UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Michelle Sunderland

Announcing Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams has come to the University of Portland campus, according to Michelle Sunderland, information services. Teams provides a new way to collaborate and communicate via an interactive chat-based workspace. The idea is to provide 21st-century learners and knowledge workers with a flexible and fun way to stay in sync while cutting down on email overload and never-ending meetings. While this new breed of chat app caught on first in the offices of start-ups in San Francisco and New York, it is being popularized in many fields as all types of workers become more mobile and more collaborative and will likely be an important tool for the 21st-century workforce. Teams has many applications to enhance collaboration in higher education. Colleagues who need to work in close cooperation across departments and disciplines, students who participate in clubs and projects, and even teachers and learners in an academic course can all use Teams to enhance collaboration and engagement. To learn more about Teams and view a brief how-to video see our Teams website at https://sites.up.edu/teams.

UP Hosting Strategic Energy Management Cohort Workshop, November 16

solar-copyThe University of Portland will host the final Strategic Energy Management (SEM) workshop, “Report Out & Celebration,” on Wednesday, November 16. UP has been participating in a two-year SEM cohort sponsored by the Energy Trust of Oregon (ETO), according to physical plant director André Hutchinson. Other participants in the cohort, which focuses on organizations with large, complex campuses, such as the Hillsboro School District and Oregon Health & Science University, will be on campus for this closing event. The UP project has been spearheaded by the Energy Team of Hutchinson, Sandy Galati, and Dirk Theisen, physical plant; Eric Barger, controller; Michelle Sunderland, information services; and Beth Sorensen, marketing and communications.

The goal of the SEM cohort is to support the University as both a responsible steward of energy resources and of financial resources. An energy policy for the campus is currently being developed which will incorporate many of the energy conservation and performance improvement strategies that have come out of the SEM project.

For more information contact Hutchinson at x7306 0r hutchina@up.edu.

Cybersecurity: Are You Doing Your Part?

data-copyOctober 2016 is the 13th annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), according to Michelle Sunderland, information services. NCSAM emphasizes the shared responsibility of taking basic steps to make the Internet safer, more secure, and more trustworthy. To help raise awareness on the UP campus, information services has published several security reminders, educational resources, and timely news alerts. These resources are available online via the IS Security Newsletter. In addition, information services invites community members to take a brief online security awareness quiz. All participants will be entered for a chance to win a free tablet. For more details, please see the IS Security Newsletter at https://sites.up.edu/cybersecurity. Information services encourages everyone to do their part in securing the UP campus computing environment.

Office 365 Coming Soon; New WiFi Networks, Password Change Site

sunderland copyInformation services staff have been working through the summer to implement the University’s new Office 365 Portal, according to Michelle Sunderland, information services. Faculty and staff will be invited to use the new portal once IS staff complete testing in coming weeks. New Microsoft Office client applications (Office 2013 for Windows, Office 2016 for MACs) will soon be available on the download center and opportunities for Office 365 training will be announced soon. To learn more about Office 365 implementation plans and find answers to frequently asked questions, visit the project website at sites.up.edu/office365.

Information services has announced improvements to UP’s WiFi services. New networks are available, including “UPStaff” for faculty and staff and “UPStudent” for students. It’s easy to connect to these new networks, just login with your network username and password. The Pilots and PilotsWPA networks are set to retire and are no longer being broadcast. If devices are still connecting to these legacy networks, utilize the device’s “forget this network” feature and connect to the new networks listed above. Also note that campus visitors can now self-register their devices on the” UPGuest” network. A pre-shared password is no longer required to sign in. To learn more visit this link.

Campus members will also notice a new look to UP’s password change website. The page has been updated with everything users need to know about password management at UP, including instructions for the new password management tool. To learn more, visit the new site at up.edu/pwc.

New Papercut Reporting Tool

printingpressIn support of the University’s commitment to sustainable and cost-effective printing practices, information services and printing services are proud to announce Papercut, a new campus usage reporting tool. Papercut has been used at UP for the past several years to successfully manage student printing. The rollout will start the week of October 27 and will impact 23 multi-function machines across campus. For more information contact Michelle Sunderland, technical services, at 8870 or sunderla@up.edu.

Network Expansion to 1.5Gbps Complete

Tablet - Happy woman holding digital tablet dreamstime_m_27971475.jpgThe final stages of the campus network bandwidth expansion to 1.5Gbps were completed on Thursday, June 5, according to Michelle Sunderland, information services. Over the course of the past five months the IS infrastructure team has taken campus bandwidth from 320Mbps to 1.5Gbps, an increase by 4.6 times. The upgrade included transitioning service providers by bringing TW Telecom and Comcast to the campus. Having two carriers with unique routes to the UP campus provides redundant service in the case of a service outage.

We are excited about the resulting performance and reliability improvements this upgrade will bring to the campus network. This past year users experienced many challenges streaming video content and getting reliable and high speed results when using Google. The IS infrastructure team has completed the initial validation of the new network and reports that video streaming and performance issues have been addressed.

If users experience any issues with network performance they are encouraged to reach out to the help desk at 7000 or help@up.edu to report them.

Senior Leadership Team Complete

U of PLisel Stancil has been appointed director of web & enterprise services. She has served as interim director of web & enterprise services since September 2012. She previously served as a business process analyst in the information services department and is a 2002 graduate of the University.

Stancil’s appointment completes the senior leadership team in information services which also includes Michelle Sunderland, director of technical services; Sam Williams, director of academic technology services; Kevork Isikbay, technical programs manager; and Curt Pederson, chief information officer. Janice Lundborg, procurement and administrative specialist, has taken on additional administrative support responsibilities in support of the leadership team. For more information, contact Pederson at pedersoc@up.edu.