COMMITTEE ON COMPUTING AND
TELECOMMUNICAIONS
ANNUAL REPORT
2000-01
To
the Academic Senate, Santa Cruz Division:
Charles
McDowell served as chair of the Senate Committee on Computing and
Telecommunications (CCT) for 2000-2001. Yin-Wong Cheung (Economics), Ben Crow
(Sociology), Joel Ferguson (Computer Engineering), Vicki Gonzalez-Pagani
(Language), Eli Hollander (Film and Video), Geoffrey Pullum (Linguistics), and
Lisa Sloan (Earth Sciences) served on the committee. Patrick Lecuyer
represented CATS at CCT meetings. There was no student representative this
year.
There
has been a very encouraging change in the area of computer technology on campus.
In July 2000, Larry Merkely was hired as a consultant on a two year contract.
His mission was to advise Campus Provost Simpson on technology issues, and
propose a new structure for the management of information technology on campus.
The first thing Larry Merkely did was create the Information Technology Committee
(ITC), which eventually became one of Provost Simpson’s 5 “key groups” reporting
to the Provost’s Advisory Council (PAC:
After
one year in existence, we are very satisfied with the way the ITC is
functioning. A number of important issues have been, and are being, addressed
by ITC. The chair of CCT (Charlie McDowell) serves on ITC, and Larry Merkley
attended several CCT meetings to insure that the perspectives of the faculty
and the senate were being represented.
One
key issue that was not yet resolved at the time this report was being written,
is the issue of what happens to ITC when Larry Merkley’s contract expires. We
are aware that ITC is struggling with that issue, but we want to make the
senate aware that CCT feels it is imperative that a chief
information/technology officer be recruited to take over the process that Larry
Merkley has begun.
We
encourage all members of the senate interested in technology on campus (whether
it is in the classroom, on your desktop, or handling student records), to visit
the ITC web pages at:
http://planning.ucsc.edu/pac/itc.html
Finally,
we would like to remind faculty about the funding that was obtained as part of
the 1998-1999 initiative process that provides $325/year of central funding, to
be matched by $325 from departmental budgets for workstation replacement for
all faculty and staff.
Replacement
costs are estimated at $650 per year, calculated as follows:
$400
- Basic workstation replacement on a four-year cycle ($1,600 over four years),
$150 - Keep standard software applications current (word processing, spreadsheet,
database, web access, email, calendar etc), some funds included for shared
peripherals (e.g. printers, fax etc.), $100 - Replace high quality monitors
on a six-year cycle ($600 over six years).
This
should be enough to provide basic computer support using relatively current
technology. If you have not had your workstation replaced or upgraded in the
last 4 years, you should check with your divisional computer coordinator to see
if you are eligible for an upgrade or replacement.
Respectfully
submitted,
Yin-Wong
Cheung
Ben
Crow
Joel
Ferguson
Vicki
Gonzalez-Pagani
Eli
Hollander
Geoffrey
Pullum
Lisa
Sloan
Charles
McDowell, Chair
September
27, 2001