News and Events
Student Services Fall Wrap-up
Cox Hall is a central location for Emory students to collaborate.
It always seems like Fall semester is just getting started when it suddenly ends and Winter Break is here. The Student Services team had its busiest semester ever with the Computing Center seeing another record-breaking number of visitors: 104,382 students in the Center since the start of the semester. More and more students are finding that the technology and space we provide for them in Cox is integral to the work that they do and the student community of which they are a part here at Emory. I'm trying to get Dooley some office space over here. Stay tuned...
On the wireless front, we were able to create a new intern position at the start of the semester wholly devoted to supporting students and EmoryUnplugged in the residence halls. Haynes Chewning, a recent Emory grad and former Clean Room tech lead, accepted the position in late August and has been meeting one-on-one with students, as well as helping with UTS Residence Hall wireless help sessions we have been hosting in the lobby of almost every residence hall on the main campus. Thank you to both Chad Street and Norman Butler from the Architecture team for working with us at every session, evaluating each and every wireless AP, and hands-on assisting students with various wireless issues on every kind of device you can imagine.
Besides wireless, the Student Tech Support office - formally known as the Clean Room - was busy as usual supporting student personal computers and a host of other devices (i.e. xBoxes, Playstations, netbooks, iPads, Kindles, Nooks, smartphones of every flavor, and a growing number of internet ready TVs). Total visits to the STS office numbered 2,442 for the semester, the most recorded since moving down to Cox Hall three years ago. Top tech issues: Malware infections, EmoryUnplugged troubleshooting, and hard drive failures.
Another service Student Services offers the campus is student printing via the print management system Pharos. This semester we moved both the School of Law and School of Nursing to Pharos, which means we now have ALL student public printing, both on the Emory campus and Oxford campus, managed by our team. Total prints through the Pharos system this semester totaled close to two million pages ($128,000 in print cost recovery).
Finally, in October, we hosted a Student Technology Showcase in the Cox Ballroom to introduce students to Microsoft's Office 365 product offering and a new web based collaborative tool called Going-On. Over 400 students attended and gave feedback on the features and functionality of both services. Most were excited at the new possibilities being considered for student email, calendaring, and collaborating in the Cloud. The Wheel did a nice overview of the Showcase you can check out here: http://www.emorywheel.com/detail.php?n=30319
Students come back from Winter Break January 17th. While they are away, the Student Services team will be busy installing new and refurbished computers across the campus in almost every lab and center we manage, anticipating a Mac OS Lion rollout after Commencement...just a few short and crazy months away!
- Kim Braxton, Manager, Student Services
Greening IT: Turn it Off!
The "Green Swish" indicates stories or ideas emphasizing our Division's efforts to be sustainable.
Turn It Off – Folks leaving for vacation can save energy by unplugging surge protectors, turning off and/or unplugging monitors, coffee pots, office lights and much more. Unplugging where possible is best as no current nor residual energy passes through. A week or two away can make a difference if, where possible, we all unplug or at least turn off our electronics.
On The Home Front - Recycle all your "evergreen-ery." Some counties pick-up curbside and send discarded trees to the chipper for landscaping public areas. Additionally, Home Depot dedicates a section of parking lot space for collection as well.
- Dawn Francis-Chewning, Business Analyst, Academic Technology Services
Become Fiscally Fit at a Call Center-Sponsored Workshop Open to Everyone
Drop and give me twenty balances of your checkbook!
Need a little advice about planning for your economic future? You are in luck! A Fiscally Fit Workshop Series is currently scheduled in the UTS Call Center Conference Room in the Davis Fischer Building, 5th floor. The goal of the workshop is to empower attendees with the knowledge and resources to help turn their financial goals into reality. The courses are being offered over a six-month period and are free of charge.
The following courses are being offered (all courses are taught from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm):
| Date | Topic | Speaker |
| January, 18, 2012 | Getting Fiscally Fit |
Mark Stevens, Registered Investment Advisor |
| February 15, 2012 | Tax Planning |
Barry Franklin, CPA |
| March 14, 2012 | Home Ownership 101 |
Bill Hass, Realtor |
| April 18, 2012 | Estate Planning |
Bernard Kearse, Attorney at Law |
| May 16, 2012 | Retirement Planning |
Mark Stevens, Registered Investment Advisor |
| June 13, 2012 | Tax Planning Advanced |
Barry Franklin, CPA |
For more information about signing up to attend, contact Bonita Russell at bonita.russell@emory.edu.
Location:
550 Peachtree St. N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30308
Foundation for Personal Financial Education (FPFE) Contact:
Kendall Jennings, FPFE Program Coordinator
800-966-1899
kendall@fpfenonprofit.org
OIT Avoids Being Round Pegs at the Square Pub
Bonita Russell (Call Center) enjoying the festivities!
As 2011 drew to a close, OIT celebrated another successful year with its 2011 OIT Holiday Party. Held at the Square Pub in downtown Decatur on December 7th, over 140 OIT employees made the event despite blisteringly cold temperatures and high winds.
It was a great get together, and although renditions of Ghostbusters do not grace most holiday parties, it now seems no yule celebration would be complete without "Believe it or Not" and "Pokerface." True genius. From the sliders to the crab cakes to the fried Oreos (yes, fried Oreos), and the inspiring list of drafts, the food and drink were wonderful and it was great to see so many faces from across the division. Thank you for bringing us together and making such a festive atmosphere.
Special thanks should go to the dedicated group of volunteers who helped to organize the party, check-in the guests, hand out tickets, etc.
- Alan Cattier, Director, Academic Technology Services
Oxford Technology Showcase a Great Success
The dining hall known as "Lil's" on the Oxford Campus.
We followed Kim Braxton's (Academic Technology Services) lead at Oxford College, on a somewhat smaller scale than done by the Computing Center, but no less effective! It was held in a private room just off the cafeteria where we demoed both Microsoft Office 365 and "GoingOn" to the Oxford students with almost 200 students participating.
We rotated "shows" and the drop in rate was greatly facilitated by OCIT and UTS "shopping" the cafeteria for attendees. The most popular Microsoft Office 365 features for Oxford were "email anywhere" and 25G of storage. GoingOn was very well received as a potential for community building and the Oxford Technology Showcase was a great success.
- Dawn Francis-Chewning, Business Analyst, Academic Technology Services
Announcing a New OIT Flickr Account
"There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer." - Ansel Adams
The Marcomm office is pleased to announce that OIT now has a Flickr account for posting and sharing photos from our various functions. Over the years, we have amassed hundreds of photos for use in our publications, the vast majority of which have never been seen by anyone.
Now, you can go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/emory-OIT/ to see some of the pictures we have collected over the years. So far, only the pictures from this year's OIT Holiday Party are in place, but we will be adding many more over the next few weeks.
Did you meet someone at the party but cannot remember their name? Perhaps you can find them here as we caption the photos. If you see a photo that is mislabeled or you have photos to submit, please contact Wade Moricle at wade.moricle@emory.edu.