Project Website. For more information, contact Lynn Wilson or Shawn Hill. Microsoft Office 2021 Reaching End of Life in October: Microsoft has announced that support for Microsoft Office 2021 will end in October 2026. After this date, the software will no longer receive updates or security patches. To prepare, EITS will work with departmental IT teams over the next nine months to ensure all Office suites are upgraded to the latest version. For more information, contact Justin Sackett.
TECH TIPS Spring Help Desk Hours and Knowledge Base: The EITS Help Desk returned to its normal operating hours on January 4, 2026. The Help Desk is open Sunday from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. and Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; it is closed on Saturdays. The EITS Help Desk operates from 101 Cedar Street and can be reached by phone at 706-542-3106, by email at helpdesk@uga.edu or via our chat service at hd.support.uga.edu. For assistance outside of our operating hours, please visit the EITS Knowledge Base at eitshelpdesk.uga.edu to access self-service tech tips.
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