Academic Computing Operational Plan

The basic functions of Academic Computing include:

• Maintain service in five major computer labs (Social Science, Wattis, Macintosh, Library and Natural Science), including:

1. hire, train and supervise student aides;
2. provide printing and other consumable supplies;
3. maintain workstations;
4. maintain network and network server;
5. maintain application software;
6. load and troubleshoot new applications software.

• Provide consulting assistance, some software and other help for other computer labs, including Mathematics, Health Professions, Business Education, Computer Science and possibly others.
• Upgrade computer labs as funding becomes available and technology improves, including:

1. new workstations;
2. new server systems;
3. new networking;
4. new peripherals--printers, CD players, scanners, etc.;
5. new network designs.

• Conduct regular seminars for those interested in learning general use VMS, DOS, Windows and Macintosh software.
• Maintain software with academic orientation on NetWare servers for faculty and other staff, including WordPerfect, Presentations, Quattro, Minitab, SAS and dBase.
• Write and maintain user documentation to supplement vendor materials for commonly used VMS, DOS, Windows and Macintosh software.
• Provide general consulting assistance for hardware, software and academic implementation of computer technology for faculty, students and support staff.
• Assist Colleges, Departments and ARCC in strategic planning for academic computing.
• Supervise implementation of computing projects planned and supported by ARCC.

Currently, Academic Computing is working on the following priority implementation actions (in no particular order; corresponding long-term goals [LTG] in parentheses):

• Improve support for professional learning in the labs, including programming, database management, graphics development and mathematical and statistical computing (LTG-A.3, LTG-A.7).
• Provide specific support for the learning of basic student computer literacy in keeping with the university's new curricular requirement (LTG-A.3).
• Assist in the development of new computer instructional tools (LTG-A.6).
• Develop better database tracking of Academic Computing hardware and software (LTG-D.1).
• Identify and install tracking systems to discover how academic systems and software are being used (LTG-D.1).
• Maintain lab servers, workstations, software and networks to perform necessary lab functions as defined by faculty (LTG-A.7).
• Recommend, acquire and install new hardware and software as requested by ARCC and academic departments (LTG-A.6).
• Install, maintain and improve RevR, PC-R and other automated workstation recovery systems (LTG-D.6).
• Adapt all software to NAL for automatic, simplified loading (LTG-D.7).
• With interested faculty, develop standard procedures for using and learning the C++, Visual Basic, COBOL, FORTRAN and Pascal compilers (LTG-A.4, LTG-A.6).
• Improve and standardize Oracle implementation (LTG-A.6).
• With the Faculty Senate Computer Literacy Committee adapt services to assist students attain the desired level of computer literacy (LTG-A.3).
• Continue to support and improve Web Tester (LTG-A.7).