Vice President for Information Technology Status and Activity Report for April 2024 Prepared by Timothy M. Chester, Vice President for Information Technology (VPIT) 1. Key Items for Faculty and Staff Meetings •
Spring cybersecurity training due April 30: State of Georgia employees, including all UGA employees and student workers, must complete spring cybersecurity awareness training by April 30. This required training takes place twice a year in April and October per USG policy and a directive by the executive order of Governor Brian Kemp. This professionally developed course is conducted online through KnowBe4 and provides actionable and effective training on good cybersecurity practices. To complete the training, log in to the KnowBe4 Portal with your MyID and password at https://training.knowbe4.com/auth/saml/8840131a04b53. Once you log into the KnowBe4 portal, you will be taken to UGA's training page. Click on the training to start. If no training appears, go to the dropdown menu under your name in the upper right corner of the screen. Click on the 'My Training' option to view your available training. Through April, you may receive several reminders about completing the training to your UGAMail. These automated reminders will come from Ben Myers at bmyers@uga.edu and will have the subject line: USG Mandatory Cybersecurity Awareness Training Due April 30, 2024. This course will not be available after the April 30 deadline. Faculty, staff, and student employees who have questions about the training should contact the EITS Help Desk at 706-542-3106 or e-mail at helpdesk@uga.edu.
•
Teams Phone coming soon for campus units: This spring, EITS will introduce Teams Phone, a cloud-based next-generation phone system provided by Microsoft. Teams Phone allows UGA employees to communicate and collaborate anytime, anywhere, on any device. Teams Phone integrates seamlessly with the Microsoft Teams application on your laptop, tablet, or mobile device, so all your calls, chats, calendar invites and meetings can be accessed in one place. Over the coming months, EITS Telephone Services will work with interested campus units and departments to transition their telephone numbers to Teams Phone. For more information, contact Jeff Teasley at jteasley@uga.edu.
2. Services for Students •
Work continues on more than $1M in campus wireless upgrades: Work is underway on more wireless upgrades in academic buildings and student housing across the Athens, Buckhead, and Griffin campuses. These upgrades are part of EITS’s work to continuously improve Wi-Fi connectivity and coverage to support teaching, learning, and student life. The $1.2 million a year project, funded by Student Technology Fees, includes wireless refreshments and redesigns in many buildings. Wireless upgrades have been recently completed for Terry College, Cobb House, Treanor House, the 1280 South Lumpkin Building and the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. Wireless upgrade work is ongoing at the J.W. Fanning Building. Technicians are also working on more improvements to other buildings and wireless spaces across campus; work for phase three is under way and expected to be completed next summer. For more information, contact David Stewart at stewart@uga.edu.
VPIT Status and Activity Report for April 2024
Page 1 of 3