Vice President for Information Technology Status and Activity Report for January 2024 Prepared by Timothy M. Chester, Vice President for Information Technology (VPIT) 1. Key Items for Faculty and Staff Meetings •
EITS accomplishments for 2023: Through 2023, EITS completed more than 250 projects to help improve business process management, the student digital life experience, next generation teaching and learning, and the university’s research enterprise. Key projects included upgrades to Banner and DegreeWorks, including a new DegreeWorks responsive dashboard; the addition of role-based views in the UGA Mobile App; the deployment of 48 GPUs in support of the President’s AI and Data Science initiative; the installation of almost 800 wireless access points; the implementation of Duo Verified Push; the implementation of automated financial reporting with Power BI; the implementation of the Adobe Student Creative Cloud Check-out program and the launch of a new EITS Help Desk Knowledge base. More initiatives are planned for 2024 including the deployment of a 12-Petabyte high-performance hybrid Lustre storage appliance to support data intensive scientific and AI workloads; a new mobile-friendly interface for Athena and Banner and eLC integration in the UGA Mobile App; the rollout of Teams Phone for campus; redesigned websites for EITS and OIR (Office of Institutional Research), improvements to off-boarding for employees and affiliates; and engaging with the university system on the new unified enterprise resource planning system.
2. Services for Students •
UGA Mobile App Update adds class schedules: The UGA Mobile App team has been working on an exciting new update to the UGA Mobile App. This new update provides students with an enhanced experience with improved and versatile features to the layout. This standout feature allows students to view their class schedules directly in the app, offering greater convenience and utilization. Each student’s personalized class schedule will include weekly and daily viewing options, showcasing class times along with precise classroom locations. Additional new features include tiles labeled, “My Semester,” “My Finances,” “My Majors,” and “My Career.” These serve as easy shortcuts to important student information. With a simple tap, students will be directed to URLs that give them information about their respective educational activity. For more information on the UGA Mobile App, visit mobileapps.uga.edu.
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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 in the Physics building, Hardman Hall, the Army ROTC building, and several Veterinary Medicine buildings have been completed. 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 January 2024
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