A SHORT HISTORY OF COMPUTING SERVICES
AT
MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
Change has been a constant for computing and computer services at Middle Tennessee
State University, a response to the rapid changes in computing itself and in the role of
computing in higher education. The office providing computer services at MTSU has
changed its name over the past fifty years from the Computer Center to Computer
Services to the Office of Information Technology (OIT) and most recently to the
Information Technology Division (ITD). Amid all the changes, what has remained constant
is a dedication to service and a home in the basement of MTSU's Cope Administration
Building.
Automation first came to the service of the University's administrative tasks in 1959-60,
with IBM card tab equipment: a 401 tabulating system, a 1000-card-a-minute card sorter,
several non-printing calculators, and a card interpreter. The mathematics department
provided some computing capability to the academic community with an Autonetics
machine, a $120,000 machine obtained through a close-out deal for $12,000.
The Autonetics machine, a 40-bit, 4000-word computer, was the first transistorized
computer. It had a 5-bit character (using upshift and downshift to get all the characters),
and both fixed point and floating hardware square root. This was essentially the same
computer that flew in every Redstone missile, so they were highly miniaturized and very,
very reliable machines. The Autonetics computer was installed in 1962.
By 1964 it was apparent that MTSU was under-powered and President Quill Cope decided
that a campus-wide system and computer center were needed. A selection team
composed of Dr. Paul Hutcheson of the mathematics department, the director of
admissions, and the business manager procured for the University a Honeywell 1200 with
the help of a $75,000 NSF grant. It had 32K of memory, 6-bit characters, used FORTRAN
and COBOL, and sorted very efficiently.
Computing grew on the MTSU campus with the new Honeywell machine and the new
computer center, both established in the basement of Cope Administration Building. Dr.
Hutcheson was the computer center's first director. A data processing area under the
direction of Sam Walden, also located in the basement of Cope, did programming for
administrative functions. In 1970 the computing system was upgraded to a Honeywell
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1250, and a GE255 time-sharing system was added. Students used both machines. All the
regular student work was run on the time-sharing system, and the student COBOL
projects were run on the Honeywell. During the '70s the computer center was state of the
art running a time-sharing system, though on a tight budget.
By 1973, a procurement effort was underway for a large time-sharing system. Key to the
selection process was a benchmark developed by MTSU consisting of a package of
programs and runs constructed to resemble everyday activity in the computer center. This
benchmark, which served as a guide for many subsequent benchmarks, led to the
selection of the Honeywell 6023 machine.
In 1979, Dr. Hutcheson ended his tenure as director of the computer center and returned
to teaching computer science full time. The data processing area was merged into the
computer center, and Edward Mathay, who had been director of data processing, became
director of the merged unit. Lucinda Lea, who had served the academic community for
several years providing computing support to the faculty, became the first manager of
academic computing. This new campus entity, established as a unit of the computer
center, provided both computing and statistical support for the faculty.
Upgrades and developments in computing on campus continued. In 1982, the university
began using the DPS-8/47 mainframe computing system under the G-COS operating
system. In 1984, the DPS-8 was upgraded from a model 47 to a model 49 and the
operating system was converted to CP-6. These updates gave the university a more
powerful and versatile computing system that was considered state of the art. The CP-6,
built on a 36-bit architecture, most computers at the time were 32-bit, was highly accurate
and dependable. Used for both academic and administrative purposes initially, the CP-6
supported not only faculty research and student course work, but also all administrative
applications including payroll/personnel systems, financial systems, and student
information systems.
An IDMS database was used for large applications such as parking, student information,
class schedules, and alumni information. All the information for a given individual was on
one record, For example, all of John Smith's information as a student, an alumnus, and an
employee was in one record. Therefore, there was no duplication of data. Payroll
applications, alumni, and student records all shared the same bio-demographic record.
Also, all the administrative systems were “home grown”, written and modified by MTSU
computer center employees.
In 1984, the administrative functions began to migrate to Digital Equipment Corporation
(DEC) VAX systems running Information Associates (IA) software, the standard chosen by
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the Tennessee Board of Regents. In 1985, Tom Burks became director of the computer
center, and shortly thereafter the area was renamed Computer Services. By 1992, all
administrative applications had been moved to the VAX systems. The academic
community continued to use the Bull HN DPS-8 and a VAXIBESO donated by DEC in 1991
to serve as an interim system until a new academic computing system could be acquired.
As applications migrated from the Bull HN computer to the SCT/IA software packages, SCT
had acquired the IA software, and as new and more sophisticated applications were
requested, the administrative systems were upgraded to meet the increasing demands. An
outstanding feature of the VAX cluster was disaster tolerance. The cluster was built so that
if one site was rendered inoperable through flood, fire, or other disaster, the other site
could perform all vital administrative functions on a limited scale. The two main VAX
computers were located in separate buildings about one-quarter mile apart and connected
using FDDI. The administrative systems gradually changed from batch card processing to
on-line processing running the SCT/Plus administrative software, and then to more use of
voice response technology. Course registration via telephone was in full operation as of
fall 1993.
