Meeting Date: 
May 16, 2017
Date: 
05/16/2017 3:45 pm
Location: 
039 Snell Hall
Event Description: 

A PDF of the agenda can be found here.

A PDf of the minutes can be found here.

Agenda: 
  1. Laptop Requirements
  • Agricultural Sciences
  • Business
  • Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • Forestry
  • Honors College
  • INTO
  • Liberal Arts
  • Pharmacy
  • Public Health and Human Sciences
  • Science
  • Veterinary Medicine

2.  Updates from Ex-Officio Members

3.  Email System Changes – David Barber

Minutes: 

Voting members present: Bill Loges, Malgo Peszynska, Ehren Pflugfelder, Karl Schilke
Voting members absent: Alex Sims, Alexander Axelsson, Michelle Odden
Ex-officio members present: Dave Barber, Lynn Greenough
Guest: Jon Dolan, Assistant Vice Provost, Information Services

Two items on the agenda were addressed: (1) our plan to learn of any plans among academic units at OSU to require students to acquire laptop computers that meet specified technical requirements, and (2) a proposal from Information Services to consolidate email services to the Microsoft Exchange server. A third agenda item calling for updates from the ex-officio members was not addressed for lack of time.

Laptop Requirements

In our first meeting of the year, Bill Loges proposed that the Computing Resources Committee seek to learn whether there were any academic units considering requiring students to acquire laptop computers that meet specific technical requirements. This proposal was inspired by Loges’s own New Media Communications faculty’s consideration of such a requirement. It could benefit OSU to know the scope of such considerations across campus, since computer support staff, the bookstore, and others could benefit from knowing of such plans. Also, academic units can share the fruits of their discussions with others considering adopting such a requirement. Plans were made for each college at OSU to be contacted by a member of the CRC and asked this question:

“Is any department or major in your college considering requiring students to acquire laptop computers with specified technical capabilities in order to remain in the major?”

Responses will be collected by June 1 and reported to the Faculty Senate in our annual report.

Email Consolidation

Jon Dolan, Assistant Vice Provost from Information Services, described a proposal to consolidate the handful of email server systems at OSU into the Microsoft Exchange server. About 80% of faculty and staff use the Exchange server now, and the advantages that some units used to get from maintaining their own have largely disappeared with time. Concerns regarding the relative strengths of email management software (e.g., Pine and Outlook) were expressed, but the Exchange server can make mail available in the preferred software interface. The committee offered no objection to the proposal.

 

The meeting adjourned shortly after 1 PM.