November 6, 1998

Willard 004

1. Paul Altieri announced that minutes and other Computer Committee information will be available through a link on the A&S home page.
2. The A&S web page will soon have a new look. Paul will soon show mock-ups to the dean.
3. With regard to this committee’s motion of 10/2/98, Paul and Marc met with Dean Higgins to discuss the hiring of an information technology technician for A&S. The dean has made a budget request for a technology person.
4. It was announced that there are administration plans to equip eight classrooms with video streaming capability. The committee discussed how it might have input into the design of classrooms, and of the desirability of portable computers for classroom use. (Please see item #3 below.)
5. The assistant director of the Microcomputer Lab has left the position and a search is now underway to fill the position. The new person will continue to support the academic labs.
6. A&S will soon begin switching to the Outlook e-mail program. Student helpers will work on installing the software. Later, existing e-mails will be transferred and training will be required before faculty are allowed to use the new e-mail program.

3. Joan Calvert proposed a university-wide Academic Computer Council to represent the faculty’s concerns to the administration. Committee members expressed approval of the idea. The Council will include two representatives from A&S and one from each other school plus one from the library. The A&S Computer Committee appointed Tom Burkholder and Clayton Penniman as the A&S representatives.
   
   Faculty concerns were discussed, including the issue of ordering software: what channels must a request go through, and where will funds come from? Another concern regarded replacing computers with expiring leases -- e.g., should they be replaced with portable computers or desktops? Also, What should be done about faculty who do not have computers? In some cases faculty have been told that their computers are on campus in boxes but the faculty cannot get them installed. These are concerns that the University Computer Council could address.

4. The A&S web site is undergoing a complete redesign which will be on-line soon. Paul Altieri requested input from faculty on what should be provided on the site. He mentioned the possibility of a private, faculty-only area. This area could include university forms, and could have information posted.
   
   It was also announced that faculty can have and maintain their own home pages (A&S is the only school that allows this). Also it is possible to ftp into the web site.

5. The next time we meet Dan Larose will show the committee his on-line course materials.

6. The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 p.m.