The advent of the personal computer produced another revolutionary change in university
computing capability. Personal computers with tremendously more computing power than
those early “monster” machines were placed on faculty and staff desktops in the late
1980’s. In the same period, departments and colleges established computer labs for
student use. However, this decentralized computing capacity at the local level resulted in
the need for more computer power and capability from the university’s central systems
with more sophisticated applications.
A new name for the computer services area, a new computing system, and a new
committee structure launched a period of new initiatives and commitment to technology
on the MTSU campus. In July 1993, Computer Services reorganized and was renamed the
Office of Information Technology with Lucinda Lea as the director. The new office included
not only academic and administrative computing but also networking and
telecommunications. Acquiring a new academic computing system was a high priority.
The Bull HN computer's operating system had an expiration date of 1995, and new
software and updates were no longer available for the machine.
The academic system was to operate as a central server and have the capacity to run the
software that ran on the Bull HN DPS-8/49 D as well as many additional software
packages and systems. In spring 1994, an evaluation team announced that a contract had
been signed with Hewlett-Packard for a HP Corporate Business Server 9000 Model T500,
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a RISC-based machine running the UNIX operating system. The new system was installed
in summer 1994, and the conversion of existing files to the new HP machine was
completed in December 1994.
A high priority project for the MTSU Office of Information Technology during this
timeframe was building a campus-wide fiber network. With PCs on every desktop and
with the Internet becoming a major information source and communication tool, network
connectivity was a key component for the rapidly growing university. Other endeavors
included: establishing a design and providing support for campus master classrooms
beginning in 1994; setting up residence hall computer labs; negotiating software site
licenses; building kiosks for student self service; providing additional voice response
technologies; upgrading administrative systems to Digital Equipment Corporation Alpha
systems; and facilitating the integration of voice, data, and video across campus.
To coordinate campus computing efforts through strategic planning and review, a
computing governance structure was formed that included a computer executive
committee chaired by the provost with the director of OIT serving as vice-chair, an
academic computing committee, and an administrative computing committee. The
committees worked with input from all segments of the campus community to develop an
information technology strategic plan for the university. To initiate the strategic planning
process, assistance was sought from EDUCOM, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the
advancement of computing and technology in higher education.
Technology's role in education changed, and new technologies were provided to meet the
growing demand. The tradition of providing quality services and support to students,
faculty, and staff gained new momentum and focus with the Office of Information
Technology. OIT's mission to bring the latest technologies to the university community
and to support and encourage their use worked in concert with the university's mission to
create a campus environment conducive to learning and to both personal and professional
development in a world where technology was becoming an increasingly essential part of
day to day life.
Through the mid to late nineties and into the new millennium, various new technologies
were installed and processes were developed on the MTSU campus to provide enhanced
capability and, perhaps more importantly, to provide a greater level of service to all
members of the university community.
These new endeavors included: implementation of a campus portal called Campus
Pipeline, later to be purchased by SCT and renamed Luminis; establishing and developing
the campus ID system; designing and building the Telecommunications Building;
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installation of a new digital telephone switch; providing voice mail capability; establishing
Voice over IP as the telephony standard for new campus buildings and newly renovated
areas; establishing a student Technology Access Fee (TAF) and developing the governance
structure to assure appropriate and equitable distribution of the TAF funds; establishing an
IT Help Desk; developing the MTSU home page and the general web presence; developing
and establishing a four year replacement and renewal plan for both student accessible
microcomputers and faculty and staff desktop microcomputers; and developing a student
technology assistant training program for student workers in labs and those working the IT
Help Desk.
A major emphasis for OIT and the university during this period was the promotion and
development of instructional technologies as faculty developed online and web enhanced
courses. Academic computing support was updated to include working with faculty to
develop educational technologies for use in the classroom, and Academic Computing was
renamed Academic and Instructional Technology Services. Offerings included: a faculty
intern program for instructional technology; competitive grants awarded to faculty for
development of educational technologies to be used in courseware; the establishment of
the Faculty Instructional Technology Center; installation of Blackboard’s Course Info as the
first course management software and training for faculty in appropriate usage; and a
concerted effort both from OIT and from the provost’s office to provide as many master
classrooms as possible to facilitate teaching and learning. The academic computing
committee was renamed the instructional technology committee to more appropriately
reflect its role in recommending the distribution of TAF funds.
With the installation of the campus-wide network in the mid 1990s, all classrooms and
offices on campus had network connectivity. Master classrooms, or as some would say
“smart classrooms”, had, in addition, overhead multi-scan projection systems, a teacher
workstation with the latest microcomputer hardware and software including presentation
capability, a visual presenter, multi-media tools, and remote control access for all the
technology and for lighting in the classroom. In 2010, there are more than 200 classrooms
on campus equipped as described.
An important component of the instructional technology emphasis was the vision and
establishment of the Instructional Technology Conference held on the MTSU campus from
1996 through 2009. The successful conference attracted faculty, administrators, and
instructional technologists from across the country and provided MTSU faculty and staff
an opportunity to share knowledge and expertise across academic disciplines with their
colleagues far and near.
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During this period hardware was upgraded and storage was added as appropriate with the
administrative systems continuing to run primarily on the Alpha systems and the academic
systems running primarily on Hewlett Packard equipment using the HP-UX operating
system. Electronic mail became an important commodity with MTSU first running the AllIn-1 system from Digital Equipment Corporation and later using the open source software
developed at Carnegie Mellon University.
As the new millennium approached, a task force consisting of OIT staff was charged with
examining and changing as appropriate all in-house written code running on the central
computer systems to ensure roll-over capability to the year 2000, better known as the Y2K
phenomenon. The group had to also make sure the systems and packages from vendors
and other third party suppliers were Y2K compliant. The staff did an outstanding job
making 12:01 a.m., January 1, 2000 a non-event, as did computing staff world-wide.
In 2001, Dr. Sidney A. McPhee became MTSU’s tenth president, and he, recognizing the
growing importance of information technology for all areas of the university, established
the Information Technology Division in February, 2002. Lucinda Lea was named Vice
President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer and was asked to
organize the new division and provide executive level campus wide leadership for all
information technology issues related to the enterprise. The position included providing
strategic direction for all IT related functions and operational responsibility for academic
computing and instructional technology services, ERP and related administrative
information system services, database management, networking and IT security,
telecommunications, server/storage infrastructure and related services, desktop and
classroom technology support, IT Help Desk, and the campus ID system.
In 2002, MTSU established connectivity to Internet 2, thus enabling an important high
speed network for the increasing amount of research activity being conducted by the
faculty in a number of disciplines.
In February, 2005, MTSU began implementation of the Enterprise Resource Planning
system, Banner, converting from the SCT Plus system. SunGard’s Banner brought much
needed 24x7 capability along with various challenges including moving to the ORACLE
relational data base environment. A new database group was formed to develop and
manage the database portion of the conversion project and to deliver the continuing
support that would be required. MTSU is currently running Banner on the Sun Solaris
platform utilizing Hewlett Packard Storage Area Network systems.
The first decade of the twenty-first century has also seen the advent and/or growth of
numerous auxiliary administrative systems such as degree audit, campus loan manager,
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classroom and event scheduling, procurement software, health services system, bill
payment software, HR leave system, workflow software, parking system, housing system,
key access system, and the library automation system to name a few. The Mirapoint
electronic mail appliance was installed in 2006 to provide student, faculty, and staff email.
Plans are being made to move student email to Microsoft LIVE in 2010. Implementation of
the BDMS imaging system is now occurring on a campus-wide basis.
The use of Web 2.0 technologies by the various campus constituencies has grown
exponentially. A wireless network was installed covering classroom buildings and open
spaces across campus further enabling use of these technologies. More recently a separate
network for the residence halls has been established. The Luminis Content Management
System was deployed to manage web content. Course management software changed
from Course Info to WebCT to the learning management system Desire2Learn (D2L)
which is used by all schools in the TBR system and by the Regents Online Degree
Program. MTSU has fully integrated in real-time the Banner Student system, the Luminis
portal and D2L.
With 24x7 connectivity anytime and anywhere and the extensive use of multiple
technologies by the thousands of people that comprise the university community, security
and privacy of information has become a major concern. Accordingly MTSU has
developed policy and established procedures, along with installing appropriate hardware
and software, to ensure the protection of an individual’s information.
MTSU was among the first of universities to understand the need for multiple emergency
communication avenues installing the Rave Mobile Safety communication system in 2007.
This system alerts through text, email, and voice communication. MTSU also initiated
reciprocal agreements with sister institutions for backup emergency web and voice
communication. ITD is currently implementing disaster recovery/ business continuity
capability for designated MTSU systems to be run at Tennessee Technological University
in the event of a disaster on the MTSU campus. A reciprocal agreement for this
arrangement was signed by the presidents of the two institutions.
The integration of teaching, learning, and technology has continued to be important as
verified by the establishment of the Learning, Teaching, and Innovative Technologies
Center, a collaborative endeavor between ITD and office of the Provost to promote faculty
development. The effort will be further enhanced in 2010 as the Center will move to the
Walker Library to engage with library staff and utilize library resources in development of a
learning commons for the campus.
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An electronic campus tour, a digital campus map, and a new home page with an updated
look for portal and departmental pages have all recently been launched with improved
navigation and better search engine capability. A multi-carrier, cellular Distributed Antenna
System is being planned for the campus.
As ITD has grown and expanded its services, so has the university community with more
than 25,000 students and more than 1,000 full-time faculty members. The MTSU
leadership continues to recognize the increasingly critical role that technology must play in
an effective student-centered living and learning environment in the second decade of the
twenty-first century. This recognition has brought and continues to bring more
responsibility to the staff of the Information Technology Division, a relatively small group
for an institution the size of MTSU, as they work tirelessly to meet the demands and
expectations of a seamless 24x7 computing environment. This complex, integrated multifaceted computing requirement is a far cry from the two or three computers used to
satisfy campus needs a half century ago.
Written by:
Lucinda Lea
March 2010
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